'Ridder Dolf' - 'De Franse Connectie' and 'Kim and Eddy' - 'De Tresoor van Nijmegen'.
Paul Reichenbach is a Dutch writer, publisher, entrepreneur and former illustrator. After a career writing and drawing music-related publications, he ventured into the world of comics around the turn of the century, when he became the organizer of the Kamper Stripspektakel comics festival. Since 2006, his Pear Productions imprint has been releasing comic books that mostly deal with local history. As a writer, Reichenbach has worked with a wide range of comic artists, most notably Arie van Vliet ('Kim & Eddy'), D'Auwe ('Ridder Dolf'), Eric De Rop ('Bas en de Belhamels') and Dmitry Yakhovsky (several realistic historical comics).
Early life
Paul Reichenbach was born in 1952 in the city of Zwolle, Overijssel. Creativity ran in the family: his older sister was a talented painter, his two brothers had a classical conservatory training. Ever since receiving his first collected volumes of Robbedoes magazine as a child, Paul has been mostly captivated by comics, with especially the artist Peyo becoming an inspiration for his own homemade comics. During his professional life, he has often combined his work as a writer and illustrator with his family-fuelled interest in music. He attended the Gymnasium, briefly studied French Language and Literature and took various courses, but had no formal art training.
Sketch for one of the Frank Rich music methods.
Writer
Starting in 1971, Reichenbach began his activities as an independent (ghost) writer, publisher and illustrator. Early on in his career, Reichenbach did a lot of translation work, for instance of French comic books. Over the years, he has been a writer of articles, columns, song lyrics, occasional poems and children's books, and he has also served as a ghostwriter for autobiographies. Recurring themes in his work have been humor, music and historical fun facts. In 1971, Paul Reichenbach and his brother Nico established REBA Productions, a publishing company for music teaching material. In 1977, Paul also founded Pear Productions for his solo activities.
Cover artwork for the first 'Tom Stone' series (1973) and the 'Dit Songboek Zocht Ik' series (1983).
Music methods
As an illustrator and writer, Reichenbach has mostly worked on music-related teaching material, developed by his brother Nico and published through REBA Productions. In 1972, Paul developed the comic character of Frank Rich as host for a guitar method, and in the following year created Tom Stone for a recorder method. These characters appeared in illustrations and three-panel comic strips. Frank Rich was also the mascot for the series 'Dit Songboek Zocht Ik' (Reba, 1983-1992). In the early 1980s, Paul Reichenbach wrote and drew a 48-page comic book about the history of the guitar, 'Een Boekje Open over de Gitaar', using the pen name Vitalis. A friend took care of the inking and lettering. In 2017, the book was fully revised by Reichenbach with new artwork by Marc Verhaegen under the title 'Het Gitaarmuseum'. The artist also added his own Senne and Sanne characters to the story. Later publications with the characters of Frank Rich and Tom Stone featured artwork by Aart Cornelissen and Pieter Hogenbirk, respectively. During a couple of decades, REBA Productions has released over 800 publications.
Covers for the redrawn version of the guitar history comic (by Marc Verhaegen) and 'Bas en de Belhamels' volume #2 (by Eric De Rop).
Comics
Even though his early illustration work clearly revealed his interest in the medium, it wasn't until the 21st century before Paul Reichenbach fully ventured into comics. Between 1999 and 2024, he was the main host of the Kamper Stripspektakel comics festival, which allowed him the opportunity to share his love for comics with others, and at the same time build a network of international comic creators. Since 2000, he has also been publishing comic albums, children's books and story collections through his Pear Productions imprint, starting with the short story booklet 'Kamper Uiensoep' (2000). Notable have been the Pear releases made by or with prominent Flemish comic legends like Marc Verhaegen, Eric De Rop, Paul Geerts and Jeff Broeckx. One of Pear's early comic book releases was the 'Mo and Jade' series by Paul Geerts (2006-2024), his solo comic project after his retirement from the 'Suske en Wiske' comic. Since 2021, Pear Productions has also released the humor comic 'Bas en de Belhamels', about a father who works from home, while managing his two sons and an equally demanding dog. Written by Reichenbach himself, the artwork is provided by another Studio Vandersteen veteran, Eric De Rop.
'Kim & Eddy' - 'Het Goud van Kampen' and 'Sam & Sarah' - 'Je Kunt Meer Dan Je Denkt'.
For most of the Pear Productions comic books, Reichenbach has provided the scriptwork himself. Many of the releases have been adventure comics inspired by local history, most notably the 'Kim & Eddy' series, drawn by Arie van Vliet, which explored the cities of Kampen ('Het Goud van Kampen', 2007), Zwolle ('De Schat van de Sassenpoort', 2009) and Nijmegen ('De Tresoor van Nijmegen', 2016). The latter has also appeared in English ('Nijmegen on the Move') and German ('Der Tresor von Nimwegen'). With Van Vliet as artist, Reichenbach also created the comic book 'Sinterklaas en de Zepernoten' (2011), tying in with the seasonal Saint Nicolas festivities. Their comic 'Sam & Sarah: Je Kunt Meer Dan Je Denkt' (2019) was an educational comic about dealing with life in a wheelchair, produced in collaboration with several welfare societies. The book has also been translated into German, Romanian, English and Danish. Another early project was 'De Avonturen van Ridder Roosje' (2008), drawn by Martin-Jan van Santen and first published in the Kampen newspaper De Brug.
'De Slag om Kampen' and 'Bertus Boegspriet'.
With the humorous comic 'Ridder Dolf' (2018- ), writer Reichenbach and artist D'Auwe delved into the medieval history of Kampen. The city of Kampen was also the main subject of the more realistic comic books that Reichenbach has made with the painter Dmitry Yakhovsky: 'De Slag om Kampen' (2017), 'Het Einde van de Roofridder' (2018) and 'De Winterschilder' (2020), the latter a biography of the "Campen" painter Hendrick Avercamp. With Pieter Hogenbirk as artist, Reichenbach created 'De Onwaarschijnlijke Avonturen van Bertus Boegspriet' (2018), a comic inspired by a fictional historical adventurer from the city of Zwolle.
Among the other illustrators that have been involved in Pear Productions projects have been Wilma van den Bosch, Gerard Leever, Dirk Stallaert, Yasmine Stalpaert and Piet Voordes.
Paul Reichenbach, Ridder Dolf and D'Auwe, drawn by the latter.