Agent 327
Agent 327 Integraal 1966-1968. Request number: 16039397
Hendrik IJzerbroot is Agent 327
For more than sixty years, Martin Lodewijk (born 30 April 1939) has been writing and drawing the adventures of secret agent Hendrik IJzerbroot, better known by his code name Agent 327. Every time our country is in danger, he is sent out to ensure that the Dutch population can sleep peacefully again.
Parody of spy films
In the once famous comic weekly Pep Agent 327 had his first adventure as a reaction to the abundance of spy films and TV series that were around in the mid-sixties. Series like Get Smart and of course the James Bond films. However, it was not - as is often assumed - James Bond that Lodewijk based his work on but the American television series Peter Gunn (directed by Blake Edwards). The series itself was never broadcast in the Netherlands, but Lodewijk read about it in Life magazine and saw in Gunn the ideal appearance of IJzerbroot.
Longer, satirical stories
Initially, Lodewijk wrote short stories of four pages each (twenty-one in total), but in 1968 he ventured into a long story for the first time, Dossier Stemkwadrater, which also appeared in Pep. The short stories were mainly anecdotal in nature, but in this long story he could fully indulge in the plot and in a long series of jokes and references to the espionage genre. For example, the villain in the story is called Dr. Maybe - after all, there was already a Dr. No and even a Dr. Yes.
From that moment on, Lodewijk would mainly write long stories, set all over the world. The stories also became more satirical and less based on the spy genre.
Who is Agent 327?
In an interview, Martin Lodewijk stated that there were quite a few autobiographical elements in his comic strip character: "Hendrik IJzerbroot is, eh... yes, a guy from Rotterdam. Someone who stands up for Queen and Country, haha. He grew up in the days when everyone fought for that concept. And that characterizes a person. I'm probably a bit like that myself. Yes, I think there's quite a bit of myself in it. My theory is that ultimately everyone characterizes themselves. So the good and bad qualities of Agent 327 are also mine. To a greater or lesser extent."
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Martin Lodewijk, Dossier Stemkwadrater, cop. 1970. Request number: KW XKZ 0563
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Martin Lodewijk, Dossier Zondagskind, cop. 1978. Request number: KW RE 148/2-1
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A Swedish publication. Martin Lodewijk, Uppdrag: Häxornas Ring, cop. 1983. Request number: Vert Gr 873
Moving to Eppo
In 1975, the comic magazine Pep was discontinued and, together with Sjors, it became the new magazine Eppo. Frits van der Heide was editor-in-chief of this new periodical and Martin Lodewijk was appointed as art director. Together they set up the magazine. Martin Lodewijk played a major role in setting up new comic series. Of course, Agent 327 moved to Eppo, but numerous new series also had to be set up. Lodewijk was at the cradle of series such as Steven Severijn and Storm.
What happened next with Agent 327
Meanwhile, Lodewijk continued to write and draw Agent 327. He sent IJzerbroot to Easter Island, South America, but also to Amsterdam where he managed to solve the theft of the Night Watch - and the State Secrets that were stuck on the back! - Until 1983, because then Agent disappeared from the scene. Temporarily, Lodewijk swore, who threw himself into advertising assignments. Eventually, around the turn of the century, he felt like continuing his successful series again. In 2000, Agent 327 returned as a newspaper strip in the Algemeen Dagblad and from 2009 as a follow-up strip in the re-established magazine Eppo.
World fame for Agent 327
The stories of Agent 327 have been published all over the world, both in magazine and book form. Martin Lodewijk has received many awards in his long career, including the Stripschapprijs and for Agent 327 no less than three Stripschappenningen for best album of the year. In 2005 his work was displayed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. He is also in the Guinness Book of Records as the creator of the smallest comic book in the world: Dossier minimium bug, published in 1999.
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Martin Lodewijk, Het oor van Gogh, 2003. Request number: KW 5192992
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Martin Lodewijk, Dossier minimium bug, 1999. Request number: KW DPA 2248
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Vince Habraken; Pieter van Oudheusden, The making of Agent 327, 2005. Request number: KW 5211522
Agent 327 in the KB
All albums of Agent 327 belong to the collection of the KB. Reprints and collected editions are also in the possession of the KB. A number of translations in German and Swedish are also available. The books can only be consulted on request in the Special Collections reading room after requesting via this form. The relevant data can be found in the KB catalogue of books and magazines.
Literature
- 'Martin Lodewijk signs for Het Vrije Volk: 'Agent 327 will not betray his fatherland'. Het Vrije Volk, 30 December 1981.
