Bert is a Belgian comic strip, written and drawn by

Kamagurka Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgium, Belgian cartoonist, playwright, comic strip artist, painter, comedian, comedic singer and television producer, known for the Absurd humor, absurd nature of his work. He cre ...

, which appeared exclusively in the Flemish magazine ''

HUMO ''Humo'' (stylized in all caps) is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television magazine. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-langua ...

'' since 1977. The cartoons have also been published in the Dutch magazine ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly turned monthly magazin ...

'', the French magazine ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; ) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism ...

'' and the US magazine '' RAW''. The series' protagonist, Bert, is Kamagurka's most recognizable character.

Concept

Bert is a middle-aged bespectacled man with a long nose who always wears a sweater and long trousers. His full name is ''Vanderslagmulders'', but is seldom used in the series. He is a

flat character In fiction, a character is a person or being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction of ...

, but does demonstrate absurd behaviour. In many cartoons he is giving absurd

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

s, often with

misanthropic Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, or distrust of the human species, human behavior, or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. Misanthropy involves a negative evaluative attitude tow ...

comments. In the early 1990s Bert received his own pet dog: Bobje ("Little Bob"). Bobje is an anthropomorphic dog with a human face. He is often seen walking on two feet or doing things only humans can. Despite all that he is unable to talk and still treats Bert as his master.

History

Bert made his debut on November 3, 1977 in the magazine ''

Humo ''Humo'' (stylized in all caps) is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television magazine. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-langua ...

''. Originally the series was named ''Van Maerlantstraat 23'', which was Kamagurka's home address at the time. During the late 1970s the comic sometimes was several pages long, but later it became a one-page

gag-a-day A gag-a-day comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of ...

comic.

Status

Bert is one of

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

s and therefore often used on magazine covers or other related

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

. He was seen in animated form in the opening titles of Kamagurka and

Herr Seele Herr Seele is the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (born 13 April 1959, Torhout, Belgium), a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor and piano collector. He is mainly known for drawing the absurd humor comic strip '' Cowboy Henk'', for which his coll ...

's TV sketch show ''Lava'' (1989). During the annual

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiva ...

rock festival in

Werchter Werchter is a small village in Belgium which has been part of the municipality of Rotselaar since 1 January 1977. It is the site of Rock Werchter and the birthplace of the painters Cornelius Van Leemputten and Frans Van Leemputten. The origin of ...

, Belgium, when weather allowed it, a meters high inflatable doll of Bert and Bobje was inflated during several of the festival's editions.

Partial bibliography

* "Het Ruikt Hier Naar Onzin", Kritak, 1977. * "Bert maakt het gezellig", Kritak, 1979. * "Het Boeiende Leven der Sukkels",

Uitgeverij De Harmonie De Harmonie is a Dutch publishing company best known today as the publisher of the Harry Potter series of books since the 1990s, though their largest success didn't come until the 2000s and since 14 February 2008 they are located on Herengracht in ...

, 1980. * "Folklore en Wetenschap", Harmonie/Loempia, 1990. * "Berts Bobje", Uitgeverij De Harmonie-Loempia, 1991 * "Bert en Bobje in 't groen", Jef Meert Uitgeverij, 1992. * "Bert en enigszins Bobje", Jef Meert Uitgeverij, 1993. * "Berts Brein", Uitgeverij De Harmonie-Loempia, 1994. * "Bezige Bert", Uitgeverij Maarten Muntinga B.V., 1995. * "Bert Begint", Uitgeverij Maarten Muntinga B.V., September 1997. * "Bert & Bobje met vakantie!", Uitgeverij De Harmonie, December 1997. * "Bert & Bobje in de problemen", Uitgeverij De Harmonie, 1998. * "Bert en Bobje 2", Uitgeverij De Harmonie, 1998. * "Broodje Bert", Rainbow Pockets, Uitgeverij Maarten Muntinga, 1998. * "Beste Bert", Rainbow Pockets, 1999. * "Het Boek van Bert" (The Book of Bert)", Uitgeverij Harmonie 2007. * "De Terugkeer van Bert en Bobje", Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij, 2013.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Belgian comic strips Belgian comics titles 1977 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1977 Mascots introduced in 1977 Gag-a-day comics Underground comix Surreal comedy comics Belgian comics characters Male characters in comics Male characters in advertising Fictional characters from Flanders Comics about anthropomorphic dogs Comics set in Belgium Magazine mascots Belgian mascots Metafictional comics