Berck

Flemish artist Arthur Berckmans, who used the pseudonym Berck, started his career publishing religious drawings in the Jesuites monthly Pro Apostolis. There, he also created his first comics, namely 'La Vie de Saint Ignace' and 'Le Père de Smet au Nebraska'. He made advertising comics from 1955, and joined Tintin magazine three years later. His most notable work for this magazine is the series about cabdriver 'Strapontin' (with René Goscinny and later Jacques Acar). Along with writer Yves Duval, he produced several other comics throughout the 1960s, such as 'Rataplan', 'Panchito', 'Ken Krom' and 'Lady Bount'.

In addition, he cooperated with Leo Loedts on several stories for the magazines of the publishing house Altoria in Averbode. Under the name Studio Arle, they created among others 'Wim en Eric: De Verdwenen Sloep' (1965) and the adventure series 'De Zwartepinken', with scripts by Maurice Renders (1965-1972) in Zonneland.

In 1968, Berck transferred from Tintin to Spirou, where he changed from his strict style to a looser, more liquid one. He started out with the 'Mulligan' series, written by Raymond Macherot and Yvan Delporte. However, it was the gangster series 'Sammy' that became his most famous creation. 'Sammy', created along with writer Raoul Cauvin, first appeared in 1970 and became one of the staples of Spirou magazine.

While drawing 'Sammy', Berck also worked for the Dutch and Flemish press. He created the daily comic 'Lombok' in cooperation with Daniel Jansens in Het Gazet van Antwerpen. He also appeared in the Dutch magazines Sjors and Eppo with series like 'Lowietje' and 'De Donderpadjes'.

From 1972 to 1974, he created the humorous science-fiction series 'Mischa' for the German Rolf Kauka studios in the magazine Primo, often in cooperation with Francis, Raoul Cauvin, Guy Bollen or Lucien De Gieter. Arthur Berckmans retired in 1994, handing over the artwork of the 'Sammy' series to Jean-Pol.