Spike and Suzy

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Spike and Suzy (U.K.) or Bob & Bobette (U.K. and France) or Willy and Wanda (U.S.) is a series of comic books, originally written in Flemish (Belgian Dutch) under the title Suske en Wiske. Willy Vandersteen (1913-1990) created the series in the 1940s. New books are still behing created, and remain popular among children in the Netherlands and Belgium. As of 2005, more than 250 books have been published. Many Flemish and Dutch adults consider the older books to be classics of the comic book genre.

Each episode is first published as a comic strip in the newspaper De Standaard (among others) and then collected in comic book format.

1 Main characters
2 Other characters
- 2.1 Krimson
- 2.2 Arthur
3 History
- 3.1 Character evolution
4 Authors
5 Albums
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

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Main characters

The main characters are part of a "family" of sorts, which first featured only Suske, Wiske, Tante Sidonia and Lambik. Later, in De dolle musketiers (book 89, 1953), Jerom, the self-proclaimed "strongest man in the western hemisphere", was introducedTemplate:Ref.

Original Dutch/Flemish	English (U.S.A.)	English (U.K.)	French	Swedish	Danish	Finnish	Portuguese	Esperanto	Afrikaans	Chinese	Details
Suske	Willy	Spike	Bob	Finn	Finn (later: Bob)	Anu	Zé	Cisko	Neelsie	Dada or Bo bu	Main character
Wiske	Wanda	Suzy	Bobette	Fiffi	Fiffi (later: Bobette)	Antti	Maria	Vinjo	Miemsie	Beibei or Bo be te	Main character
Tante Sidonie/Tante Sidonia*	Aunt Sidonia	Aunt Sidonia	Tante Sidonie	Tant Klara	Tante Klara	Sanelma-Täti	Maricota	Onjo Sidonia	Tannie Hessie		Wanda's and Willy's aunt, who has a secret crush on Lambik
Lambik	Lambik	Ambrose	Lambique	Lamholt	Lamholt	Koikkalainen	Caninha	Lambik	Giepie		He has too much self-esteem, and almost always gets crushed by giants, shot by bad guys, or falls down and hurts his long nose
Jerom	Jerom	Jethro	Jérôme	Ferom	Angus	Jeremias	Quebra-Ossos	Jerom	Sagrijs		"Strongest man of the western hemisphere"
Professor Barabas	Professor Barabas	Professor Barnabas	Professeur Barabas	Professor Snillén	Professor Snille	Professori Tietonen		Profesoro Barabas			A great genius of our world
Schalulleke/Schabolleke/Schanulleke*	Sawdust	Muffin	Fanchon/Fanfreluche	Lisa	Lise	Liisa	Florisbella	Sanulinjo			Wanda's doll

Sidonie's name was later changed to Sidonia as Sidonie was considered too Flemish for the Dutch market. Schalulleke was later changed to Schabolleke and then to Schanulleke, for the same reason.

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Other characters

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Krimson

Principal bad guy, Krimson was introduced in Het rijmende paard (96, 1969). Later in the series, after having been in prison, he is forced to start over as a petty criminal. Growing stronger again, he manages to overthrow the Belgian government (De Krimson Crisis, book 215, 1988). In De Kwaaie Kwieten (book 209, 1987) he even constructs a top-secret military base capable of fighting extraterrestrials. For reasons unknown he often suffers from mental breakdowns, throwing fits until his butler force feeds him a large quantity of pills. Despite his name there is no connection between him and the colour crimson.

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Arthur

Lambik's younger brother who grew up in the jungle and gained the ability to fly from the juice of a plant. He is more primitive than his brother, but substantially smarter. He dresses in animal skins and wears a beard, though it is unknown if he, unlike Lambik, has much hair on his head as he always sports a bowler hat. He spends more time in the air and in trees than on the ground, and therefore has acquired some bird characteristics, such as standing on his hands instead of his feet and chirping while speaking. His favorite food is birdseed.

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History

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Character evolution

Over the course of the series, characters are added and changed, and stories become more didactic. Lambik and Jerom change significantly: in the beginning, Lambik was just an amusing fool, in current stories he is a cynical and sceptical man. In early stories, Jerom was portrayed as an ignorant strong man, but by now he is a wise man, although one of few words. In most stories Sawdust is just a puppet, but one very special to Suzy, and they are inseparable. In some stories Sawdust comes to life and plays an important role.

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Authors

Willy Vandersteen created "Suske en Wiske". He created also several other series, like De Rode Ridder (translated: The Red Knight). To have time for these series, he gave Paul Geerts the job of creating new albums of "Suske en Wiske" in 1968. Geerts did this until 2001, when he gave this task to Marc Verhaegen. From 2005 on, a team of writers and cartoonists makes the new series, led by Luc Morjeau.

These authors were helped by Studio Vandersteen.

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Albums

Before "Suske en Wiske" appeared as albums, they were published in many newspapers and magazines, such as:

1.De Standaard (daily newspaper) (1945-...)
2.Kuifje (weekly Dutch/Flemish version of the French/Belgian comic magazine, Tintin) (1948-1959)
3.Tintin (French version of Kuifje) (1948-1959)
3.TV Ekspres (weekly TV magazine) (1972-2001)
4.Suske en Wiske weekblad (weekly comics magazine) (1993-2003)

The following album series exist: