Theo van den Boogaard

Theo van den Boogaard was only fifteen years old when his first comic, 'Mark, Boter bij de Vis', was published by publisher Kennemer in 1964. After this he produced many illustrations for music magazine Hitweek, including the 'Striptease' series, in which he used songtexts to illuminate social criticism. In 1967 Van den Boogaard and Jan Donkers started the comic series 'Witje en Gertje' for Hitweek, which was continued in magazine Aloha in 1968-69. For Studio he drew 'Pinokkio' in 1968.

In 1969, Theo van den Boogaard started the comic 'Ans en Hans krijgen de Kans' in Aloha, and later in magazine Chick. This comic, about a young couple and their sexual experiments, was quite provocative for the time. For the youngsters of the Dutch sixties, the 'Ans en Hans' comix stood for free sexuality.

For magazine Gandalf, Van den Boogaard drew the comic 'Jan Alleman' in 1970-71, also a comic full of social and political criticism. In 1972, he started the comic 'Abe, een hotshot van een voetballerina' for magazine Voetbal International, on texts by Nico Scheepmaker.

Van den Boogaard broke into mainstream comics with the 'Sjef van Oekel' series, which appeared in Nieuwe Revu from 1976. With this adaptation of TV personality Van Oekel (a mixture of an opera singer, a door-to-door salesman and an anarchist gentleman-philosopher), van den Boogaard and scriptwriter Wim T. Schippers had a big hit. The typical nonsensical Van Oekel language found its way into everyday speech.

Actor Dolf Brouwers, who played the character of Sjef van Oekel, was initially flattered by the comic series. But as the comics turned more bizarre and profane, Brouwers felt that this reflected badly on his own persona. And since he had never received any of the money the comic generated, he took the matter to court. In 1991, a judge decided that Brouwers' likeness was no longer to be portrayed in "obscene or pornographic situations". A financial settlement was agreed upon in 1992.

Theo van den Boogaard is much admired for his detailed clear line drawings. In later years, he has concentrated on widely different free and commercial works, many of which were collected in the exquisite catalogue 'Taal en teken' (Oog & Blik, 1992). In 2010 he published 'Streken van een Serialtekenaar', a collection of new comics and drawings, including the series 'Kenschetsen' (originally published in De Volkskrant) and new 'Witje en Gitje' stories.