'Heinz' strip from 1991 featuring Lambiek and Kees Kousemaker. Translation: "Look Bonga, this is Lambiek, the very-very best comics store in the Netherlands and that man there is the salesman... Psst, he wants you to read that book to him and if I were you, I'd do that..."
René Windig and Eddie de Jong are an inseparable Dutch comics duo, best-known as simply Windig & De Jong. They are also referred to as "Gezellig & Leuk" ("Cozy & Nice"), after the comic book they anonymously edited and published during the 1970s and 1980s. Sharing both writing and art duties - it is impossible to see who did exactly what - they have created hilarious parodies of such classic comics as the educational 'Oom Wim' feature from Spirou/Robbedoes magazine, Walt Disney's 'Donald Duck' and Alfred Mazure's hardboiled comic book hero 'Dick Bosch', but are best known for their own newspaper gag comic, 'Heinz' (1987-2000, 2004-2006), about a grumpy striped cat. Windig and De Jong have established their own universe, filled with both human and anthropomorphic characters, with many crossovers and guest appearances in other strips. Their work is characterized by a fondness for absurdity, old-fashioned language, grumpy characters and silly humor.
Eddie de Jong and René Windig, photographed in front of their studio at the Nieuwe Herengracht in Amsterdam. The picture, taken by Rudy Vrooman, was also used in their book 'De Stomme Wereld van Heinz' (Oog & Blik, 1993).
Early life and creative collaboration
Both artists were born in Amsterdam: Eddie de Jong in 1950 and René Windig in 1951. René's father was photographer Ad Windig (1912-1996), one of the underground photographers who captured the German occupation of Amsterdam on camera during the final war years. He was also instrumental in post-war Dutch photography and a tutor to such photographers as Ed van der Elsken and Philip Mechanicus. Both René and Eddie grew up reading the 'Donald Duck' stories by Carl Barks and the comics published in Robbedoes magazine, most notably those by André Franquin and Morris. Other influences on their future work were the Flemish artists Willy Vandersteen and Marc Sleen, the American authors Charles M. Schulz and George Herriman, and the Dutch comic artist and illustrator Carol Voges. Through his father, Windig also developed an interest for artists like Pablo Picasso, Karel Appel, Vincent Van Gogh, Hokusai and Saul Steinberg. Windig (the tall one) and De Jong (the short one) began their collaboration at the local Barlaeus high school, where they formed the artists' collective "De Vijf Slijmerds" ("The Five Slimeballs") with their friends Hans van Amstel, Hans Rot and Hans Niepoth. They made their own comic stories, with each member drawing another panel, like a relay race. Already in these early efforts, they parodied other comic characters, such as Spirou's all-knowing 'Oom Wim' ('Oncle Paul'). Shortly afterwards, the fivesome published their drawings in the alternative music magazine Aloha, and in 1973, they launched the first issue of their own Gezellig & Leuk comic book. After this first issue, their classmates dropped out, and Windig and De Jong continued as a duo.
'Oom Wim'.
Oom Wim
In their self-published magazine Gezellig en Leuk, Windig and De Jong continued their high school comic parody of the classic educational and moralizing Spirou comic strip 'Les Belles Histoires de L'Oncle Paul' (called 'Oom Wim' in the Dutch version). The original Oncle Paul featured a wise uncle who would break up arguments between his young nephews to tell them a heroic story from history. When he was finished talking, he had given a moral lesson to them and the young readers. Windig and De Jong's version shares the visual style and set-up with the original, but was far sillier. Especially the corny morals and archaïc language were frequent targets. Wim is depicted as a slightly senile lunatic who regularly forgets what he was talking about. Sometimes his fables don't have a point or couldn't even be described as such. Besides the duo's own Gezellig en Leuk title, Oom Wim also appeared in other magazines over the decade, such as Caramba and Gummi. Between 5 November 1983 and 2 January 1984 the duo's longer 'Oom Wim' story 'De Vampier van Blaffedijk' was serialized in the newspaper De Waarheid. This was however an older story previously published in Gezellig & Leuk #4.
Donald Duck - 'De Superverkoper' (Donald Duck #9, 28 February 1975).
Donald Duck
By the time they had become a duo, Windig and De Jong decided to find more professional outlets for their work. After a tip from fellow cartoonist Flip Fermin, they went to the offices of De Geïllustreerde Pers for an application with a spokesperson of the magazine Pep, but he turned out to be absent. Since the staff of the Dutch Disney comic magazine Donald Duck was located in the same building, Windig and De Jong went there instead and promptly got hired. In 1974, they made seven short stories starring Donald, for which they tried to capture the style of Carl Barks, of whom they were great admirers. In addition to a couple of stories written by editors Thom Roep and Paul Deckers, they wrote most of their own scripts. However, they were soon let go because their editors felt that their stories were a bit too eccentric and inappropriate for the target audience. Many of their stories had a rather aggressive tone where characters constantly yell at one another and get violent. According to Disney standards, the drawings tended to be a bit "off-model" in certain scenes. Note that in the following decades, contemporary fan favorite artist Mau Heymans has applied an equally eccentric drawing style for his 'Donald Duck' comics. But the times were different, and Windig and De Jong's final (official) Duck-story was published in early 1975.
'Donald Duck' (Gezellig & Leuk #2, April 1977).
Donald Duck parody
While Windig and De Jong were also glad to leave the Disney weekly Donald Duck - the rules of the concern were too restrictive - they still felt disgruntled about the whole experience. The iconoclastic men decided to vent their frustrations in new issues of their own magazine Gezellig & Leuk. The second issue was published in 1977, four years after the first. They drew new 'Donald Duck' stories, once again mimicking Barks, but with content that made the frenzy over their earlier 'Duck' comics seem overly exaggerated. In this parody version, Donald is depicted as a grouchy prick who constantly curses. In one story he gets drunk and wastes Huey, Dewey and Louie's children's welfare money on alcohol. Afterwards he gets robbed by a prostitute and becomes a victim of gay bashing. In another story he gets jailed after thrashing up a dinner between Daisy and her illegitimate lover.
'Theun' (from: Fnirwak, 1983)
Other early comics
In 1978, 1979 and 1982, Windig and De Jong solely filled three more issues of Gezellig & Leuk, introducing new original characters like 'Père Leonard' (1978), 'Pietje Pelikaan' (1979) and the farmer 'Theun' (1979). Theun in particular has made regular appearances in several of the duo's later productions. For Caramba magazine, they additionally created a couple of strips featuring the unemployed (and semi-autobiographical) clowns 'Zappo & Pipetti' (1978), who wander the streets of Amsterdam. It is believed that René Windig lent a helping hand to the creators of the socially engaged 'Tintin' parody 'Kuifje in El Salvador' (1983), drawing the cover illustration and a couple of new panels. The story was motivated by the civil war in El Salvador and many of the images were photocopied from original 'Tintin' comics, with only the speech balloons altered.
'Dick Bosch' comic strip from De Waarheid.
Dick Bosch
Windig & De Jong's hilarious parody of Alfred Mazure's 1940s action hero 'Dick Bos', renamed into the more old-fashioned spelling 'Dick Bosch', first appeared in the story 'Dick Bosch en het Geheim van Den Schpuit' in Supergum magazine in 1980. The strip, full of exaggerated old-fashioned language and cliches, later appeared in the comic magazines Wordt Vervolgd (1981), De Balloen (1982) and the squatter's magazine Bluf! (1984). The strip was featured as a newspaper gag comic in De Waarheid (1983) and Brabants Nieuwsblad (1983). Longer stories appeared in Gezellig & Leuk, and later also as a text comic in the newspaper Het Parool ('Dick in den Grooten Stad', 1988).
'Dick Bosch'.
Work for Gummi and De Balloen
After the disappearance of the short-lived magazine Caramba, Windig and De Jong became part of Ger van Wulften's gang at the publishing house Espee. Starting in 1979, they contributed to its alternative comic magazine Gummi, and Van Wulften collected much of their previous work in books like 'Ouwe Troep' (1980) and 'Fnirwak, Boek vol Vertwijfeling en Hoop' (1983). A selection of Windig's scribbles and sketches was published in the large artbook 'René Windig Drawings' (1982). The duo and their publisher clashed often, but Van Wulften did give them full creative freedom. Especially when they were appointed as editors of the alternative comic magazine De Balloen (1982-1983), which was a continuation of Patty Klein and Jan van Haasteren's De Vrije Balloen. Together with Aart Clerkx, Gerrit de Jager, Wim Stevenhagen, Hein de Kort, Willem Vleeschouwer, Peti Buchel, Eric Schreurs and other artists, they filled De Balloen's pages from Van Wulften's studio in the Raamstraat in Amsterdam. The magazine was a creative highlight of the 1980s, but the fun didn't last long. More and more friction arose between the publisher and his artists, both for financial and creative reasons. At one point, the authors used De Balloen as a stage for their frustrations. Gerrit de Jager has chronicled his experiences with Ger van Wulften in the autobiographical graphic novel 'Door Zonder Familie' (2013), and one can easily recognize Windig and De Jong among the Espee crowd.
Cover illustrations for De Balloen and Gezellig en Leuk issue #6.
In 1983, the final issue of De Balloen appeared, after which Windig and De Jong found their own studio place in the Warmoesstraat, above a condom shop. They brought with them Paul Bodoni, Aart Clerkx and Mark Smeets, with whom they made three more issues of Gezellig & Leuk (1984-1986) through their own foundation. Besides work by these authors, the publications contained contributions by Kamagurka, Herr Seele, Hein de Kort, Eric Schreurs, Peter Pontiac and Wim Stevenhagen. Throughout the decade, the Gezellig en Leuk Foundation also released several books collecting the work of Windig & De Jong, Bodoni, Clerkx and Smeets.
Rockin' Belly and fish dealer Jopie in Gezellig & Leuk #7.
Rockin' Belly
In 1984, Windig and De Jong were asked by their friend Frans de Wit to make a comic for the squatter's magazine Bluf!. As the main character, they chose De Wit himself, who was the singer in the band De Rockin' Belly Bende, in which Windig played the harmonica. The adventures of the squatting punk 'Rockin' Belly' appeared in Bluf until 1985. Additional characters were Jopie the fish dealer (who originated from the 'Dick Bosch' strip) and a cat, initially known simply as "Poes", but who later became known as Heinz. Windig and De Jong also provided the illustrations for posters of the band's performances and for two of their singles, which were released on Dancing Cat Records (Heinz was the label's mascot). In 1991 and 1999, Rockin' Belly released two more albums under the name Belly Goes Bonkers, for which Windig and De Jong provided the album art.
Rockin' Belly strip from 1987.
Heinz
By 1986, the 'Rockin' Belly' strip appeared in Goochem, the children's page of the Amsterdam daily newspaper Het Parool. On 2 January 1987, a spin-off strip of the punk's cat 'Heinz' debuted as a replacement comic for Gerrit de Jager's comic 'Liefde en Geluk'. This marked the actual debut of the grumpy striped feline with an attitude, who also won the favors of a more mature audience. Heinz's popularity quickly grew outside of Amsterdam's city borders, when his adventures appeared in several other regional and local newspapers. By 1988, 'Heinz' was published in the Belgian newspapers Het Volk and De Nieuwe Gids, and the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter ran the strip for a while in 1992. Episodes in color were published in the magazines Nieuwe Revu (1989, in the section 'Graphouderskade') and Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad (1991). Besides a one-year hiatus in 1992, Windig and De Jong spent 12 years drawing the adventures of their grouchy cat, who gradually became more philosophical. Book collections were released by the Gezellig & Leuk Foundation between 1988 and 1990, and by Hansje Joustra's Oog & Blik imprint between 1992 and 2006.
'Heinz'. Translation: Frits the cat tells Heinz: "Hey ho!! NEVER do that, man! Think of all those travels you still can make, all those things you can do!" Heinz: "You're right..." Frits: "OF COURSE I'M RIGHT!" Heinz: "Shit".
One event in 1999 triggered a turning point in Windig & De Jong's career. Because of personal issues - for instance the death of their close friend Mark Smeets - the duo supplemented the newspapers with old 'Heinz' strips for a while. A perceptive reader sounded the alarm, after which several papers dropped the strip, especially the ones from Brabant. This dimmed the author's enthusiasm to continue, although they continued to draw new 'Heinz' strips for another year. When Windig and De Jong called it quits in 2000, many fans were flabbergasted. Instead, plans were made for an animated 'Heinz' film by Zig Zag Film. It wasn't the first time that Windig and De Jong ventured into the field of animation. Shortly after their discharge from Donald Duck magazine in 1975, they had worked on an animated film called 'Pee Pee Cluck Cluck', which never saw the light of day. Unfortunately, the first attempt at 'Heinz the Movie' underwent the same fate, despite several announcements and press articles in 2001 and 2002. The proposed storyboard was adapted for publication in the newspaper Het Parool, where Heinz reappeared from March 2004 until February 2006. The new 'Heinz' strip, by now in color and drawn in a more loose style, was supplemented with companion strips starring the duck 'Eend', the gnome 'Kabouter', the dog 'Hund' and 'Sliske', a literally toothless version of Willy Vandersteen's character 'Wiske' ("slissen" is Dutch for "to lisp"). In 2006, these strips were collected in the book 'Beffen-IJf'.
'Heinz'.
After 2006, Windig and De Jong focused on the colorization of their old black-and-white strips for an upcoming anthology collection. The colored strips also made appearances in the French Disney magazine Picsou (2007) and in the free Dutch public transport newspaper Metro (2010). Although the artists have made no new strips since 2006, they did produce new introduction pages with an 'Oom Wim'-like rabbit for the 'Heinz from H to Z' collection. In collaboration with their graphic designer Cyril Koopmeiners, they also provided annotations for their strips. The first book, 'H', was released by Oog & Blik in late 2009 with a foreword by Lambiek's Kees Kousemaker. The following installments had introductions by Joost Swarte ('E', 2010), publisher Hansje Joustra ('I', 2012) and the authors themselves ('N', 2016). In 2011, a reworked comic story based on the old film script was published under the title 'Heinz de graphic novel'. New rumors of a 'Heinz' movie began popping up in 2012. A proposed new effort, scripted by Piet Kroon, was successfully funded through CineCrowd in 2015, and released in April 2019. Among the people who worked on the film were Marianne Eijgendaal, Wilfred Ottenheijm and Remco Polman.
'Heinz': Translation: "H-i, H-e-i-n-z! I'm m-a-k-i-n-g h-u-g-e s-t-e-p-s i-n p-r-o-g-r-e-s-s! ... V-e-r-b-a-l j-o-k-e, H-e-i-n-z..."
Ome Cor/Decibel
Since the start of 'Heinz', Windig and De Jong have worked on only a handful of other comic projects. Between December 1987 and February 1988, they made the current affairs strip about fish dealer 'Ome Cor', which served as a promotional strip for Het Parool. They made illustrations for the mail pages in Sjors & Sjimmie Stripblad (1990-1997), and developed a booklet with the character 'Decibel' for the employees of the Dutch telephone company PTT to accompany the transformation of Dutch telephone numbers to ten digits in 1995. They have also made illustrations for the philosophical and poetic writings of the duo Erik Bindervoet and Robbert-Jan Henkes. In 2006, Windig and De Jong paid homage to Marten Toonder in the tribute book 'Was Tom Poes Maar Hier - Een Hommage aan Marten Toonder' (De Bezige Bij, 2006).
Windig and De Jong resume working on Heinz in 1992.
Style and collaboration
Windig and De Jong's collaboration can be called unique. They both provide writing, penciling, inking and coloring for their productions, and it is indistinguishable who did what. All strips are genuinely collaborative efforts, although there are short periods when one did all the work while the other was on holiday. Windig and De Jong contributed much of their inspiration and zest for work to their large collection of Dolly Parton and Stanley Brothers records, which they played almost non-stop in their studio. Besides hilarious humor and colorful characters, the 'Heinz' strips are filled with inside jokes and childhood nostalgia. The authors regularly refer to stars and comics from their youth, advertisements, literature and other pop culture phenomena.
Heinz with Captain Iglo from the advertisements of Iglo frozen products (1990s). Translation: Heinz: "Well, Captain Iglo. You got yourself caught quite easily..." Iglo: "Well, son, what do you expect with such a subpar crew... They haven't even changed their teeth." Heinz: "That doesn't prove anything..."
Several of Windig and De Jong's earlier creations made guest appearances in 'Heinz', such as 'Jopie de Visboer', 'Dick Bosch', 'Oom Wim' and 'Theun', and even the author's pets. In fact, Heinz himself was based on René Windig's housecat, and Frits the cat and Jodocus the tortoise were also actual animals. The duo liked to play with the newspaper comics format, by having their protagonist visit or comment on the other strips published in the comics section. Certain strips feature 'Heinz' in "borrowed" settings from other comics, such as Marten Toonder's 'Tom Poes' and Hal Foster's 'Prince Valiant'. All these references and easter-eggs are meticulously annotated and illustrated in the complete 'Heinz from H to Z' collection.
Heinz is lost in Marten Toonder's 'Tom Puss and Lord Bumble' strip (1986). This specific image is also a shout-out to the final panel of the final 'Tom Poes' comic, which appeared around the same time in Dutch newspapers and also had Tom the cat walk away with his knapsack. Heinz says: "Shit! Where have I stumbled into this time!!?"
Windig & De Jong's playful humor was unprecedented in The Netherlands. Although rooted in the anarchistic underground movement of the 1970s, it also shows a great affection for the mainstream comic heroes from the authors' childhood. The mild blows they deal to other creators' works are never mean-spirited, but they don't play safe either. For that matter, Windig and De Jong's pastiches stand out among the many other comics parodies of the 1980s. The illegal and mostly sex-oriented comic books with Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske', Hergé's 'Tintin', Morris' 'Lucky Luke' and Peyo's 'Smurfs' relied heavily on out-of-character behavior. They showed their subjects in compromising acts, or used them to make political statements. Windig and De Jong on the other hand exaggerated the already existing characteristics of their subjects. Their 'Oom Wim' was an even more all-knowing bore than the original. The temper and bad luck of their Donald Duck reached more extreme highs and lows than in the Disney comic books, while the bravado of their 'Dick Bosch' is far more over-the-top than Mazure's original.
Promotional art for comics shop Lambiek and the Dutch comic festival in The Hague in 1989.
With their humorous and rebellious nature, Windig and De Jong became two colorful figures in the Amsterdam comic scene. Their studios in the city have been a meeting place for comic artists from around the country. After working in the Warmoesstraat (1984-1991), they set up shop in the Nieuwe Herengracht (1991-2000). Their final studio in the Nieuwe Amstelstraat (2005-2011) also housed an actual Heinz Museum from 2009 to 2011. The museum was a joyful mess and one could stare one's eyes out on the many artefacts and un-commissioned artwork on the walls, as well as their collection of Dolly Parton memorabilia.
Eddie de Jong believes Tintin could use a "broken nose", next to "The Broken Ear", in Gallery Lambiek (2009).
Lambiek
Windig and De Jong's artwork has been on display on many occasions in Lambiek, the Amsterdam-based comics shop/gallery of their close friend Kees Kousemaker. After their first exposition in Gallery Lambiek, 'The Stupid World of Heinz' in October 1993, they returned to the store in September 1999 with 'Proost, Heinz!' ('Here's to you, Heinz!'), in December 2002 with 'Miniatures' and in August-September 2006 with 'The Heinz Empire'. But their connection with Lambiek goes beyond exhibiting work. They have been regulars at the shop's parties, openings and other gatherings, and they have provided artwork for advertisements, a book token and the old website. For many years, a large scale model of 'Heinz' greeted the customers in front of the old Lambiek store on the Kerkstraat. In November 2009, the first edition of their 'Heinz van H tot Z' collection was presented in Gallery Lambiek by Bindervoet & Henkes.
Miniature artefacts and paintings from the exposition The Heinz Empire (2006).
Later activities
Eddie de Jong nowadays spends large parts of the year in the United States, and has worked in construction. His personal art projects have included a Dutch-Japanese character dictionary, and artwork inspired by Japanese print, film and other arts. In August-October 2022, a selection of these artworks was for show in Café Bern in Amsterdam. Windig, living alternatively in Amsterdam and Callantsoog, has moved on to work on personal art projects. He has filled sketchbooks, canvases and dioramas with original artworks inspired by photos, art movements (COBRA, Impressionism), exotic cultures (Africa, Japan, Oceania), nature and the city. Humor remained an important aspect of these creations, especially in his mini-paintings and designs of silly birds. Since 2009, Windig's birds have been made into statues by Parastone. In 2024, a selection of his sketchbook art was collected in the book 'Logboek van een thuisblijver'. He has also played in the bands De Wilma's and Rootsclub.
In April 2017, René Windig participated in Wasco's art project at the WGKunst Gallery in Amsterdam, where he and nine other artists worked side by side, both collectively and solo, on the creation of monsters and other gruesome and weird creatures. The other participating artists were Ge Wasco, Anne Stalinski, Jeroen Funke, Merel Barends, Tommy A, Peter de Wit, Dace Sietina, Lae Schäfer and Eliane Gerrits. The result were several paintings, murals, collage artworks, illustrations and comic strips, which were on exhibit at the gallery afterwards. An overview magazine called MONSTER Stripblad was published as well. An avid collector of 'Felix the Cat' memorabilia, René Windig spread his knowledge about Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer's creation in a special issue of Piet Schreuders' Poezenkrant to celebrate Felix' 100th anniversary. It appeared in January 2020, but was backdated to November 2019 to match the actual anniversary. Windig has also written articles for Schreuders' other magazine, Furore.
Windig's homage to George Herriman. The characters say: "What are we doing here?" - "Waiting... until Kees has received his Herriman originals."
Recognition
During the 1984 Stripdagen comic convention, Windig and De Jong were awarded a Stripschappenning for their book 'Fnirwak', but sold the thing at the same event so they could buy their train tickets back home. On 13 July 1991, the duo received the Dutch Stripschap Prize for their entire body of work, and in 1992 the NZH Comics Prize for their book 'De Groote Dick Bosch Almanak'.
Legacy and influence
Windig and De Jong have left a lasting mark on the next generation of Dutch gag strip artists. Their silly nonsense can be traced back in popular strips like 'Dirk Jan' by Mark Retera and 'Beestjes' by Schwantz. They have also influenced the work of Eric Schreurs, Jean-Marc van Tol, Jean-Paul Arends and Hallie Lama, Remco Polman, Ruben Libgott, Patrice van der Linden, Pieter Zandvliet, ckoe and the Lamelos collective. In Belgium, they were an inspiration to Luc Cromheecke.
Trademark 'Heinz' ending (1993).
Gezellig en Leuk homepage (in Dutch)