Pieter van Oudheusden.
Pieter van Oudheusden was a Dutch comic writer, translator, magazine editor and teacher at a professional writer's school. As a comic writer, he alternated between stories for adults and ones made for children. He was most prolific as a scriptwriter for graphic novelist Jeroen Janssen, with whom he adapted African folk tales in an imaginative and erotic way. His erudite and poetic stories were illustrated by a great many Dutch and Flemish comic artists. Among his best-known children's comics work was for Mario Boon's 'Mon en Tuur' (2011-2012) and 'Junior Suske en Wiske' (2011-2013), the juvenile spin-off of 'Suske en Wiske'. For a period of 17 years, Van Oudheusden was additionally notable for his many contributions to the Dutch cultural magazine Zone 5300. During the final years of his life, he was the editor of the Dutch children's magazine BoekieBoekie.
Comics journalist and editor
Pieter van Oudheusden was born in 1957 in Puttershoek, in the Dutch province of South Holland. He studied audiovisual design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Starting in the 1980s, he was editor, text writer, critic and journalist for various comics-related magazines, such as Stripschrift, Zozolala, Titanic and Zone 5300. He interviewed a great many comic artists and writers, and was involved in the 1987-1988 restyling of Stripschrift at the publishing house Vonk. When this new direction was quickly canceled after one year, Van Oudheusden and Peter de Raaf launched the magazine De Toestand (1989-1991), a mix between his rendition of Stripschrift and the defunct comic magazine Titanic. From 1996 until his death in 2013, Van Oudheusden was a reviewer, journalist and scriptwriter for Zone 5300, the comics and culture magazine from Rotterdam.
Comic translator
Through Studio Peter de Raaf, Van Oudheusden started a long career of translating comic book series. Among them were titles from French-language comics, like Peyo's 'De Smurfs', Cosey's 'Jonathan', Yslaire's 'Samber', Jacques Martin's 'Alix', Éric Warnauts & Raives' 'Les Suite Vénetiennes', Pascal Rabaté's 'Ibicus', Manu Larcenet 'Le Combat Ordinaire', Vincent Cara's 'Reign' and Jean van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosinski's 'Thorgal'. From English to Dutch, he translated graphic novels by Posy Simmonds, Adrian Tomine's 'Scenes From an Upcoming Marriage' and Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's 'Y - The Last Man'. Annually, Van Oudheusden translated about 50 comic book titles. He also translated children's books, for instance Joyce Dunbar and James Mayhew's 'Mouse & Mole' series.
'De Wraak van Bakamé' and 'De Grote Toveraar. De Kruisweg van Mpyisi'. Artwork by Jeroen Janssen.
Comic scriptwriter (adult stories)
As a scriptwriter, Van Oudheusden worked with many Dutch and Flemish comic artists. A modest and scholarly man, Van Oudheusden explored all the dark recesses of human nature in his stories, interlaced with humor and melancholy. His collaboration with the Belgian artist Jeroen Janssen was the most fruitful. Together, they made graphic novels like 'Een Nachtegaal in de Stad' (2000), 'Klaarlichte Nacht' (2001), and a trilogy about African folklore character Bakamé the hare (2003-2010). Van Oudheusden's earliest script was co-written with Frank Herzen for the chivalry comic 'Koning Arthur. Lancelot en De Groene Ridder ' (1985), drawn by Gerrit Stapel. Together with performance poet Jules Deelder (under the pseudonym Julian de Joint), Van Oudheusden penned the gag comic 'Professor Hilarius' (De Lijn, 1985) and 'Topsland' (Bee Dee, 2004), both drawn by Rob Peters. He wrote 'Liefde en Verraad' for Fred Marschall, serialized in the Dutch comic magazine Titanic and in 1990 published in book format by Arboris. Van Oudheusden and Marshall also published 'De Ondergrondse Wegen van het Hart' (Gemeente Rotterdam, 1997).
With comic artist Jan Vervoort, Van Oudheusden made the series 'Freezer & Albedil' (Dynamo, 1992). Together with Erik Wielaert, he made a contemporary adaptation of the fairy tale 'Bluebeard'. For Adri van Kooten, he scripted 'De Laatste Engel' (Bee Dee, 2002) and 'Spertijd' (Bee Dee, 2006), a story set in an imaginary, army-occupied Europe. The Flemish artist Eva Cardon (Ephameron) illustrated Van Oudheusden's 'Weg' (Bries, 2010), a series of short stories about a bear and little fox, interconnected by a subplot about a young writer struggling with writer's block. With Mario Boon, Van Oudheusden made 'Mechtlo' (Comic Strips, 2003) and 'Catanova' (Oogachtend, 2014).
He additionally wrote short stories for Lian Ong ('Fatale Vrouwen' #10, Sherpa, 1990), Schwantz ('Haarlem van Heinde en Ver', Multiplex, 2008), Andrea Martens ('Arq', Sherpa, 2009), Jan Vriends, Fred de Heij, Michiel de Jong, Kim Duchateau, Aiméé de Jongh, Lode Devroe ('Painted Desert') and Alice Kok, most of which appeared in Rotterdam's alternative comic magazine Zone 5300. The book 'Het Hoofd van de Kunstenaar: 3x Bellen' (Museum Jan Cunen, Oss, 2008) featured short story comics scripted by Van Oudheusden and illustrated by Barend van Hoek, Paul Kleman, Marc Nagtzaam, Eric Odijk, Charlotte Schleiffert, Roland Sohier and Maarten Vande Wiele.
'The Nebraska Twins', a story in collaboration with Alice Kok for Zone 5300 (fall 2007).
Comic scriptwriter (children's stories)
A more light-hearted, long-running series on Van Oudheusden's resumé was 'Junior Suske en Wiske' (Standaard Uitgeverij, 2010-2013), a junior spin-off of Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske', drawn by Jeff Broeckx. This was a reboot of the 'Klein Suske en Wiske' series from the previous decade, drawn by Broeckx and written subsequently by Marc Legendre, Urbanus, Dirk Nielandt and Kris De Saegher. When Van Oudheusden became ill in 2012, he was succeeded by Willem Ritstier. Another juvenile comic by Van Oudheusden was 'Mon en Tuur' (Ballon Media, 2011-2012), drawn by Mario Boon. For Pieter Hogenbirk, he wrote the comic 'Steffie & Flint' for National Geographic Junior.
Children's picture books
Between 2002 and 2013, Van Oudheusden wrote several children's picture books for the publishing house De Eenhoorn, many of which received awards. These books were illustrated by mostly Flemish artists, such as Goele Dewanckel ('Ik Verveel Me Nooit'), Inge Bogaerts ('Mevrouw Ja en Meneer Nee', 'Toen Mijn Vader Een Reus Was') and Stefanie de Graef ('Scherven van de Memel'). Van Oudheusden's stories were characterized by their literary, philosophical texts and artistic drawings. With the publication of his final book, 'Scherven van de Hemel' (March 2013), he compared writing stories to making birdhouses: "Very nice if it works; annoying if it doesn't work". Besides being an author, Van Oudheusden was also an editor for BoekieBoekie, an art and literary magazine for children.
'Hangar 84', with Lode Devroe in Zone 5300 #80, 2007.
Illness and death
In September 2012, Pieter van Oudheusden was diagnosed with a brain tumor, for which he almost immediately underwent surgery and radiation. His illness, particularly how the brain damage changed his personality, were the subject of the award-winning documentary 'IK' (2013), in which creator Jona Honer followed the author during his final months. Van Oudheusden also chronicled his illness in the comic story 'Land's End' (illustrated by Aimée de Jongh), which he dedicated to his daughters. The story was printed in the January 2014 issue of Zone 5300.
In November 2013, Van Oudheusden died in Rotterdam at the age of 56 years. In her obituary for Zone 5300, Natasja van Loon noted that Van Oudheusden had no fear of death. On the contrary, he was even looking forward to it because "it was something he had never experienced before". A couple of years earlier, Van Oudheusden had expressed his philosophy on life and art in an interview with Michael Minneboo: "Everyone lives in their own fiction and uses it to make life bearable. For me, writing is an escape from the things you cannot control, and of course these things happen in every human life. You can jump high and low, but at a certain point it's your turn. In the meantime, keep life bearable by telling each other stories."
Posthumous releases
In 2020, Jeroen Janssen published 'Posthumus' (Sherpha, 2020), a graphic novel based on a previously unpublished script by Pieter van Oudheusden. The story is a biographical flashback on the life of Austrian composer Franz Schubert, though with creative and anachronistic liberties. For his preparation, Janssen visited certain locations in Schubert’s lifetime and added bonus sketch material in the back of the book. Another posthumous release was 'Hotel Mascara' (Fame Comics, 2021), a collection of women's portraits, illustrated by Serge Baeken.
'Liefde & Verraad' (artwork by Fred Marschall) and 'Spertijd' (artwork by Adri van Kooten).