Marcel de Jong formed AAARCH!!! Comics Amsterdam, together with Marco Kuipers. The two of them became good friends at the IVKO (Individueel Voortgezet Kunstzinnig Onderwijs), where they almost immediately started working on comix like 'Pisa' and 'Magnum'. Marcel de Jong's love for comix dates from long before his meeting with Marco Kuipers. The funny thing is, upon their meeting the two discovered they had been travelling the same comix road.
Unfortunately, the period after the IVKO institute did not turn out to be glory days for the two young artists. Marcel, after a period as an unemployed illustrator and a thousand and one parties, ended up in a mental hospital. All the while, Marcel and Marco produced impressive amounts of graphic work: dozens of magazine covers, comix (Incoginto, P.O.S.S.E.), murals and, most of all, freestyle graphix.
The year 1999 brought AAARCH!!! Comics their first Dutch comix with 'Kwaad bloed', as well as their German comix debut with 'Sadie', the tragic story of a young gothic punk girl who lives through a psychosis in the eighties. Their newest creation is 'Seelendämmerung', which appeared in 2001. Remarkable for their detailed and romantic counterculture images, the AAARCH!!! team builds on the Dutch underground comix tradition, most notably the work of its godfather, Peter Pontiac.
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