'Bingo'. Translation: "Hello, I sell..." (talks silently)...- "What do you sell? I don't understand you! I have the feeling that this hearing aid has been sold to me in a seedy way."
Marc de Boer is a Dutch comic artist and cartoonist for newspapers, mostly active in the Zaan region. During the 1980s, he was a member of the Comic Collectief, an Amsterdam comics collective whose gag comics mostly ran in the Communist newspaper De Waarheid. Besides writing gags for other cartoonists, De Boer also had his own short-lived comic, 'Ranonkel Verbogge' (1985). After the Comic Collectief was dissolved, he was the only member that remained active as a cartoonist. In the mainstream press, De Boer is best known for the gag-a-day comics 'Jans Dans' (1985-1988), 'Bingo' (1985- ) and 'Willem en Max', and also as the house cartoonist of Dagblad Zaanstreek. His gags rely heavily on corny humor, visual jokes and wordplay.
Cover illustrations for Baal and TNT.
Early life and comics career
Born in 1965, De Boer was still a kid when he published the first seven issues of his stencilled amateur comic magazine Baal with his friend Albert-Jan Bulterman (1979). Between 1981 and 1984, nine more issues followed, which also contained contributions by Kerst Brouwer, Wim Burggraaf, Danny De Haes (Tosti), Frits Keizer, Remco de Korte, Edward Koster, Chooferd Mesman, Ben van de Outenaar, Rinus Peters, Frans Smits (Snarf), Klaas Visscher and Herwin Walravens. Additional appearances in Baal were by the Flemish cartoonist Pirana and established names from the Dutch alternative comic scene, such as Paul Bodoni, Peter Pontiac, Mark Smeets and Hendrik J. Vos. Most of his early cartoons appeared under the pseudonym Maraboe (in reference to the African marabou stork) and were very reminiscent of the shocking comics published in the French magazine Charlie-Hebdo.
In addition to Baal, De Boer also contributed to other small press publications, such as Henry van Hooff's Coyote, Remco de Korte's Rats and Ernst van Veenendaal's TNT. Other early work by De Boer appeared in the local newspaper De Zaanlander, the student magazine Propria Cures and the first eight issues of Rhaa Lovely, the Dutch edition of Fluide Glacial (1982). His 'Zotverdorie' cartoons were published in Panorama. Between 1982 and 1985, much of Maraboe's adult-oriented comics and cartoons were collected by Amice and Drukwerk in books like 'Ik Ben Het Zot', 'Hoezo Dwaas', 'Cucurico', 'Prettig Gestoord' and 'Zotverdorie!'.
Cartoon by Marc De Boer. Translation: "No, Fikkie... not in front of the guests."
De Waarheid
By 1984, De Boer teamed up with Herwin Walravens and Ernst van Veenendaal to form the Comic Collectief in Amsterdam. As a team, they plotted together, and were largely responsible for the comics section of the Communist newspaper De Waarheid from late 1984 through mid 1985. The 'Supernutz' strip was a joint effort by Van Veenendaal and De Boer about a clumsy superhero, and appeared sporadically in the paper in October and November 1984. From November 1984 onwards, the Collectief team gradually replaced De Waarheid's more experienced comic artists Hein de Kort ('Korte Grappen'), Wim Stevenhagen ('Han & Hanneke') and Eric Schreurs ('Retep'). De Boer provided his own strip about 'Ranonkel Verbogge' (3 January through 1 April 1985), a character appearing alternately as a bankrobber, barfly, husband or an average man in the street. He also wrote gags for Alfred Bryan's 'Krent' (3 January through 1 April 1985) and Ernst van Veenendaal's 'Tater de Kater' (4 through 28 June 1985). Van Veenendaal also provided 'Thijs Anijs' (6 November through 31 December 1984) and 'Loenies' (2 April through 3 June 1985), while Walravens drew 'Red Cat' (2 April through 18 May 1985) under the pen name Herrie.
Friends of the trio, mostly former contributors to TNT, Rats and Baal, also made comic strips for De Waarheid, such as Remco de Korte ('Rats', 3 January through 1 April 1985), Gerrit Geitenoog ('Ondermaten', 4 April through 23 May 1985), Kerst Brouwer ('Het Lot(h) van Jonas', 31 May through 29 June 1985) and an artist known only as René ('Los Cocos', 30 May through 26 June 1985). In mid-1985, De Waarheid dropped its comics section, with a farewell strip by Ernst van Veenendaal and Marc de Boer appearing on 1 July. With Van Veenendaal and Alfred Bryan, Marc de Boer also attempted to make animated films of 'Tater de Kater', and in 1985, the Collectief team additionally released a parody of Donald Duck weekly called 'Bad Duck'.
'Ranonkel Verbogge', De Waarheid, 26 February 1985. Translation: "What?! You fell in love with a different man?? I wait just as long until I drown..."
Jans Dans
Later in 1985, De Boer moved from De Waarheid to the socialist newspaper Het Vrije Volk. For the occasion, he dropped the Maraboe moniker, and switched to signing with his first name, Marc. On 27 September 1985, his comic strip about pub crawler 'Jans Dans' (1985-1988) made its debut on the youth's page Onwijs. For this comic, De Boer abandoned his rough sketchy approach and settled in a style with influences from the slick Atomic Style, popular at the time through the Belgian artists Yves Chaland and Serge Clerc. 'Jans Dans' appeared irregularly on the Onwijs page for three years, with the final gag printed on 4 June 1988. In the meantime, Onwijs also ran Ernst van Veenendaal's 'Onwystrip' (13 November 1986 - 30 April 1988).
'Jans Dans' (Het Vrije Volk, 20 December 1985). Translation: "I'll bet you'll offer me a drink." - "Of course, my dear." - "Waiter, refill this lady's glass again..." - "Thanks." - "That's 95 guilders then..." - "Gulp.".
Bingo
In 1985, De Boer also created the comic strip about the zany dog 'Bingo'. The gag-a-day comic was a remarkable change for De Boer, as its tone was far more family friendly. It is unknown whether the comic was already published during the 1980s, but starting in 1991, the strip appeared in newspaper Courant Nieuws van de Dag. It possibly ran until the paper's final edition in 1998. After 1993, 'Bingo' was also published in newspapers in Aruba (Dagblad voor Aruba) and Belgium (Het Laatste Nieuws, De Nieuwe Gazet). Two book collections of 'Bingo' were published by Drukwerk in 1997.
'Mensenkinderen' (Dagblad Zaanstreek, 4 October 2008). Translation: "BRRR. It's cold in here. Is it O.K. if I keep my bonnet on inside?"
Dagblad Zaanstreek
Since the early 1990s, De Boer has been the house cartoonist for the Dagblad Zaanstreek supplement of the regional newspaper Noordhollands Dagblad (previously named De Typhoon), distributed in the towns of the Zaan district of North Holland. He makes a daily topical cartoon based on the regional news, and from 1994 on he also made a cartoon or comic for the weekly children's page 'Mensenkinderen'. A selection of his work for 'Mensenkinderen' was published in book format under the title 'Vroemkool & Snelderij' (2008). In 2002-2003, De Boer illustrated a series for the paper of local Zaan rhymes by Klaas Woudt, later collected in the book 'Op een Hebbel en een Drebbel'.
Willem & Max
For the free quarterly royalty magazine Oranje Boven, during at least the 2010s and 2020s, De Boer has also made the gag comic 'Willem en Max', a spoof of the Dutch royal couple Willem-Alexander and Maxima. Other gag comics about the Dutch royal couple have been Ruud Straatman's 'Royaal Modaal' (2003-2006) and Herman Roozen and Pieter Hogenbirk's 'Van Oranje' (2016-2018).
Maraboe revival
In 2025, after a forty year absense, Marc de Boer picked up his Maraboe pen name again for a new series of gag cartoons, which he posts on his Instagram account.
'Willem & Max'. The Dutch king and queen are preparing for a visit by the Belgian royal couple and have ordered clothing by "a Belgian designer". Their gnome outfit is a reference to the Flemish children's TV series 'Kabouter Plop'.