Bakelandt #89 - 'Als Het Mes Valt'.
The Flemish comic artist Hec Leemans is best known as the creator of the historical series 'Bakelandt', and as the author of the 'FC De Kampioenen' comics. Hector Leemans was born in Temse, and got his artistic education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dendermonde. After his studies, he entered the comics field as the co-worker of Sylvain Polfliet in 1969. Together, they made the espionage strip 'Brian Howell' in the daily newspaper Het Volk, for which Leemans did the backgrounds and some of the scripts. During his military service in 1972, he took over Merho's creation 'Jager Jansens' in the military magazine Shako.
Bakelandt #5 - 'De Meester Der Broeders'.
On 20 October 1975 he made his real breakthrough when his strip 'Bakelandt' was published in the Belgian newspapers Het Laatste Nieuws and De Nieuwe Gazet. Leemans created the comic in cooperation with Daniel Jansens, with whom he also produced some short stories for Kuifje. When Jansens died in 1979, Leemans continued the popular 'Bakelandt' series on his own, and 96 albums have been published by Standaard Uitgeverij until 2006.
'Circus Maximus'.
In 1977, Leemans was the first to receive the Bronzen Adhemar, the official Flemish Community Cultural Prize for Comics. In that same year, he came up with his own gag series, 'Circus Maximus'. The series was initially published in the Dutch magazine Eppo, and was later continued in Robbedoes (1984) and Suske en Wiske Weekblad (1994). Later on, several stories were written by Raoul Cauvin. In 1989, Leemans took on the scriptwriting of the series 'Nino', which he created with Dirk Stallaert. In that same year, he created 'Kowalsky', for which he did the artwork himself.
In 1990 he paid graphic tribute to François Walthéry in the collective homage book 'Natacha. Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walthéry's series 'Natacha'. In 1993 he was one of several Bronzen Adhemar winners to pay a graphic tribute to Marc Sleen in the book 'Marc Sleen. Een uitgave van de Bronzen Adhemar Stichting' (1993). He paid homage to Sleen again in 'Marc Sleen 80. De enige echte' (2002) and 'Marc Sleen 90. Liber Amicorum' (2012). Leemans further drew a tribute to Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske' in 'Suske en Wiske 60 Jaar!' (2005), which celebrated the franchise's 60th anniversary. He also paid tribute to Pom in the collective tribute album 'Kroepie en Boelie Boemboem. Avontuur In De 21ste Eeuw' (2010).
Bakelandt #30 - 'De Gezant'.
From 1997, Leemans is also the author of the comics based on the popular TV series 'F.C De Kampioenen'. He also writes the scripts for the comics version of the Flemish TV show 'W817', the comic series around tennis player Kim Clijsters and the 'Kampioenen' spin-off 'Vertongen & Co' (2011), that are all drawn by Wim Swerts and Luc van Asten (Vanas). He was also part of the writing team of a 'F.C. De Kampioenen' film with Bart Cooreman, Johan Gevers and An Swartenbroekx in 2013.
During the Middelkerke Comics Festival of 2002, Hec Leemans was awarded the Golden Pencil for his work on 'Bakelandt'. On 17 May 2011 'F.C. De Kampioenen' received its own comic book mural in the Rue du Canal / Vaartstraat 27 in Brussels, as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route. Unfortunately the wall was removed in 2017, because a new building was built next to it, which obscured its sight.
FC De Kampioenen - 'De Zeep-Serie'.