Have you heard of the 17 U.N Goals?
Que savez vos des 17 ODDs des nations Unies?
On this Christmas day we are honoured to release our interview with this artist who has long caught our attention thanks to her ability to express complex global issues within a single page of colourful, vibrant cartoon. Please watch our interview with Margreet with students across our YCW network to learn more about how she came to create this and other works worthy of attention.
En ce jour de Noël, nous sommes honorés de publier notre entretien avec cette artiste qui a longtemps retenu notre attention grâce à sa capacité à exprimer des problèmes mondiaux complexes au sein d'une seule page de dessin animé coloré et vibrant. Nous vous invitons à visionner notre entretien entre Margreet et des élèves de notre réseau JCM pour en savoir plus sur la façon dont elle en est venue à créer cette œuvre et d'autres dignes d'attention.
THE LIFE OF MARGREET DE HEER
La vie de Margreet de Heer
'Liefde in Beeld'.
Margreet de Heer is a Dutch author of mainly informative comics, and one of the foremost promotors of the comics medium in the Netherlands. Originally a theologist, she started out in the Dutch small-press scene of late 1990s and early 2000s with a variety of autobiographical comics, including her 'Kinderleed Komix' series. Her regular comics features for Dutch magazines, such as 'Mijntje' (2004- ), 'Isa' (2004-2008) and 'Stella' (2005-2008, 2012-2013), paved the way for a professional career. She gradually shifted towards comic reports on philosophical subjects, with herself in a starring role. These resulted in her informative comic book series 'Discoveries in Comics' (since 2007), which she has made in a steady collaboration with her husband, colorist and soulmate Yiri T. Kohl. These insightful and funny looks at diverse topics like philosophy, religion, science, world domination and love have earned her international recognition with translations in English, Portuguese and Korean too. As the original editor of the Lambiek Comiclopedia (2000-2005) Margreet de Heer developed a wide knowledge of Dutch comic history and a keen eye for young talent, which she has guided through her own publishing label Senoeni and the online platform Daily Danger. Between 2017 and 2020, she served as "Comics Laureate of the Netherlands" ("Stripmaker des Vaderlands"). Her spearpoint during this period was promoting the usage of comics in the Dutch educational system.
Early life and career
Margreet de Heer was born in 1972 in Leiden. She grew up in several towns in the northern provinces of the Netherlands into a family of two reverends in the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1990, she moved to Amsterdam, where she shortly attended the Film Academy before studying Theology at the University of Amsterdam. From 1994 until 1996, she was an exchange student in Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon her return to the Netherlands, she started to take her hobby of drawing comics more seriously and joined Maaike Hartjes' comic studio De Zwarte Handel in 1998. She ranks Hartjes as one of her main artistic influences, together with Michiel van de Pol, Bill Watterson, Scott McCloud and the 'Van Nul tot Nu' series by Thom Roep and Co Loerakker. Her first self-published comic, 'Misc. I', appeared in 1999, and was soon followed by 'How To Get Over Your Ex?' (1999). Around that time, Margreet graduated as a theologist.
Margreet with the Lambiek webteam in August 2004.
Lambiek
Not feeling that she had a "calling" in the church, she decided to look for a job involving comics. She found one at the comic store Lambiek in Amsterdam, where she worked for five years as a web designer. Margreet edited the Comiclopedia on this website together with Bas Schuddeboom, and also set up the Dutch section about the history of comics in the Netherlands; all under the watchful eye of Lambiek's founder Kees Kousemaker. Together with Kousemaker she also compiled 'De Wereld van de Nederlandse Strip', a richly illustrated book about Dutch comics, published by Terra in 2005. De Heer has called this period at the "Kousemaker Academy" the actual foundation of her future career.
Kinderleed Komix / Senoeni
During her period with Lambiek, Margreet steadily continued to work on her own comics. In the autumn of 2002, she started the self-published comic book series 'Kinderleed Komix', about her recent experiences as a stepmother. In the following year, she founded Senoeni Comics Productions, through which she published not only her own comics, but also those of children who showed a talent and interest in comics. As print publications became too expensive during the financial crisis in 2008, she continued to coach young talent through the Daily Danger website between 2008 and 2011. Among the young authors guided by Margreet throughout the years are Wouter Goudswaard, Daniël Arruda Massa, Pim Steinmann, Aimée de Jongh, Emma Ringelberg, Melanie Kranenburg and Jonathan van Engelenhoven. Senoeni Productions also released the collective books 'Strips in Stereo - Bootleg' (2006) and 'Sprookjes in Strookjes' (2006), which contained comics interpretations of songs and fairy tales, respectively.
'Isa'.
Isa / Stella / Mijntje
Gradually, Margreet's work found its way to magazines. Sanoma's weekly magazine for girls Yes published her strip 'Isa' between 2004 and 2008, while her strip 'Het Dagboek van Stella' ran on the back pages of Flo' magazine by Malmberg in the period 2005-2008. A slightly older Stella later returned in Francine Oomen's Hoe Overleef Ik magazine in 2012-2013. Both comics where humorous depictions of the everyday life and worries of an adolescent girl. Margreet's longest running character is the free-spirited 'Mijntje', which is published in the lesbian's magazine Zij aan Zij since the Spring of 2004. 'Mijntje' goes down in history as the Netherlands' first (and only) bi-sexual comic character.
'Mijntje'.
Other comics in the 2000s
Shorter-lived series were 'Robin & Julie' for the Belgian magazine Farfelu (2006-2008), 'Rens & Gevoelens' for Margreet Dolman's magazine Mens & Gevoelens (2006) and 'Babytalk' for VivaMama (2007-2008). Her character 'Roos' was created for niet-lief.nl, a website for fetish supplies, while 'Shrooma' advertised for magic mushrooms on wholecelium.com. She was also hired as a scriptwriter for magazines Jippo ('Nino & Nena', art by Floris de Smedt), Okki ('Okki', art by Adrie Janssen and other members of Tekenteam) and National Geographic Junior ('Stuntelman', art by Sander de Fouw), and was for hire as a cartoonist at conventions and board meetings.
Part of Margreet's comical take on the "War On Terror", which went viral short after its online publication in March 2003.
By 2006 she also ventured into the field of newspaper comics with the autobiographical series 'Echt', which she made in alternation with five other artists for NRC.Next. The other artists involved were Michiel van de Pol, Floor de Goede, Maaike Hartjes, Gerrie Hondius, and Barbara Stok. But it were the monthly comic reports on philosophical subjects that she made for newspaper Trouw between 2007 and 2010 that paved the way for her groundbreaking series of "Discoveries in Comics" as they caught the attention of Meinema publisher Kees Korenhof.
Part of Margreet's philosophical comic dealing with the death of Kees Kousemaker in 2010.
Discoveries in Comics
The first of this series, called 'Filosofie in Beeld', dealt with western philosophy and was published by Meinema. The book was presented in Gallery Lambiek in March 2010. The follow-up, 'Religie in Beeld', took a look at the five world religions and was presented in Lambiek on 25 February 2011. 'Wetenschappen in Beeld', the third installment, dealt with science and was published in October 2012. 'Wereldheerschappij in Beeld' dealt with world domination and was published in 2015. 'Liefde in Beeld' (2017) is for now the final volume in the series.
'Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics'.
The books are widely praised for the playful and readable way they deal with difficult subject matter. The author treats the sometimes sensitive subjects from several points of view, thus avoiding partiality, and interweaves the informative parts with doubts and personal thoughts through representations of herself and her husband. Her book about philosophy was the first to be translated into English. It was published as 'Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics' by the US publisher NBM in August 2012. 'Science: a Discovery in Comics' followed in September 2013, and 'Religion: a Discovery in Comics' in 2015. The books have also been published in Brazil and Korea.
Collaboration with Yiri T. Kohl
Since 2008, Margreet has worked in close collaboration with her husband, comic artist, painter and poet Yiri T. Kohl, who acts as her sounding board and colorist. The two have also developed the gag strip 'ZMan - De Man van de Straatkrant' (2016), which was intended for free street newspapers, but was eventually published in StripNieuws and Stripglossy. Margreet and Yiri also participate in theatrical activities, such as the Terra:Extremitas art event with the theatre company FoolishPeople in 2008, the annual summer courses at Oxford University and the on location performances of the Frisian theater group WIG Producties. Events that are afterwards often chronicled in online comics reports.
'Zo Zat Dat'.
Other comics
In 2013, Margreet made an informative comic book about the history of Dutch comics in commission of the Meermanno Museum in The Hague. Since 2012 she has a regular page called 'Dominee De Heer' in Predikant & Samenleving, the magazine for Dutch pastors, in which she presents an alternate version of herself that did end up dedicating her life to theology. For the scientific magazine Wetenschap in Beeld, she makes an informative strip about history called 'Zo Zat Dat' (2016-). Since 2017, she is also one of the cartoonists for the popular childrens' science magazine Quest Junior. In 2017, Margreet made comic strips about the Ten Commandments for the book 'Zodat Het Je Goed Gaat', which also features short stories by theologist Karel Eykman.
Comic Artist Laureate of the Netherlands
Between 2017 and 2020, Margreet served as "Comic Artist Laureate of the Netherlands" ("Stripmaker des Vaderlands"). The function was initiated by the aaStrips foundation, and aimed to represent the comic medium in the Netherlands in all its facets, in a way similarly to what the "Poet Laureate" does for poetry. On 12 October 2017, Margreet was elected over three other contestants: Robert van der Kroft, Pieter Hogenbirk and Maaike Hartjes. Right from the start, her goal was to promote the use of comics in the Dutch educational system. Together with former Comiclopedia colleague Bas Schuddeboom and high school teacher Willard Mans, she compiled a guide of 55 Dutch and Flemish graphic novels for inclusion on high school reading lists, presented on 7 November 2018 in the Scheltema book store in Amsterdam. In late 2020, the team compiled a follow-up with 33 new graphic novels released in the period 2018-2020 alone. To win over still hesitant teachers, Margreet and Willard held presentations at teachers' congresses and other events. The initiative was well received, with a lot of press coverage. Between September 2018 and June 2019, she also made a comic column for the teachers' magazine Van Twaalf Tot Achttien.
One of the comic timelines made by Margreet during her tenure as "Comic Artist Laureate of the Netherlands" (English version).
As the comic representative, she additionally handed out the annual Stripschap Awards, successively to Peter van Dongen (2018), Typex (2019) and Wasco (2020), and acted as co-host of Robin Vinck's Stripjournaal podcast, where she had her own "Comic Artist Laureate Reading Section". During her three year term, she chronicled the progress of her activities in comic timelines, appearing in magazines StripNieuws and Stripglossy. Further experimenting with the genre of comic journalism, she made comic interviews with several people from the Dutch comic scene, published in Eppo, Stripglossy and StripNieuws. At the end of her period as "Comic Artist Laureate of the Netherlands", Margreet compiled all the comics she made while in function in a luxury book. To fund the project, she organized a playful crowdfunding campaign. For promotion, she kept true to her initial slogan: "She strips for her country!". She let herself be photographed in the nude, and asked several comic artists to further decorate these "blotos" ("bloot" means nude in Dutch) with their art. Besides artistic and funny results, the initiative and the ensuing press coverage also turned into a powerful statement of body positivity. With her project fully funded, 'Strip Holland Strip' (Personalia, 2021) appeared in March 2021 with a print run of 1,000 copies. By then, Margreet was already succeeded in her role as "Comic Artist Laureate" by Herman Roozen. Margreet continues her quest to promote comics in schools in the role of "OASE" ("Openbaar Aanspreekpunt Strips en Educatie"): the "Public Contact Point for Comics and Education".
Comic interview with Spider-Man for Jump magazine #8, 2021(English version).
Work with Personalia
A great help to Margreet's Comic Artist Laureate projects was publisher Seb van der Kaaden of Personalia, and this resulted in further collaborations. She was guest editor-in-chief of the 16th edition of Personalia's Stripglossy (March 2020), fully devoted to the 2020 (canceled) Songfestival. She gathered enough comic material to fill a supplemental songfestival comic book, appearing in the following year as 'SNGFSTVL & STRIPS' (Zero Points Publications, 2021), co-edited by Dolly Bellefleur (stage name of cross-dresser Ruud Douma). Also in 2020, she participated in the launch of the new children's comics monthly Jump. It is named after the comic series by Charel Cambré, and contains mainly translated foreign material and reprints of classic Dutch comics, including Margreet's 'Dagboek van Stella'. A new production each month is a video call interview of ten-year old editor-in-chief Tim (the son of publisher Van der Kaaden) with one of his heroes. It is then transformed by Margreet into a comics collage of stills from the video and illustrations.
Graphic contributions
In 2020, she joined 75 Dutch & Flemish comic artists to make a graphic contribution to the free collective comic book 'Striphelden versus Corona' (Oogachtend, Uitgeverij L, 2020). The book is intended to support comics stores who had to close their doors for two months during the lockdown at the height of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.