'Puck' (Tina #35, 2000). Translation: "Hey, Puck, look! I have two tickets for the concert of "Treasure"! Wanna come along with me?" - "Me? Yes, sure!" - "If you don't mind to sit in the rear. There were only two tickets left." - "No, not at all! Especially not if we go together..." - "Phew, luckily Puck didn't mind sitting in the rear."
Paul Hoogma is a Dutch comic artist and writer, who in the 1990s was part of the Studio Iris comics collective in Nijmegen. He contributed to the group magazine Iris, and worked with the other members on scripts for 'Sjors en Sjimmie' and the Dutch Donald Duck weekly. In later years, he has worked extensively with scriptwriter Frank Jonker, either on co-writing scripts for Dutch Disney comics, or as artist of the gag strip 'Puck' in girls magazine Tina (1999-2002).
Early life
Paul Hoogma's talent for cartooning was first noticed in 1987, when one of his comic pages was printed in the comic magazine Eppo Wordt Vervolgd, as part of the amateur talent section 'Voor de Leeuwen'. The hero was Hocklack the Barbarian, a character that returned in several of his 1990s comics. In the late 1980s, a couple of his comics were featured in the comic fanzine Kartoen.
Iris
In the early 1990s, Hoogma was a student at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, nowadays known as the Radboud University. There, he was one of the initiators of the small press comic magazine Iris, along with comic artists Remco Polman, Wilfred Ottenheijm and Mark Retera, as well as editor Branko Collin. Between 1991 and 1997, fifteen issues were published on an irregular basis, all featuring work by Hoogma. His barbarian character Hocklack returned in Iris' pages, but he also introduced new creations like Hond de Vries, Sjaak de Sjamaan and Jorrit.
Hocklack the Barbarian on the cover of Iris #6 (1993).
Studio Iris
In 1992, Hoogma was also one of the initiators of Studio Iris, a Nijmegen-based collective that could work on comics and cartoons on a more professional basis. Besides Hoogma, the main members included Remco Polman, Wilfred Ottenheijm, Mark Retera, Mark Schilders, Mark Middelhuis, Peter Nuyten and Mariëlla van de Beek. In addition to producing comics for their own magazine, the Iris team also worked collectively on scripts for Dutch comic magazines. These scriptwriting productions took place in varying group compositions, but mostly involved Remco Polman, Wilfred Ottenheijm, Paul Hoogma, Mark Middelhuis and Branko Collin. Between 1996 and 1999, Studio Iris wrote scripts for the comic about the two rascals 'Sjors en Sjimmie', that appeared in SjoSji, and then Striparazzi magazine. At that point, the comic had evolved from a weekly gag page into a short story feature, and the production was outsourced to external writers and Spanish art studios. The original creators Robert van der Kroft, Wilbert Plijnaar and Jan van Die kept their creative control, supervising the quality of the scripts and artwork.
Disney comics
Since 1993, Paul Hoogma is also a prominent scriptwriter of Disney comics for the Dutch Donald Duck weekly. Most of his scripts are written in a steady collaboration with Frank Jonker, others are co-written with Mark Middelhuis or Remco Polman. Hoogma and Jonker have worked with most of the Disney characters. Besides Donald Duck and his family, they have scripted stories with the Big Bad Wolf, Bucky Bug, B'rer Rabbit, Little Hiawatha, Madam Mim, Mickey Mouse and Goofy. Among their best-remembered scripts are several epic adventure stories with the Duck characters, several with artwork by Carlos Mota or Carmen Pérez.
Artwork
As an artist, Paul Hoogma has also worked on several occasions with scriptwriter Frank Jonker. In 1999, he succeeded Pieter Dorst as the artist of Jonker's 'Puck' gag strip in girls' magazine Tina. He continued to draw the strip until mid-2002, when Peter FitzVerploegh took over. For a short while in 2000, Hoogma replaced Giovanni de Reus as the artist of the 'Luuk & Lotte' feature in the Malmberg school magazine Okki, also written by Frank Jonker. After a couple of episodes, Gerben Valkema took over the art duties. During the first half of the 2000s, Paul Hoogma also made illustrations as well as the 'Dick de Drukker' strip for Futura, a publication promoting Graphic Design as a field of study. In 2007, Hoogma briefly appeared in the comic magazine MYX, with a new episode of 'Hocklack de Barbaar'.
Storyboard drawings for Donald Duck script H2015-277 (final version printed in Dutch Donald Duck weekly #3, 2020).