Donald Duck - 'Good Scouts' (Donald Duck #15, 1979). © Disney
Jules Coenen was a Dutch artist, who has worked on Disney-related artwork in both the Netherlands and the USA. From the 1970s until the 1990s, he was a regular penciler and inker for the Dutch Donald Duck weekly, and had a stint as inker on the American 'Donald Duck' newspaper strip.
Dutch Disney magazines
Born in 1959, Jules Coenen was still a teen when he began his collaboration with the Dutch publisher of Disney comics, Oberon. From 1977 until the early 1980s, he was one of the regular artists for the local production of Disney comics, contributing to the Donald Duck weekly and the monthly magazine Mickey Maandblad. Initially, he was inking Ed van Schuijlenburg's pencils on some back-up 'Brer Rabbit' stories, and also cover lay-outs by Daan Jippes. After a while, Coenen began penciling stories with characters like 'Donald Duck', 'The Big Bad Wolf', 'Goofy' and, again, 'Brer Rabbit'. While he mostly worked from scripts by others, such as Wijo Koek, Hanco Kolk or Ruud Straatman, he occasionally wrote his own stories.
In his 2004 obituary article for Stripschrift magazine, former Disney art supervisor Ed van Schuijlenburg remembered Jules Coenen's comics as "calm, atmospheric, and easy to read", and praised the artist for his "good direction" and "knack for the Disney style". Even though he was a freelancer, Coenen often came to the editorial offices to draw, as he enjoyed the atmosphere and overall camaraderie there.
American period
Inspired by the transatlantic success of Dutch Disney artist Daan Jippes, Jules Coenen decided to move to Los Angeles as well in the early 1980s. There, he resumed his work on Disney-related art, but mostly as an inker. In the USA, he worked regularly for the Al White Studios, doing inking duties and illustration work for Disney art in books and magazines. Sometimes he worked directly for the Walt Disney Company, for instance in 1986 and 1987, when he was inking the daily 'Donald Duck' strip, which at the time was penciled by Jørgen Klubien and then Tony Strobl. During the 1980s, he also provided inking work to the 'Mickey Mouse' newspaper strip, penciled by Román Arámbula. In between, well-paid advertising jobs came along, securing Coenen a steady income.
As he couldn't miss the Dutch winters, Coenen made annual trips back to the Netherlands during his first US period. That way, he also stayed in touch with the Dutch Disney editors, for whom he continued to work. During the 1990s, he for instance did inking duties on Disney comic stories penciled by Bas Heymans and Jaap Stavenuiter.
Final years and death
After living and working in the USA for over twenty years, Coenen's assignments by both Al White and the Disney Company dried up. Around 2000, computers had taken over a lot of the work. He managed to stay afloat for a couple of years, but then decided to return to the Netherlands. Two days after his flight back home, Jules Coenen suddenly died from thrombosis, only a couple of weeks before his 45th birthday.
'Br'er Rabbit' (Donald Duck #42, 1982). © Disney.