'Kanis W. Lupus'.
Joop Mommers was a Dutch commercial illustrator and graphic artist, with some short excursions into comic art. His best-known comic feature was 'Kanis W. Lupus' (1980-1982), which appeared in Taptoe magazine. Joop Mommers the comic artist should not be confused with the visionary architect/conceptual thinker Joop Mommers (b. 1963), who is also from the Rotterdam region.
Early life
Born in Rotterdam in 1949, Joop Mommers enjoyed drawing from a young age, copying the comics from the Dutch Donald Duck weekly and later also Peyo's 'Smurfs' comics.
General Electric advertising comic strip (Leeuwarder Courant 6 December 1973).
Advertising career
After his education, Mommers spent six years working for advertising agencies, starting with De La Mar (later Intermarco/De La Mar) in Rotterdam. Together with his art director from this agency, he developed a comic based on Greek mythology, called 'Mythos en Papyros', but the project was never finished. Through Intermarco Rotterdam, Mommers was assigned to draw twelve newspaper advertising strips for General Electric. In late 1973, his creation 'General Electric en de Wakkermakers' ran in several newspapers. The experience prompted Mommers to become a self-employed cartoonist and comic artist in the following year.
'Amandelen' (Pep #41, 11 October 1974).
Comic artist
In 1974, Mommers had four one-page stories published in the comic magazine Pep. Between 1976 and 1978, he was subsequently a cartoonist for Motor magazine. Some of his comic strips were made in collaboration with his brother-in-law Jan Schrijver, who among comic fans is best-known as the writer of the 'Max Laadvermogen' comic for Kees de Boer (1987-1988). The most notable collaboration between Mommers and Schrijver was the 'Kanis W. Lupus' feature. Although the comic featured several popular fairy tale characters out of their original context, the main anti-hero was the wolf from the Little Red Riding Hood tale, who never seems to make it to Grandma's house. After unsuccessfully trying to pitch their idea to Pep's successor magazine Eppo, they had more luck with the Malmberg school magazine Taptoe, which ran the feature in their 1980-1982 issues. In 2010, episodes of 'Kanis W. Lupus' were reprinted in John Croezen's digital comic magazine Kwynk.
Part of an educational comic
Later life
By 1984, Mommers had already left the comic industry. Between 1984 and 1994, he was draughtsman and then studio manager for the Rotterdam-based graphic agency Zwiers Communicatiebureau. Afterwards, he returned to commercial illustration jobs. Based in Barendrecht for many years, he did advertising illustrations and cartoons, logo design and the occasional commissioned comic strip (for instance 'Koffie Dick?' for Doe Het Zelf and 'Er Was Eens' for De Particulier). Joop Mommers spent the final six years of his life in Rotterdam, where he passed away in July 2025 at age 75.
Comic strip for a potato seller.