'De Stripfreak'. Translation: "Somewhere in the soul of the true comics fan a superhero is hidden." - "If you really find it that scary, I'm willing to change that lamp for you."
Vick Debergh is a Dutch commercial artist and cartoonist, who has operated under the banner Inktvlek Producties. He has been a regular contributor to Stripglossy magazine, for which he made the cartoon series 'De Stripfreak', about a comic book fanatic. Debergh additionally drew a celebrity comic series about Dutch poet Jules Deelder, titled 'Juul Deeldert', and he is also notable for making artwork related to famous Dutch humor comic artist Peter de Smet (of 'De Generaal' fame). Since 2018, Debergh has been drawing episodes of a juvenile spin-off of De Smet's signature comic, titled 'Het Generaaltje'.
Life and career
Patrick Vandebergh was born in 1972 in Heerlen, in the Dutch southern province of Limburg. Since 2009, Debergh has made comic strips and cartoons for commercial clients, including the waste organization AREA Reiniging ('Bartje Bak'), the Amsterdam Rozentheater and for Stichting Weerklank, a foundation for people with special sensory experiences, such as hearing voices or seeing images. In addition, he has published his own comics on the online comics portal Stripster and his own social media channels. These have included the cartoon series 'Gekke Henkie' and 'De Stripfreak', as well as a celebrity comic strip based on Rotterdam poet Jules Deelder (who also wrote comics for Rob Peters), called 'Juul Deeldert'. His adventure comic 'Sikje - Olie voor Irak' (2007-2008) was first serialized in Nicky Saxx Magazine by André Wijntjes' publishing imprint Kippenvel, and in 2010 released in book format in the Nooitgedacht collection. Debergh, who mostly signs with simply "Vick", has additionally self-published an album about a gang of loitering seniors, called 'De Vandalen' (2011). Since 2016, Debergh's "cartoon column" about comic fandom, 'De Stripfreak', has been running in Stripglossy magazine of the publishing house Personalia.
'De Vandalen'.
Het Generaaltje
Debergh's main graphic influence is Peter de Smet, the legendary Dutch comic artist known for his gag comic 'De Generaal', which ran for decades in Eppo magazine. Each episode featured a dumb general trying to stage a military coup on a fort, but failed no matter how he tried. In 2016, when De Smet's signature comic celebrated its 45th anniversary, Debergh drew a special homage episode of 'De Generaal', printed in Stripglossy #1. In 2018, he expanded on this idea, again in Stripglossy, launching a tribute comic feature about De Smet's power-hungry general in his younger years. It turned out that De Generaal and his cronies were already trying to conquer the fort since childhood, which makes their adult efforts even more tragicomical. In addition to his comic stories, Debergh also constructed a remote-controlled miniature version of the general's trademark tank.
'Het Generaaltje' (Stripglossy #8, March 2018).
Blook
In 2019, Debergh revived another classic Dutch comic hero, namely Johnn Bakker's superhero parody 'Blook'. With permission of Bakker's daughter Babiche Bakker, a new comic book of the superhero parody was published in late 2019 under the Proton Comics imprint.
Gezond Verstand
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Debergh was one of the Dutch cartoonists who expressed strong criticism against the government's lockdown measures. Feeling the rules are used to feed fear to the public, he has associated himself with the alternative newspaper Gezond Verstand ("Common Sense"), launched by journalist Karel van Wolferen on 30 September 2020. Besides articles regarding the COVID-19 crisis, the paper has also provided critical articles on other subjects. Claiming to bring news the mainstream press doesn't offer, the paper has been controversial for supporting conspiracy theories. Since the start, Debergh has been a regular cartoonist for the paper. Another notable comic artist who has contributed to Gezond Verstand is Eric Heuvel.
After years of living and working in the Limburg town of Meerssen, Vick Debergh has by 2024 relocated to Cered, a village in Nógrád county, Hungary.
Vick DeBergh and Babiche Bakker in front of Lambiek, 3 March 2020. On 6 March of that year, Debergh presented his latest book, 'Blook' in our store.