Mark Retera (born 16 May 1964,

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

) is a Dutch

cartoonist 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 litera ...

, best known for his absurd gag comic ''

DirkJan DirkJan is a Dutch comic strip series, created in 1989 by Dutch author and artist Mark Retera. It is also the name of its main character. The series is a gag-a-day comic. Description DirkJan is an underachiever who stumbles through life in mostl ...

''. He is the winner of the 2004

Stripschapprijs The Stripschapprijs is a Dutch prize awarded to List of comic creators, comic creators for their entire body of work. It is awarded annually by the ''Stripschap'', the Dutch Society of comics fans, since 1974. The prize is non-pecuniary, but is con ...

. He also draws caricatures for the Dutch weekly ''Panorama''. Retera studied

cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

at the current

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

before turning full-time artist.

References

1964 births Living people Dutch comic strip cartoonists Dutch caricaturists Dutch comics artists Dutch comics writers Dutch humorists Dutch surrealist artists Radboud University Nijmegen alumni People from Eindhoven Artists from North Brabant Winners of the Stripschapsprijs {{cartoonist-stub