Soames & Co - 'De vlucht van de Condor' (Sjosji #25, 1995).
Anco Dijkman is a Dutch advertising illustrator and occasional comic artist based in Groningen. He is known for the comic series 'Soames & Co' (1988-1996) and 'Scarlett Edge' (2019- ).
Early life and career
Born in 1965, Dijkman grew up reading the work of Hans G. Kresse, Hermann, Paul Cuvelier, Hugo Pratt, André Franquin and Peter de Smet. He published his first comic strips in fanzines while attending the Art Academy in Groningen. His work was noticed by Peter de Smet, who took the young artist under his wing. De Smet got Dijkman in touch with the publishing house Big Balloon, who teamed him up with scriptwriter Jacques Post. Dijkman and Post created four short stories and one longer serial of 'Soames & Co', a detective comic set in England at the eve of World War II. These were published in Sjors & Sjimmie Stripblad (1988-1990) and SjoSji (1994-1996). In 2021, the publishing house Reboot Comics released the serial story, 'De vlucht van de Condor', in book format.
Commercial art
A proposed collaboration with Flemish comic artist Hec Leemans fell through, and Dijkman turned to commercial art instead. For over twenty years he made storyboards, visualizations and designed brochures. However, when interviewed for the complete reprint collection of Peter de Smet's 'De Generaal', he felt the urge to return to comics. His first effort was as the colorist of IJsbrand Oost's comic series 'Max Miller' in Eppo. He also participates in the artwork of this series since the third episode in 2016.
Scarlett Edge
In addition, Dijkman was working on a comic set in Groningen, called 'Scarlet Edge'. A first preview was published in the Stripglossy of publishing house Personalia in March 2018. Actual serialization took off in the magazine's fifteenth issue in December 2019. The story revolves around the reporters Bianca "Scarlet" Wierdendorp and Edge Onderdam who dive into the dark practices of the eccentric billionaire Hector de Cervantes de Mornay and his private secretary Vincent Taft. The story takes them to long forgotten places in the north of the Netherlands. In 2020, the regional papers Dagblad van het Noorden and Leeuwarder Courant also printed Dijkman's comic in their Saturday issues. A book publication followed at Personalia later that year. For comic news magazine StripNieuws, Dijkman has been making special "behind the scenes" episodes under the title 'Inside Scarlett Edge', with a special role for publisher Seb van der Kaaden.
Hospital diary
Publication of 'Scarlet Edge' was interrupted when the artist suffered an acute appendicitis in April 2020. He had to be hospitalized at the height of the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Extra security measures were taken, under the assumption that he might have been contaminated with COVID-19. Luckily he tested negative. In his hospital bed, the artist kept an illustrated diary. His colleague IJsbrand Oost inked Dijkman's sketches and provided the lettering. Dijkman's diary was published both in Dagblad van het Noorden and Stripglossy #17, temporarily replacing the regular 'Scarlet Edge' pages.
Cold case comics
In December 2021, through Personalia publisher Seb van der Kaaden, Dijkman and fellow cartoonist Meinte Strikwerda were assigned to make a two-page comic in commission of the Rotterdam police force, providing details of a cold case in the hope that informers or witnesses will come forward. Originating from an idea Van der Kaaden had proposed to the late crime reporter Peter R. de Vries - who was assassinated earlier that year - Dijkman and Strikwerda's first cold case comic went into circulation with wide media coverage on 30 December 2021. After that, more cold case comics were created in collaboration with the Peter R. de Vries Foundation. In January 2023, it was announced that Dijkman and Strikwerda's first Cold Case comic caused a breakthrough, with the 3D model of the perpetrator and the comic's new exposure to the case resulted in the apprehension of a suspect.
'Scarlet Edge' (Stripglossy #8, 2018).