'Soeperman' (Eppo/Wordt Vervolgd #19, 1987).
René Uilenbroek was a Dutch comic artist, best-known as co-creator of the superhero parody 'Soeperman' (1986-1998, 2009-2012), which appeared in Eppo/Wordt Vervolgd magazine and its successors. With the same scriptwriter, Willem Ritstier, he additionally made the funny strip about the explorer 'Stanley' (1995-2003) in Suske en Wiske Weekblad. Later in his career, Uilenbroek spent several years drawing the title comic of the relaunched Eppo magazine. Due to the artist's perfectionism and notoriously slow work rhythm, his body of work has remained limited, but is still fondly remembered by Dutch comic fans for its slapstick comedy and crowded panels filled with background jokes.
Cover drawings for Eppo/Wordt Vervolgd #1987-53 and Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad #1993-24.
Early life and influences
René Uilenbroek was born in 1961 in the Dordrecht, but raised in the southern city of Breda, where he has spent most of his life. After high school, he enrolled at a teachers' training college to become a drawing teacher. While he enjoyed drawing, he soon discovered that being a teacher was not his cup of tea. He then took an evening course at Breda's St. Joost School of Art & Design, but dropped out again after two years. As an artist, he was largely self-taught. Uilenbroek's main graphic influences were André Franquin, Frank Margerin and especially Benito Jacovitti, who was the main inspiration for his slapstick comedy style. From his home country, Uilenbroek admired Martin Lodewijk and Peter de Wit, while his fondness for subtle background jokes also brings to mind the work of Jan van Haasteren. An avid fan of motorcycles, the artist also enjoyed the 'Joe Bar Team' comics by Bar2 and Fane.
Early career
While fulfilling his military service, Uilenbroek made drawings for Twintig, a magazine of the Dutch Association for Conscripts, the VDM. During the Dutch comic festival of Breda, he met Willem Ritstier, one of the initiators of the alternative comic magazine Yèch, who later became his main scriptwriter. Between 1984 and 1986, Uilenbroek became one of the contributors to Yèch, for instance creating the comic strip 'Henk Galspat' from scripts by Marcel Jas. By 1985, Uilenbroek was working directly for Pinpoint Productions in Amsterdam, besides Yèch's publisher and also an advertising agency. During this period, he did commercial art assignments, as well as the soccer-related comic strip 'Koos de Supporter' in newspaper De Telegraaf.
Through an Amsterdam acquaintance, Uilenbroek was introduced to the team of Studio Arnhem, a comic studio in Arnhem consisting of Hanco Kolk, Aloys Oosterwijk, Ben Jansen and Kees de Boer, among other people. Between 1986 and 1989, Uilenbroek lived and worked in Arnhem, learning the finer points of the comic profession among like-minded creative spirits. By then, his comics in Yèch had been noticed by Peter van Leersum, the editor of Eppo/Wordt Vervolgd magazine, who invited him to create a comic for this title.
'Soeperman'.
Soeperman
Teaming up with writer Willem Ritstier, René Uilenbroek co-created the superhero parody 'Soeperman' (1986-1998), which first appeared in the 31 January 1986 issue of Eppo/Wordt Vervolgd magazine. The feature was then continued in Eppo/Wordt Vervolgd's successors Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad and SjoSji. In a clear reference to Siegel & Shuster's 'Superman' at DC Comics, Soeperman is the secret identity of the clumsy newspaper editor Klark Klont, who is romantically involved with his colleague Loes (the Soeperman version of Lois Lane). Whenever he spots trouble, or his services are required by Commissioner Breukebroek, Klont transforms into his Soeperman persona, known for its superhuman strength, infallible hearing and laser eyes. Together with his sidekick Leo, a hedgehog addicted to gambling, Soeperman fights organized crime, mad scientists and black magicians. Additional assistance comes from fellow superheroes Bedman and Spinneman (obvious spoofs of Batman and Spider-Man), who are always competing with each other as to who is the most beloved fighter for justice. Unlike most other superheroes, Soeperman blunders and knows fear, but he always solves his cases, albeit not always in a logical way. Only when he is confronted with broccoli, he loses all of his powers.
'Soeperman' (Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad #9, 1990).
The hilarious 'Soeperman' stories with their slapstick humor and abundance of visual jokes, instantly captivated readers. Initially appearing in stories from two or three pages, Ritstier and Uilenbroek later turned to longer stories of eight pages, as well as the full-length episode 'De Bollen van Rokan'. A disagreement with editor Dirk Snoodijk of SjoSji magazine ended the first run of the 'Soeperman' comic. While the authors preferred to create longer stories, the editor requested short ones. An important factor was Uilenbroek's slow working rhythm, which often put an serialization of ongoing episodes in danger.
Over the years, a proper 'Soeperman' book series never saw the light, although his antics have been collected in one-off albums by Oberon, Zet.El, Big Balloon and BeeDee. In Germany, two books appeared in translation under the title 'Supermax'. When in 2009, publisher Rob van Bavel relaunched Eppo magazine, Willem Ritstier and René Uilenbroek resumed their collaboration and created new episodes of their soft-hearted superhero. Between 2009 and 2012, a little over twenty new short stories were made. In 2023, one year before the artist's death, Eppo ran a new serial starring an elderly 'Soeperman', called 'Soeperboomer'.
'Stanley'.
Stanley
While they were still working on 'Soeperman' episodes, René Uilenbroek and Willem Ritstier developed a new concept, based on the historical adventurer Henry Morton Stanley. After presenting their comic to several magazines, it was finally accepted by the Belgian magazine Suske en Wiske Weekblad. Between 1995 and 2003, Ritstier and Uilenbroek's 'Stanley' feature ran in this magazine. Set in Africa, the series features the incompetent white explorer Stanley and his far more smarter and sarcastic black guide Weekend (a nod to Friday from 'Robinson Crusoe'). In many ways, this comic was an updated version of Ritsier's early 1980s solo comic strip of the same name. Between 2003 and 2009, publisher Boumaar released three books of the series. In addition, the 'Stanley' episodes ran in reprints in the comic news magazine Stripnieuws.
Drawing for the walls of Café 't Hart in Breda.
Commercial art
With 'Stanley' cancelled in 2003, René Uilenbroek disappeared from the comics forefront for several years. Already since the 1980s, he had combined his work in comics with commercial art jobs through agencies like Jan Abbing's Artstock Artwork. During this early period in his career, Uilenbroek worked for Hallmark cards, Muziek Express magazine and the Dutch Heart Foundation. With Hanco Kolk as writer, he created a comic strip for an LP sleeve by Roberto Jacketti & the Scooters. Along the way, Uilenbroek had several odd jobs, including factory worker and international truck driver.
In the 21st century, Uilenbroek's commercial clients included the wishing cards company Art of Cards, Jumbo games, Whirlpool, Landrover, crane producer Terex and the truck factory MAN. He additionally created a comic strip for Refresh, the quarterly magazine of the fruit and vegetable import company Aartsenfruit.
'Eppo' (Eppo #2, 2013)..
Eppo magazine
From the start, Uilenbroek was present in the relaunched edition of Eppo magazine, an initiative of publisher Rob van Bavel of the Don Lawrence Collection (DLC, later known as Uitgeverij L). At first, Uilenbroek resumed his collaboration with Willem Ritstier for new episodes of their signature 'Soeperman' comic (2009-2012). During this period, publisher Van Bavel also used the Soeperman character as the mascot of his annual Stripfestival Breda comics festival.
Between 2013 and 2018, Uilenbroek was the new artist of the magazine's title comic, 'Eppo'. Succeeding series creator Uco Egmond, he gave the feature about youngster Eppo and antique salesman Ouwe a dynamic boost with his trademark slapstick artwork. The writer on duty during the Uilenbroek period was Alex van Koten. Like earlier in his career, René Uilenbroek had difficulties making his deadlines, forcing publisher Van Bavel to eventually replace the artist with Pieter Hogenbirk. When Hogenbirk left the comic in 2022, René Uilenbroek briefly resumed his role as 'Eppo' artist, until a permanent replacement was found in Aart Cornelissen.
'Harrie op Zolder' (Eppo #10, 2019).
In addition to 'Soeperman' and 'Eppo', René Uilenbroek made several additional contributions to the Don Lawrence Collection and Eppo magazine. Even though he personally wasn't inspired by the artists of MAD magazine, he was a notable contributor to DLC's short-lived 2011-2012 relaunch of the Dutch edition of this satirical magazine, edited by Ger Apeldoorn. For Eppo issue #16 of 2013, dedicated to the classic comic magazine Pep, Uilenbroek created a new story of Jan van Haasteren's Pep comic feature 'Baron van Tast', written by Remco Polman. In 2019 and 2020, he returned to Eppo's pages with the comic series 'Harrie op Zolder', written by Marq van Broekhoven, starring two women with a vegetarian restaurant and an alcoholic comic artist living upstairs.
Final years and death
After a period of ill health, René Uilenbroek died from a serious fall in his home. He was 63 years old. Over the years, he has been named an influence and inspiration by Rutger Ockhorst, David de Rooij, Maarten Janssens and Gerben Valkema.
Self-portrait (from the second 'Stanley' album).