Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literar ...

. He was mostly known for his humorous adventure comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comics like '' Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke'', '' De Lustige Kapoentjes'', '' Doris Dobbel'', '' Oktaaf Keunink'' and '' De Ronde van Frankrijk''. Sleen was one of the most celebrated comics artists in his home country. His work is admired for its absurd and sometimes satirical comedy, as well for the fact that he worked completely singlehandedly without any assistance for 45 years on end, a feat that landed him a spot in '' The Guinness Book of Records'' in 1992. (This feat has been surpassed since by Jim Russell's '' The Potts'', which ran for 62 years.) He was one of the few comics artists in Belgium who had a museum dedicated to his work.

Biography

Marc Sleen was born as Marcel Neels in Gentbrugge, near

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Marc Sleen". In België gestript, pp. 160–161. Tielt: Lannoo. He studied drawing in Ghent. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was imprisoned by Nazi soldiers in Fort Breendonk because his brother worked for the resistance. He was tortured and put in the death cell, but saved by the fact that after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

the officers moved all the prisoners to a different prison, where he could escape. In 1944 he started to work as a political caricaturist in the Flemish newspaper ''

De Standaard (, ) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party, and in opposition to the Sociali ...

''. He also contributed illustrations and short comics for the newspaper and the youth supplement, and made illustrations and his first comics for the magazine ''Ons Volk''. He was also a courtroom sketch artist for a while. In October 1947, Marc Sleen started a new series, ''The adventures of detective Van Zwam'' in the newspaper ''De Nieuwe Gids''. In the first adventure Detective Van Zwam encounters a fool who thinks he is emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

. After he regains his senses, they continue calling him Nero and slowly he became the star of the series. The name changes accordingly to ''The adventures of detective Van Zwam and Nero'' and after nine stories to ''The adventures of Nero and co''. The series appeared for 55 years with a rhythm of two strips every day. This was typical for the Flemish comic tradition, as with ''

Suske en Wiske ''Spike and Suzy'' (British title), ''Willy and Wanda'' (American title) or ''Luke and Lucy'' (in a 2009 film and video game) (, ) is a Belgian comics series created by the comic book creator, comics author Willy Vandersteen. It was first publis ...

'' (''Spike and Suzy''). ''Nero'' became well known for its

ironic Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...

humour Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

and references to current affairs. For instance, in the album, ''Het Vredesoffensief Van Nero'' ("Nero's Peace Offensive") (1951), Nero visits

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

to make him drink an elixir that will make him a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

. Besides ''Nero'' Sleen drew several other comic strip series, many of them gag-a-day comics, for magazines like '' 't Kapoentje'' and '' Ons Volkske''. Among the most well known were '' Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke'' (1947–1965), '' Doris Dobbel'' (1950–1965), '' Oktaaf Keunink'' (1952–1965) and '' De Lustige Kapoentjes''. Sleen also drew a daily cartoon during the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

from 1947 until 1965, called '' De Ronde van Frankrijk''. Nero in Antwerpen

Between 1950 and 1965 Sleen published ''Nero'' in '' Het Volk'', after which he moved to ''

''. This caused a huge copyright controversy, as several newspapers fought over the rights over his syndicated comics. Thousands of readers switched from ''Het Volk'' to ''De Standaard'', just to follow his adventures in the newspaper. After that switch, he dropped all other series and devoted himself solely to ''Nero''. From 1992 to 2002, he was aided by , a versatile Flemish comic artist, and at first the intention was to let Stallaert continue the series after Marc Sleen retired. But in the end, Stallaert didn't feel ready to continue it alone, and at the end of 2002, at the age of 80, Marc Sleen ended his career as a comics artist. Sleen designed album covers for records by Flemish actor, comedian and singer Jef Burm. Burm was a former school mate of his.

TV documentary work

Marc Sleen was also known as a traveller and animal friend. He made 35

safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

s to Africa between 1961 and 1991, making more than 20 documentaries for the

Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie ("Flemish Radio and Television broadcasting organisation"), shortened to VRT (), is one of the national public broadcasting, public service broadcasters for the Flemish Community of Belgium. Its c ...

, mostly for the TV show ''"Allemaal Beestjes"''. A few books and records about his safaris appeared as well. Many of his comics featured animals and countries he has visited.

Legacy

Marc Sleen is commonly considered one of the big names of the Flemish comics, together with

Willy Vandersteen Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...

and Jef Nys. In 2005 he was selected as one of the 111 nominees for the title "The Greatest Belgian" ( De Grootste Belg) in the Flemish edition. He ended in 48th place. On 19 June 2009, a museum dedicated to his life and career was opened in Brussels: the Marc Sleen Museum. Both Marc Sleen as well as King Albert II of Belgium were present. The king was a fan of ''Nero'' since his youth and both he and Baudouin of Belgium learned Dutch by reading "Nero". Sleen died at the age of 93 on the evening of 6 November 2016. He was buried in the Campo Santo in Ghent. On 1 January 2030, all comic characters by Marc Sleen will officially enter

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Awards

* 1974: Prix Saint-Michel for best comical story,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. The award went to ''Het Lachvirus'' (''The Laughing Virus''). * 1981: Honorary citizen of Hulshout, Belgium * 1984: Honorary citizen of

Sint-Niklaas Sint-Niklaas (; , ) is a Belgium, Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Sin ...

, Belgium * 1989: Stamp of Nero issued by the Belgian Post. * 1993: Gouden Adhemar at Strip Turnhout, Belgium * 1995: Best comic of 1994 by the "Belgische Kamer van stripexperten" (Belgian assembly of comic experts) * 1997: Knighted ( Ridder) by

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Albert II of Belgium * 2005: Honorary citizen of Brussels * 2008: Honorary citizen of

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...

* 2011: Honorary citizen of Hoeilaart Statues of his creations have been erected in

(1991), Hoeilaart (1994) and Middelkerke (1997). An exclusive museum opposite the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art is devoted to his work.

Major comics series

His comics were drawn rapidly in a "flexible and loose" style. They can be divided in one-page or one-strip gag series like ''Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke'' and ''De Lustige Kapoentjes'', and humorous adventure comics of book length (generally between 32 and 64 pages) like ''Stropke en Flopke'' and ''Nero''. * ''Piet Fluwijn'' (1944–1945) * '' Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke'' (1945–1965) (also known as ''The adventures of a father and his son'') * ''Pollopof'' (1946–1952) * ''Stropke en Flopke'' (1946–1950) * ''

'' (1947–2002) * '' De Ronde van Frankrijk ("the annual

". (Each year Marc Sleen drew a daily strip about the cycling event)'' (1947–1964) * '' De Lustige Kapoentjes'' (1950–1965) (continued by other artists including Hurey and Kabou) * '' Doris Dobbel'' (1950–1967) * ''Fonske'' (1951–1960) * '' Oktaaf Keunink'' (1952–1965)

References

External links

Marc Sleen
at

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the prov ...

Comiclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Sleen, Marc 1922 births 2016 deaths Belgian album-cover and concert-poster artists Belgian comics artists Belgian comics writers Belgian comic strip cartoonists Belgian editorial cartoonists Belgian sports cartoonists Belgian sports comics artists Belgian caricaturists Belgian documentary filmmakers Belgian environmentalists Belgian illustrators Belgian knights Belgian nature writers Belgian political artists Belgian humorists Belgian satirists Belgian satirical comics writers Belgian satirical comics artists Belgian television personalities Breendonk prison camp survivors Courtroom sketch artists The Adventures of Nero People from Ghent Pseudonymous artists