Eppo
Uco Egmond is a Dutch comic and advertising artist, best remembered as the creator of 'Eppo' (1973) in magazine Pep. When Pep merged with another magazine, Sjors, the new publication was named Eppo, with Egmond's character as its mascot. Egmond also created another well known Dutch mascot, 'Dutchy', who supported the national association football team of the Netherlands during the 1994 World Championship Football.
Uco Egmond was born in Eindhoven in 1948. His father had his own music shop and was later co-owner of the famous Egmond Guitar factory. After his studies in industrial design at the T.H. Delft, Egmond began his artistic career with some advertising assignments. He started drawing comics in 1973, and made his debut with the gag strip 'Eppo' in the magazine Pep. The strip was a big hit, and when the magazines Pep and Sjors merged in 1975, they continued under the name Eppo. Egmond became a versatile artist for this magazine.
Falco en Donjon - De Zwarte Toren (Eppo #4, 1984)
Besides the continuation of 'Eppo', he also began 'De Leukebroeders' in cooperation with Peter Coolen under the collective pseudonym Peco in 1976. In the early 1980s, he started 'Falco en Donjon', initially with scripts by himself or Gerrit Stapel, later by Hanco Kolk. Because of his work on this series, Egmond left the artwork of his 'Eppo' comic to Gerard Leever in 1983, who continued it for another year.
Het Bordenvolkje
Uco Egmond left Eppo magazine in 1986 and became a freelance artist. He co-founded the Line Up illustration studio in Eindhoven and started focusing on commercial assignments. Egmond drew the educational comic about traffic signs 'Het Bordenvolkje' in commission of Veilig Verkeer Nederland and published by Standaard Uitgeverij. One of his best known designs is that of 'Dutchy', the mascot for the Dutch soccer team during the 1994 World Championships.
Junior & Co (Goal! #6, 2011)
For several years, he has drawn comics for the advertising folders of the Piet Kerkhof stores, such as 'De Familie Voordeel' and 'Botje'. Egmond is additionally the artist of 'Junior & Co' in Voetbal International Junior (later renamed to Goal). Egmond returned to his classic 'Eppo' character when publisher Rob van Bavel relaunched the magazine in 2009.
He worked on his comic with inker Dick Heins and several writers, including Herman Roozen and Alex van Koten, before handing over the art duties to René Uilenbroek in early 2013. In 2011 Egmond self-published 'TobKok', a comic collection of gags about a cook. Together with Piet Souer, he also works in 3D animation for television through his Comic Design studio.
In the Dutch city Almere a street was named after Eppo, as part of the "Comics Heroes" district.
Eppo