Franka
Cover of Het Misdaadmuseum
One of the most successful comic series in the Netherlands is Franka, created by Henk Kuijpers. The pre-publication of the first story, in the magazine Pep, began near the end of 1974. The most recent story appeared fifty years later.
From Franca to Franka
Henk Kuijpers was born on 10 December 1946. He studied sociology, but drew comics in his spare time. Many of these reached several pages, but these first stories were not yet finished. However, an extra named Franca soon appeared on screen. In 1970, Kuijpers visited a large exhibition in Brussels about Tintin. This led to him swapping his sociology studies for the drawing board. In 1973, Henk decided to ask the editors of Pep for feedback. The editor-in-chief responded enthusiastically and Kuijpers was able to start his first 'professional' comic strip, called The Crime Museum. The first episode appeared in Pep number 47 of 1974. The comic strip had a small role for a 'secretary', who was given the name 'Franka'. In the seventies, the 'c' was out of fashion in Dutch writing, and the 'k' was chosen almost exclusively. The artist could not have imagined that his comic strip would soon become known as 'that strip of that girl'.
Documentation
A striking feature of the series was the level of detail in decors and vehicles, for which Kuijpers used a lot of documentation. In an interview he said about this: 'I liked to see the places myself. You get an idea for a story when you are somewhere, or you just come up with a plot, and then you start documenting and then visit those places. (...) You can only draw something credibly if you know directly how the situation feels on the spot.'
Pre-publication
After Pep merged with the magazine Sjors in 1975 to become Eppo, Franka was given a prominent place in that magazine. It was a wildly popular series, which was soon also published in albums. After the demise of Sjors & Sjimmie Stripblad (the successor to Eppo) gave Franka a permanent place in the broadcasting magazine Veronica from 1991 to 2002. In 2004, Henk Kuijpers took over the publication of albums with his own Uitgeverij Franka. Since 2009, the stories have been pre-published in the resurrected magazine Eppo.
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Eppo no. 48, 1980
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MYX stripmagazine, no. 1, July 2023
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Franka magazine, no. 1, 1997
Nudity
Another striking thing about the comic is that Franka is drawn without clothes in every album, when she is getting dressed or taking a bath. Henk Kuijpers said about this: 'The first time I put Franka in the bath, her breasts were neatly whitened on behalf of the publisher. Just look, nothing to see. After that it was no longer a problem. I draw nakedness as you see someone you are familiar with. Franka wakes up, takes a bath, watches TV while drying herself, blow-dries her hair, gets dressed and goes to [the local sandwich shop] Broodje van Kootje.'
Various editions
In addition to the regular albums in softcover and hardcover, luxury editions have also been published for several decades, in which Henk Kuijpers publishes sketches and background information about each story. The luxury albums are marketed by his own publisher, which now also publishes the regular albums.
Franka also appears to be a hit abroad. Translations have appeared in Denmark, Germany, France, Norway, Spain and Sweden, among other countries.
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Les dents du dragon. Paris: Les Humanoides Associés, 1987
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Henk Kuijpers, A vinganza do barco fantasma. Vigo : Edicións Xerais de Galiciam 1992. Aanvraagnummer: KW 5111306
Franka in the KB
The original albums of Franka are present in the collection of the KB. The KB also has the luxury albums Cadillac club and Chroom and a number of translated albums in its possession. 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.
Literature
- Joyce Roodnat, 'Stripfiguur Franka gaat ieder album in bad. NRC, 3 August 2017.
- Jeroen van Kippersluis, 'Franka is nooit weggeweest'. MYX comic magazine, vol. 1 (2003), no. 0.
- Henk Kuijpers: "Alles komt bij mij voort uit een goedgeleide chaos!". Stripnieuws, vol. 1 (2003), no. 3
- Het misdaadmuseum. Deluxe edition. Heemstede: Big Balloon, cop. 1995. ISBN 9054253770
- ''Franka' Kuijpers bij AVRO'. Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 29 December 1983.
- De Franka Index
