'Silberpfeil' story drawn by Greet Liégeois.
Greet Liégeois is a Belgian writer and artist, living in Spain. During the 1970s, she and her husband Hugo Renaerts helped comic artist Frank Sels with his weekly 'Silberpfeil' comic story production for Bastei Verlag in Germany. Besides working with her husband with the scripts, she also penciled some stories, meticulously copying Frank Sels's drawing style. Liégeois has also written stories for Jeff Broeckx ('Sloeber', 'Dag en Heidi') and Jean-Pol ('Kramikske').
Life and career
Liégeois was born in 1952 in Antwerp, where she also attended the Sint Lucas School of Arts. She married writer and actor Hugo Renaerts (b. 1943), who had written two episodes for the popular television series 'Schipper naast Mathilde'. Liégeois had a dayjob with the advertising department of newspaper De Standaard. Shortly after Franco's death, the couple settled at the Spanish Costa Blanca, where they have been writing comic stories, books and articles, as well as directing theater plays.
Frank Sels
During the 1970s, Liégeois and Renaerts were involved in the comic productions of Frank Sels. Hugo Renaerts and Frank Sels knew each other since the mid-1950s, when they studied at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Sierkunsten en Ambachten (City Institute for Ornamental Art and Crafts) in Antwerp. During the 1960s, Renaerts had become Frank Sels's regular scriptwriter on his comic stories for the magazines Ohee! and Ons Land. When in late 1968 Sels struck a deal with the German Bastei Verlag to produce a weekly comic series, Renaerts joined in as a scriptwriter. The adventures of the young Native American 'Silberpfeil' debuted on 6 January 1969, but Sels still had to fulfill the rest of his contract with Willy Vandersteen. Until June 1969, he still had to produce an additional weekly full story of 'Bessy' as well! Luckily, Renaerts helped his friend out with both his productions, assisted by his wife Greet Liégeois.
Silberpfeil
Frank Sels had a bumpy relationship with his German publisher. Bastei regularly meddled in his production by submitting mediocre scripts and remounting pages. To keep up with his weekly workload of 28 pages, Sels hired assistants to help out with the artwork. Since this resulted in differences in style and quality, Bastei intervened once again, demanding that Sels should draw his own pages. Sels had a dynamic drawing style, that was difficult to mimick. Only Greet Liégeois managed to approach it. As a result, she drew five 1970s 'Silberpfeil' stories, without Bastei ever knowing it. For many years, there was a rumor among fans that an anonymous Spanish artist had helped Sels with his artwork. In Brabant Strip Magazine #143 (October 2006), Renaerts revealed that this was in fact his wife Greet.
Further scriptwriting work
In the 1980s, Greet Liégeois worked with Jeff Broeckx, writing the final episodes of the adventure comic 'Sloeber'. She also wrote the 'Dag en Heidi' episode 'De Drie Machten' (1986) for Broeckx, and penned 'Kramikske' scripts for Jean-Pol. Together with her husband, she wrote a great many 'Bessy' stories for Willy Vandersteen. Liégeois also inked one of the 'Bessy' stories penciled by Frans Anthonis. Hugo Renaerts additionally wrote the 'Suske en Wiske' episode 'Fata Morgana' (with Marck Meul), seven thriller novels and TV sketches for 'Het Manneke' (Jef Cassiers) and the comical duo 'Gaston & Leo'.
Costa Blanca
The couple have been active members of the Dutch-Belgian community in their Spanish region. They have performed with the Teatro del Sol and Podium, and directed plays for the Dutch-Belgian amateur theater company NVOC De Lage Landen, based in Moraira, Spain. Renaerts has written articles about Spanish history and culture for the Dutch-language weeklies Bij Ons and Hallo, and he is the author of local tourist and hiking guides. Liégeois wrote 'Vakantieboek, de Costa Blanca voor Kinderen' (2020), an illustrated holiday book aimed at children who spend their holiday at the Spanish Costa Blanca. It offers old and new stories about the coastal towns Benidorm, Altea, Calp, Benissa, Teulada-Moraira, Jávea and Dénia. In the same year, she released her children's book 'De Laatste Boswachter' (Brave New Books, 2020).
