Sjors & Sjimmie
Sjors en Sjimmie: de doerakken
The Dutch comic strip Sjors & Sjimmie has its origins in an American comic strip. On 20 September 1920, the Chicago Tribune Syndicate published the comic strip Winnie Winkle,with stories and drawings by Martin Branner, who wrote the strip for more than 40 years. The main character was a young woman who had to support her parents and adopted brother, thus reflecting the changing role of women in society. The emphasis soon shifted to her little brother Perry Winkle.
From 30 December 1927, Perry Winkle also appeared in the Netherlands, first on the back of the weekly magazine De Humorist and from 1930 in the children's supplement of the magazine Panorama. In the Netherlands, the series became known as Sjors van de Rebellenclub, in which, in addition to Sjors, father, mother and Suzy also appeared, plus the comrades Puck, Pinky and Snooke. Martin Branner got tired of fantasizing about the character Perry and let his sister Winnie play the leading role again. This had an influence on the Dutch edition, because the publisher, De Spaarnestad, wanted to continue with the popular Sjors. Frans Piët, who was employed by De Spaarnestad, was asked to continue the series. He Dutchified the stories by replacing skyscrapers with windmills and other well-known Dutch scenes. In 1939, the first story appeared in album form: Negen en tachtig vrolijke vertellingen (Request number: KW GW A101969).
Sjors meets Sjimmie
After the war, Sjors appears again as a weekly comic strip in Panorama. In 1949, a new adventure began in the weekly magazine, which was given the title Sjors as a circus artist. Then Sjimmie also makes his entrance. Frans Piët had drawn Avonturen van Wo-Wang en Simmy in 1933. This rather stereotypical comic strip about a Chinese and a black boy appeared in local newspapers such as Leidsche Courant, Haarlems Dagblad and Utrechts Nieuwsblad. Simmy was presented as a more or less equal friend of Sjors, with the new name Sjimmie, because that alliterated nicely, but Sjimmie also met the stereotypical images of dark people as they were put on paper in the Netherlands at the time. The stories were bundled by De Spaarnestad in albums that became extremely popular. The large comic books were printed in alternating black and white and color.
Two different illustrators
In 1954, the magazine Sjors was also founded; actually a merger of the magazines Tombola (1953-1954), Panorama Rebellenclub (1950-1954) and Grabbelton (1950-1954). Copies of these titles are present in the collection of the KB, as are a considerable number of the issues of the magazine Sjors, which was published until 1975. In addition, between 1963 and 1969 the hefty book Plezier met Sjors was published annually, with comics, stories and puzzles that could be associated with the magazine. The KB owns all parts of this.
Because Frans Piët already had his hands full with drawing the serial stories for Panorama, Hans Ducro was initially asked to draw the serial story Sjors en de schrikmand. He quit after one story. He was replaced by Carol Voges, known as illustrator of Pa Pinkelman, Pietje Puk, Klik en Klak and Oki en Doki. He made a weekly gag strip of Sjors. So for a long time there were two different Sjors strips side by side.
-
Three Sjors en Sjimmie books, created by door Frans Piët
New artists
In 1969, Piët stopped drawing Sjors & Sjimmie. He handed over the brush to Jan Kruis, who immediately modernized the comic strip. At the beginning of his first story, Sjors and Sjimmie moved to the forgotten Wadden island of Schiermeeuwenoog, where they still live to this day. Jan Kruis only delivered two complete stories: Riddles on Schiermeeuwenoog and The Ring of Schiermeeuwenoog, which were published in one album. Jan Steeman took over the comic strip in 1970, who continued Jan Kruis's style as much as possible until he also stopped in 1975. He did introduce science fiction-like elements. Six of his eight stories were bundled in an album that was published in 1977.
The emancipation of Sjimmie
When the two Dutch comic magazines Sjors and Pep merged in 1975 and the first Eppo was published, it also contained the first episode of Robert van der Kroft's version of Sjors & Sjimmie. Eddy Ryssack was first asked to come up with some examples. As the 'house artist' of Sjors he had drawn all the comic characters at one time or another, but his version of Sjors & Sjimmie looked too much like Jan Steeman's, and that is exactly what the editors-in-chief no longer wanted. So the assignment went to Robert van der Kroft. Initially he worked on a script by Patty Klein, later he started working with Wilbert Plijnaar and Jan van Die. The trio called themselves the Wirojas and they proved to be excellent at keeping the comic strip lively and current.
In Robert van der Kroft's version, Sjimmie was finally emancipated. According to Van der Kroft, Sjors and Sjimmie became exactly the same. He drew them with the same face, only Sjors was colored in pink and Sjimmie in brown.
Longer stories
The comic strip was extremely popular and a permanent part of the magazine Eppo, until the last issue in 1985. In the summer of that year it was decided to rename the magazine to Eppo Wordt Vervolgd, with a reference to the successful television program about comics, Wordt Vervolgd by Han Peekel. In 1988 it was decided to discontinue Eppo Wordt Vervolgd. The name changed to Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad. In order to legitimize this name change, the duo also had to be given a larger role in the magazine. Because the Wirojas did not want to increase their production, a team of illustrators and writers were used for longer stories, under their supervision. The (Dutch) writers were given a thick pack of instructions and Robert van der Kroft travelled to Barcelona with editor-in-chief Peter van Leersum to find one of the Spanish drawing studios.
After the demise of Striparazzi, the successor to Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad, in 1999, the comic came to an end. No new episodes appeared for a long time, partly due to a conflict with the rights-holding publisher Sanoma. But in 2019, a new Sjors en Sjimmie comic strip by the Wirojas was published for the first time in the magazine StripGlossy. In the magazine, which is published four times a year, Sjors en Sjimmie remained alive and kicking until 2025. Early 2025, Van der Kroft announced that he was going to stop drawing comics. It is still questionable whether a new artist will be appointed for Sjors & Sjimmie.
-
Jan Steeman, 2 complete avonturen van Sjors en Sjimmie. Amsterdam Boek, cop. 1973. Request number: KW XKN 673
-
Jan Steeman, De verdwijners. Oberon/Amsterdam Boek, cop. 1974. Request number: KW XKR 0882
-
Jan Steeman et al., Sjors en Sjimmie. Oberon, cop. 1975. Request number: KW SE 1975/12
De emancipatie van Sjimmie
Toen in 1975 de twee Nederlandse striptijdschriften Sjors en Pep fuseerden en de eerste Eppo verscheen, stond daarin ook de eerste aflevering van Robert van der Krofts versie van Sjors & Sjimmie. Eerst was Eddy Ryssack gevraagd om met wat voorbeelden te komen. Als ‘huistekenaar’ van Sjors had hij alle stripfiguren wel eens getekend, maar zijn versie van Sjors & Sjimmie leek teveel op die van Jan Steeman en dat is juist wat de hoofdredactie niet meer wilde. De opdracht ging dus naar Robert van der Kroft. Aanvankelijk werkte hij op scenario van Patty Klein, later ging hij werken met Wilbert Plijnaar en Jan van Die. Het trio noemde zich de Wiroja’s en ze bleken uitstekend in staat om de strip levendig en actueel te houden.
In de versie van Robert van der Kroft werd Sjimmie definitief geëmancipeerd. Volgens Van der Kroft werden Sjors en Sjimmie exact gelijk. Hij tekende ze met hetzelfde gezicht, alleen werd Sjors met roze ingekleurd en Sjimmie met bruin.
Langere verhalen
Sjors en Sjimmie-albums, illustrated by Robert van der Kroft.
De strip was razend populair en een vast onderdeel van het tijdschrift Eppo, tot het laatste nummer in 1985. In de zomer van dat jaar werd besloten om het tijdschrift om te dopen naar Eppo Wordt Vervolgd, met een verwijzing naar het succesvolle AVRO-televisieprogramma over strips, Wordt Vervolgd van Han Peekel. In 1988 werd besloten om Eppo Wordt Vervolgd stop te zetten. De naam veranderde in Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad. Om deze naamsverandering te legitimeren moest het duo ook een grotere rol krijgen in het blad. Omdat de Wiroja's niet hun productie wilden verhogen, werd voor langere verhalen gebruik gemaakt van een team van tekenaars en schrijvers, onder hun begeleiding. De (Nederlandse) schrijvers kregen een dik pak aan instructies en Robert van der Kroft reisde met hoofdredacteur Peter van Leersum af naar Barcelona om een van de Spaanse tekenstudio’s uit te zoeken.
Na het ter ziele gaan van Striparazzi, de opvolger van Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad, in 1999, kwam er een einde aan de strip. Lange tijd verschenen er geen nieuwe afleveringen, onder andere vanwege een conflict met de rechthebbende uitgever Sanoma. Maar in 2019 werd in het tijdschrift StripGlossy voor het eerst een nieuwe Sjors en Sjimmie-strip van de hand van de Wiroja’s gepubliceerd. In het tijdschrift, dat vier keer per jaar verschijnt, bleven Sjors en Sjimmie tot 2025 springlevend. Begin 2025 kondigde Van der Kroft aan dat hij ging stoppen met striptekenen. Het is nog de vraag of er voor Sjors & Sjimmie een nieuwe tekenaar aantreedt.
Sjors & Sjimmie in the KB
The KB has a large number of albums of Sjors & Sjimmie by the aforementioned illustrators in its possession. The books can be viewed in the Special Collections reading room if you reserve them via the KB catalogue of books and magazines.
Literature
- 2 complete adventures of Sjors and Sjimmie by Jan Kruis. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Boek, cop. 1972. Request number KW XKN 671
- Sjors & Sjimmie: storybook: 6 complete stories. Haarlem: Oberon, 1977. Request number KW SE 1977/21
- Ger Apeldoorn, ‘De Jaren Sjors’. StripGlossy, March 2019.
- Raymond Rotteveel, ‘Robert draws Sjors and Sjimmie: ‘Dikkelippen, grote oorbellen… Sjimmie has long since ceased to be Zwarte Piet’. Algemeen Dagblad, 25 September 2021.
