Douwe Dabbert

The weekly magazine Donald Duck, which had been published in the Netherlands since 1952, contained, in addition to the various Disney stories, purely Dutch comics and text stories. For example, between 1955 and 1969, fifty-eight adventures of Tom Poes and Mr. Bommel were published, as well as comics by Jan van Haasteren, Jan van der Voo and Fred Julsing. 

In 1974, editor Thom Roep went looking for a new series. He knew Piet Wijn's work from a comic in the magazine Tina, which he made together with Andries Brandt: Jennifer Scott. The editor-in-chief of Donald Duck suggested that Thom Roep should write a scenario for a fairy tale, so that Piet Wijn could draw the story. This is how a story about a spoiled princess, who had to be raised, came into being. By pairing the princess with a dwarf, the first story of Douwe Dabbert gradually emerged. It started in the first issue of Donald Duck in 1975. Thanks to enthusiastic reactions from the readers, it was soon decided to write a second story.

Thom Roep 

Thom Roep (born on 10 April 1952) worked at Donald Duck from 1973, first as an editor and from 1984 as editor-in-chief. In 1974 he created Douwe Dabbert, a comic strip that he developed together with Piet Wijn. In 1982 he started the comic series Van Nul tot Nu with Co Loerakker, in which Dutch history was depicted. In August 2013 he ended his position as editor-in-chief of Donald Duck.

Piet Wijn 

Piet Wijn was born in Hilversum in 1929. He knew from a young age that he wanted to be an illustrator. He completed a drawing course at a private school in 1947. He then went to work at Toonder Studio’s in Amsterdam, in the cartoons department. Once there, Wijn, as an eighteen-year-old, was able to draw his first comic strip The Black Duke, which appeared in the weekly magazine Tom Poes. Because the cartoon department was not doing so well, Wijn found himself on the street again in 1949. He started working freelance; every day he spent many hours behind the drawing board. He wrote various comic strips, including the series of Aram, of which forty stories were published up to 1960. He also made comic strip adaptations of well-known books such as De schipjongens van Bontekoe (1959) and Alleen op de wereld (1961), with text by Hans Jacobs. After about ten years, Piet Wijn returned to Toonder Studios. He started working on the story series about Panda, Kappie, Koning Hollewijn and Tom Poes. With Douwe Dabbert, Piet Wijn started a successful series in 1975 that was the crowning achievement of his career.

Escaping

Piet Wijn felt at home in the fairytale world of the ‘gnome with a magic knapsack’. In an interview he said: “Comics have nothing to do with reality and that probably makes them attractive. People can escape into them. The situation in the world is frightening, but you don’t hear Douwe Dabbert talking about inflation”.

Piet Wijn’s health

In 1986 Piet Wijn had to interrupt his drawing when a stroke disabled him for a while. He became partially paralysed on the right side and could no longer work with that hand. He set himself the task of drawing with his left hand. With great perseverance he succeeded. Many will have noticed little difference from his previous work. Until 2001, Douwe Dabbert experienced his adventures in Donald Duck. A second stroke in 1997 caused Piet Wijn's health to deteriorate further, so that he did not really draw anymore. Thus, a very productive and dedicated artist had to say goodbye to his beloved work. Dick Matena made the drawings for the last adventure.