Betty & Dodge #1 - 'Moord in Manhattan' (2008).
Thomas Du Caju is a Belgian comic artist who started out in animation. His first comics were realistically drawn action-packed crime series, such as 'Sabbatini' (scripted by Luc Morjaeu, 2005-2008) and 'Betty & Dodge' (with Pat Van Beirs and Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem, 2008-2012). Between 2005 and 2019, he was one of Merho's assistants on his long-running humorous comic series 'De Kiekeboes'. Du Caju is additionally known for illustrating various action-adventure comics set during World War II.
Early life and career
Thomas Du Caju was born in 1970 in Ostend (Oostende), near the Belgian coast. He spent a large part of his youth in Hamme, where his father worked as a surgeon. Captivated by everything involving design, technique and machinery from a young age, he received his artistic education studying Plastic Arts at the Sint-Lucas School of Arts in Ghent. After graduation, he became a storyboard, lay-out artist and set designer at Graphics & Animations in Antwerp, working on animated series such as 'Ivanhoe', 'WinneToons' and 'Turtle Island'. Another artist employed with Graphics & Animations was Charel Cambré.
Studio 100
Between 1999 and 2005, Du Caju was employed by the children's TV production company Studio 100, where he specialized in 3D work (CGI). He created the special effects in the film 'K3 en het Magische Medaillon' (2004), starring the girl pop group K3. He also produced artwork for promotional material and merchandise. Other artists who worked at the company were Wim Swerts & Luc Vanas, Jean-Pol, Luc Morjaeu, Charel Cambré, Peter Quirijnen, Bruno De Roover, Mario Boon and Filip Heyninck.
Sabbatini #3- 'Black Requiem' (2006).
Sabbatini
While working at Studio 100, Thomas Du Caju got acquainted with the comic artist Luc Morjaeu, who suggested he should make a career switch to comics. With Morjaeu as scriptwriter, Du Caju created the crime series 'Sabbatini' (2005-2008), of which the four albums were published by Dupuis under its Mezzanine imprint. The first album was also translated into French. 'Sabbatini' revolves around a Ghent-based secret agent of Italian descent, who investigates cases in collaboration with commissioner Bourlon. Sabbattini's rebellious sister Caterina shares an apartment with the forensic pathologist Isabelle, who has a professional relationship with Sabbatini. The stories are action-packed thrillers with lots of gruesome violence and dry comedy. Plotlines often take inspiration from historical events and characters, intertwined with conspiracy theories. In 'De Codex Robotica' (2006), for instance, Sabbatini discovers a conspiracy within the Vatican to suppress a secret invention by Leonardo Da Vinci. 'Black Requiem' (2007) delves into a freemason scheme involving Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's mysterious death.
Assistant work
Between 2005 and 2019, Du Caju was an assistant on Merho's humorous comic series 'De Kiekeboes'. He succeeded Dirk Stallaert, who left to join Studio Vandersteen and work on 'Suske en Wiske'. Originally, Du Caju formed a team with Steve Van Bael and Peter Koeken, until in 2007 Van Bael was replaced by Kristof Fagard in 2007. When Du Caju left Merho in 2019, Van Bael was rehired. On occasion, Du Caju has also worked for Luc Morjaeu on the 'Suske en Wiske' comic, for instance producing a realistic rendition of Rembrandt's 'Nachtwacht' painting in the episode 'De Nachwachtbrigade' (2006) and drawing the backgrounds of 'De Harteloze Hein' (2023).
Betty & Dodge #2 - 'Crash In Québec' (2009).
Betty & Dodge
When Du Caju's daughter went to school, she happened to be a classmate of the daughter of film director, screenwriter and novelist Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem. As she was a fan of 'De Kiekeboes', Van Rijkeghem's daughter recognized Du Caju's name. Both fathers got along well and as such the idea grew to create a World War II comic together. Van Rijkeghem had never written for comics before, but felt it was an interesting challenge. Since he always co-wrote juvenile novels with Pat Beirs, he brought along his creative partner too. The end result was 'Betty & Dodge' (2008-2012), a historical action-adventure comic series set during the 1930s and 1940s.
Betty & Dodge #5 - 'Vermist in Madrid' (2011).
The protagonist of the series is Betty Burgess, the daughter of a rich aristocrat. One day, she finds out she was born out of wedlock. Her real father is a German nuclear physicist, Heinrich Von Aschenbach, who nowadays lives in New York City. Betty wants to meet him and travels to the Big Apple, where she stays with her aunt. Unfortunately, her aunt dies in what seems to be an accident. With no place to stay, she contemplates returning to Europe until a photographer, Dodge, shows her pictures proving that her aunt was murdered. They stay together and get entangled in an exciting series of intrigues in the USA, Canada, England, France, Italy, Spain and Germany, fighting Nazi spies and participating in the Spanish Civil War. 'Betty & Dodge' sold well enough to last six volumes, all published by Standaard Uitgeverij. The series was also translated into English, French and German. However, in 2012, Standaard Uitgeverij made the decision to cancel the series.
Little England #2 - 'Koningscobra' (2018).
World War II comics
Although 'Betty & Dodge' was discontinued, Du Caju and scriptwriter Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem did join forces again to create a similar series of comic books, also set during World War II. Instead of picking recurring characters and an overall plot, most of the stories have been either one-shots or two-parters, with only their historical setting as a shared theme. Their first installment, '349 Squadron' (BD Must, 2018), was commissioned by the Belgian Air Force to commemorate their 75th anniversary in 2018. The story visualizes real-life anecdotes about airplane battles fought by the 349 Squadron during World War II. The Battle of Britain (1940) was the focus of the two-parter 'Little England' (Dupuis, 2017-2018), consisting of the installments 'Ruby' and 'Koningscobra'. Van Rijckeghem and Du Caju also delved into the little explored Battle of Stalingrad (1940-1942) with the comic 'De Muizen van Leningrad' (Dupuis, 2019-2020), a story divided in two chapters, 'Ik Ben Chapayev!' and 'De Dodenstad'. Both books were also translated in English ('The Lions of Leningrad') and French ('Les Souris de Leningrad'). In the story, Van Rijckeghem and Du Caju follow regular youngsters who get caught up in the war atrocities in England and Russia. In this regard the stories can be classified as "coming of age" tales.
De Muizen van Leningrad #1 - Ik ben Chapayev!' (2019).
For the Swiss publisher Paquet, Thomas Du Caju teamed up with scriptwriter Wander Antunes to create 'Les Ailes de l'Espérance' (2021-2022), another comic set during the Battle of Britain. The two volumes were published in Dutch by Silvester as 'Vleugels van Hoop', and also appeared in English as 'Wings of Hope'. In August 2022, Van Rijkeghem and Du Caju launched another war-themed comic series at publisher Paquet, 'Saboteuses', starring the French-British secret agent Paulette Kincaid, who helps the resistance in France.
'Saboteuses'.
Comics on commission
Specialized in thrilling historical comics, Du Caju has also created several comics on commission. With scriptwriter Erik Verdonck, he created 'Message On A Bottle' (Ballon Media, 2014), about a woman who buys the inventory of an Irish pub in Antwerp and discovers an empty bottle of Guinness. Intrigued why anyone would auction this, she investigates the history of the Guinness brewery to find the answer. In April 2017, this album was a promotional give-away in Delhaize stores with the purchase of 2 crates of Guinness beer.
For the Eureducation foundation, which specializes in educational comics, Du Caju illustrated a biographical comic about Willem I, the first king of the Netherlands, written by Jan Kragt: 'Willem I, Koning van Nederland en België' (2015). At Eureducation, Du Caju also assisted with the inking of the book 'George Maduro, Held van Curaçao tot Madurodam' (2017), drawn by Franky Drappier.
'Message On A Bottle' (2014).
Graphic contributions
In 2005, Du Caju made a graphic contribution to 'Suske en Wiske 60 Jaar!' (2005), paying homage to Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske' comic. He also drew a graphic homage to Jef Nys' 'Jommeke' in 'Jommekes Bij De Vleet' (Ballon Media, 2010), Marc Sleen ('Marc Sleen 90', 2012) and to André Franquin's 'Gaston Lagaffe' in 'Gefeliciflaterd!' (Dupuis, 2017).
He was one of several artists to make a comic strip for the artbook 'Building Bridges in Europe' (2012), published by the European Association of National Builders' Merchants Associations and Manufacturers (UFEMAT). In 2020, he joined 75 Dutch and Flemish comic artists to contribute to the free collective comic book 'Striphelden versus Corona' (Oogachtend, Uitgeverij L, 2020), a book intended to support comic stores that had to close their doors for two months during the lockdown at the height of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
Together with scriptwriter Ronald Grossey, Du Caju created 'De Mol' (Standaard, 2024), the first in a series of homage albums to Willy Vandersteen's chivalry comic series 'De Rode Ridder'.
De Rode Ridder - 'De Mol' (2024).
Recognition
Over the years, several artbooks with Du Caju's women have been released through BD Must, 7 Editions and the artist himself. In 2005, Du Caju won the "Prix Rookie" for best newcomer at the Middelkerke Comic Festival. In 2018, he received the Prix Thema at the Comic Festival of Knokke-Heist. On 15 May 2022, Thomas Du Caju won the award for "Best Adult Comic" at the Festival of Villers-lès-Nancy in France.
Self-portrait.