Marc Sleen
Political caricaturist
Marc Sleen was born in Gentbrugge on 30 December 1922 as Marcel Honoree Nestor Neels. After studying art at Ghent's Institute Saint Luc, Sleen started as political caricaturist at De Standaard newspaper in 1944.
Popular comic strips
Sleen's first comic strip stems from this period. "De avonturen van Neus" (The adventures of Nose) tells the tale of a character with a large nose, looking at current affairs from a new angle. After a couple of comic strip experiments- Doris Dobbel and Oktaaf Keuninck- Sleen was to create one of the most popular comic strips in Flanders: So much pleasure we had, young and old, reading the adventures of those good-for-nothing "Lustige kapoentjes" (The little jolly capons), Bikini, Mielke, Oscar and Long Jo. Village policeman Vanmeel gave Flurk a taste of his truncheon and Moeder Stans was always ready with her carpet-beater!
Children's comic strip
"Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke" was another big hit. This children's comic strip was centred on a father and son relationship, in which good-natured father always seemed to end up paying for his son's pranks. As well as these jewels - he was a stripaholic if anyone was - Marc Sleen is mainly known as the spiritual father of Nero, who never failed to make us laugh, aided and abetted by Madame Nero, his wife, his genius son Adhemar, Mister and Madame Pheip and little Clo-Clo, detective Van Zwam, Jef Pedal, pirate Tuizentfloot, Petoetje and Petatje, muscleman Jan Spier, Sicilian gangster Ricardo, Pietje de Death, tugboat captain Oliepul... and a bunch of other colourful characters.
Unrivalled caricaturist
The humour of this series tends towards satire. The strip is full of comic situations and razor-sharp references to topical events. Marc Steen is an unrivalled caricaturist and regularly introduces famous firms and international VIPs into his strips, including Eddy Merckx, Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Dehaene, Idi Amin Dada to name but a few. During his career Marc Sleen was to draw more than 200 Nero stories almost single-handedly; a world record that gives him a deserved place in the Guinness Book of Records. Recent years saw him work with Dirk Stallaert. Sleen has received a large number of distinctions for his work. "Het Lachvirus" (The laughing virus) won him the Prix Saint-Michel in 1974. In 1993, "De Gouden Adhemar" (The Golden Adhemar) was honored with the Flemish Price of the Comic Review. Two years later in 1995 his "How" trilogy bagged the prize for the best comic strip story from the Belgian Chamber of Comic Experts. He has even been knighted.
Issue: Belgium, 30 december 2002
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