'Tirsdag' (2002). English-language version.
Henrik Rehr is a New York-based Danish comic creator, who has worked for both Danish and international publishers. His comics have tackled subjects like philosophy, politics and history, while his graphic style has switched between comical and realism. After debuting in the 1980s with fanzine work, the children's comic 'Julius' and the historical graphic novel 'Drømmen om langskibene' (1987), he has been an artist for popular comic series like 'Ferd'nand', 'Rasmus Klump' and 'Beetle Bailey'. On the side, he has continued to work on more personal and experimental comics, like his books about the 9-11 terror attacks and the philosophical newspaper strip 'Sandslotte' (2001-2003). Since 2014, Rehr has also been working directly for French publishers, doing mostly comic biographies for Futuropolis, Presque Lune and Dargaud.
'Julius'.
Early life and career
Henrik Rehr was born in 1964 in Odense, Denmark, as the son of small business owners. A self-taught artist, he has been mainly inspired by European comics, especially work by Jean Giraud, Hermann and Hugo Pratt. By 1981, he was publishing his first comics in the magazines Seriemagasinet and Danske Tegneserier, as well as several amateur fanzines.
Between 1985 and 1987, Rehr was co-owner of the Odense-based comic shop and drawing studio Den Blå Bil ("The Blue Car"), together with his friend Morten Hesseldahl. With Hesseldahl as writer, Rehr co-created the children's adventure series 'Julius', first serialized in Ekstra Bladet's Saturday supplement Kilroy, and then collected in book format by Forlaget Donna (1987) and Tellerup (1989). In 2019, Forlaget Fabel released the full series in a single volume. In 1987, Henrik Rehr moved from Odense to Copenhagen, where he became a member of the Pinligt Selskab studio, working alongside such artists as Peter Kielland-Brandt and Mårdøn Smet.
'Drømmen om langskibene' (1987).
Historical comics
During his time with the Pinligt Selskab, Rehr made his solo debut with 'Drømmen om langskibene' ("The Dream of the Long Ships", Carlsen, 1987), a historical comic about a royal power struggle at the end of the Viking age. Rehr returned to his caricatural drawing style with the 'Kvikleif' series (Bogfabrikken, 1989, 1994), in which Rehr told humorous adventure stories against a background of Scandinavian folktales. The main character is the boy Kvikleif, who becomes the messenger of the witch Ratzeputz.
'Kvikleif'.
Along with Niels Roland, Rehr illustrated the five-volume historical series 'Danmark Besat' ("Denmark Occupied"), written by Roland in collaboration with Morten Hesseldahl. Published by Carlsen Comics between 1990 and 1994, each volume focused on a year of the Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II. In collaboration with the artist Michael Jensen, the two writers Roland and Hesseldahl subsequently created follow-ups about the Danish Liberation ('Danmark befriet', 1995) and the Cold War ('Kold Krig', 1996-1997). A single-volume collection of 'Danmark Besat' was published in 2010. After producing some horror comics and book illustrations, Rehr made the dark comic 'Uår' (Blind Bat, 1995), about a young man on the run from war during the Middle Ages.
'Uår' ("Dreamtime", 1995).
Popular characters
Between 1989 and 2006, Henrik Rehr was the artist of the syndicated daily newspaper comic strip 'Ferd'nand', originally created in 1937 by Henning Dahl Mikkelsen, AKA Mik. One of the longest-running and bestselling Danish comics abroad, this pantomime strip about the everyday adventures of a happy-go-lucky family man was distributed in Denmark by the PIB agency, and in the USA by United Media. Since 1947, the strip was produced by Mikkelsen in the USA, where he was succeeded, subsequently, by Frank Thomas and Al Plastino. When Henrik Rehr took over from Plastino in 1989, the comic's production was back in Danish hands. Rehr signed his episodes with "Rehr.Mik", honoring the legacy of the feature's creator.
'Ferd'nand'.
After ending his tenure with 'Ferd'nand' in 2006, Rehr became one of the artists for 'Rasmus Klump' ('Petzi' in English), a popular Danish funny animal character created originally by Vilhelm and Carla Hansen. His work with this children's franchise has included work on the picture book 'Sikke et mylder, Rasmus Klump!' (Carlsen, 2009), a series of pixie books with the character and artwork for the Rasmus Klump attraction in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Since 2007, Rehr has also produced cover and story art with Mort Walker's unlucky soldier 'Beetle Bailey' for the character's own Scandinavian magazines by publisher Egmont: Knasen in Sweden, Billy in Norway and Basserne in Denmark.
'Rasmus Klump'.
Move to the USA
In 1992, Henrik Rehr headed for New York, and subsequently lived in Toronto, Canada. In 1995, he settled in New York City with his wife and two sons. There, he continued to work on the 'Ferd'nand' strip for United Media, but also created his own newspaper strip, 'Sandslotte' ('Castles in the Sand', 2001-2003). Published daily in the Danish free newspaper Metroexpress, the funny but also thought-provoking strip featured three children who argue and philosophize about the riddles of life. The series has also run in the Danish 'Beetle Bailey' magazine Basserne.
'Castles in the Sand'.
Living 200 meters from the World Trade Center, Rehr experienced the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 first-hand. This inspired the two books 'Tirsdag' (Fahrenheit, 2002) and 'Tribeca Sunset' (Fahrenheit, 2003), both dealing with the event and its aftermath. In the period after 11 September 2001, his 'Sandslotte' strip also dealt regularly with the subjects of Islam and terror. Other comics created by Rehr for Forlaget Fahrenheit were the 2002 fairy tale comic book 'De Tre Små Grise og Ræven' ("The Three Little Pigs and the Fox") and the experimental comics 'Hyldest' ("Tribute", 2007), 'Svøm!' ("Swim!", 2008) and 'Reykjavik' (2009). During this period, Rehr additionally created the series 'Kejserens Nye Kælder' ('The Emperor's New Cellar') for the free underground magazine Free Comics.
'Svøm!' ("Swim!", 2008).
Scriptwriter
Besides being a productive artist, Henrik Rehr has also worked as a scriptwriter for others. One of his frequent collaborators was the artist Lars Horneman, with whom he created the one-shot 'Jim' (Ultima, 1993), the humorous science fiction series 'Rumvælling' (Blind Bat Press, 1994-1995) and the soccer comic 'Hattrick' (Eudor, 2024). With the artist Cav Bøgelund, Rehr adapted the Federico Garcia Lorca play 'Blood Wedding' ('Blodbryllup', Fahrenheit, 2006) to comics. Rehr also wrote 'Insolitus' (Fahrenheit, 2013), a nightmarish graphic novel drawn by Jan Solheim.
'Gavrilo Princip, l'Homme qui Changea le Siècle' (Futuropolis, 2014).
French comics
Since 2014, Henrik Rehr has been working directly for French publishers like Futuropolis, Presque Lune and Dargaud. After meticulous research at New York's The Research Library, his first work for the French market was the black-and-white graphic novel 'Gavrilo Princip, l'Homme qui Changea le Siècle' (Futuropolis, 2014), about the young Bosnian-Serbian nationalist who in 1914 murdered the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Duchess Sophie. Published in several languages, the album marked the artist's international breakthrough.
'La Chute de Cuba' (2017).
With his old friend Morten Hesseldahl as writer, Rehr then created 'La Chute de Cuba' (Presque Lune, 2017), a chronicle of the late Danish war reporter and writer Jan Stage's adventures in Cuba and South America. With writer Julian Voloj, he subsequently created 'David Crook, Souvenirs d'une Revolution' (Dargaud, 2018), about the British Communist spy and activist David Crook (1910-2000). For his next two books, Rehr returned to Futuropolis, working with writer Chantal van den Heuvel on the comic biographies 'Leon et Sofia Tolstoi' (2020) and 'Dostoievski, le Soleil Noir' (2023).
'Danmark Besat'.
Recognition
Over the years, Henrik Rehr's work has been exhibited at Denmark's Industrial Museum, the National History Museum at Frederiksborg Castle, the Reykjavik Art Museum, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York, Vanderbilt University, the Center Internationale de la Caricature de Saint-Just-Le-Martel, the National Library in Sofia and the Society of Illustrators in New York. In the summer of 2024, Rehr had a large retrospective exhibition in Historiens Hus in his hometown of Odense. He has received grants from the Statens Kunstråd, the Statens Kunstfond and the Danske Tegneserieskaberes Fond and, in 2002, received the American Xeric grant.
In Sweden, Rehr and the writers Roland and Hesseldahl were awarded the 1995 Urhunden award for "Best Foreign Comic" for the fifth installment of the 'Danmark Besat' series. For his entire body of work, Henrik Rehr received the 2014 Hanne Hansen Prize, an award given to people "who have had a special significance for comics in Denmark".
'Hyldest' (Tribute).