'Bang!'.
Yurg is a Flemish comic artist who illustrated the one-shot comic series 'Bang' (1984), the series 'Slimmeke Slim' (1986), but might be best remembered for drawing a celebrity comic based on Flemish media star Wendy van Wanten (1991-1992). A more recent comic series by his hand is the thriller 'Bruxman' (2011-2014).
Early life and comics
Yurg was born in 1957. After several odd jobs, Jurgen de Muynck became a freelance graphic artist, best-known under the name Yurg. While drawing for advertisement companies, he created the comic strip 'Slimmeke Slim' with Yaack Bakker in Kuifje (1984), and the cynical humor comic 'Bang!' with Ikke for Robbedoes (1986). 'Slimmeke Slim' featured the wacky adventures of a goofy klutz who, despite his name (which would translate to Smarty Smart, though on his official website Yurg uses 'Cliff Clever' as a translation) really isn't all that bright. In 1992-1993 two adventures of this series 'Slimmeke Slim en de Discosaurus' and 'Slimmeke Slim en de Raptoms/Zaptrons' also ran as a newspaper comic in De Gazet van Antwerpen. Between 1988 and 1994 he illustrated the science fiction series 'De Kinderen van de Regeling' for Sjors & Sjimmie Stripblad, scripted by Ross Cappaert. Yurg also created advertising comics for Atari Computers in the late 1980s.
'Slimmeke Slim'.
Wendy van Wanten
In 1992 Yurg collaborated with Tony Beirens on a celebrity comic about the Flemish pin-up Wendy van Wanten. Van Wanten gained fame in the late 1980s thanks to her appearances as announcer in the late-night erotic show 'De Pin-Up Club', which made her a regular panel show member and launched her pop music career. Her comic strip, 'Wendy Stript Ze!', was prepublished in Panorama which allowed for a lot of nude scenes and other erotic innuendo. Two albums, 'De Privé-Perikelen van Wendy van Wanten' (1992) and 'Wendy Trekt Aan Het Langste Eind' (1993), were published by Loempia - the same publisher responsible for other Flemish celebrity comics, such as 'Jean-Pierre van Rossem' (by Erik Meynen) and 'Urbanus' (by Urbanus and Willy Linthout). Like most comics based on a media craze, the 'Wendy van Wanten' comics failed to gain much interest beyond the hype and have nowadays faded away in obscurity.
Ella & Mekanik / De Discosaurus
Under the pseudonym Munka, De Muynck worked with Giba on 'Ella & Mekanik' in Suske en Wiske Weekblad, a magazine for which he also drew 'De Discosaurus'.
Familie Twist
Yurg was present in Libelle with the family gag comic 'Familie Twist' in 2000 (scripts by Ikke, pseudonym for Marc Legendre), and did short stories and illustrations for Flair.
D-Codeer de Toekomst
Under his own name, Yurg illustrated the book 'D-Codeer de Toekomst' (2014), a self help book written by Luc Devos (not to be confused with Luc De Vos, lead singer of the band Gorki).
Bruxman
Together with crime author Stan Lauryssens, Yurg made the thriller comic series 'Bruxman', published by Bonte in two books in 2011 and 2014, and in a one-volume collection in 2014.
Het Ei van Pato de Eend
In 2017 Legendre and Yurg published 'Het Ei van Pato de Eend' (2017). The story revolves around a duck, Pato, and is set in Spain - where Legendre resided.
Graphic contributions
In 1985, Yurg made a contribution to the book 'Tegenaanval' (De Lijn, 1985), an anti-military book advocating the liberation of cartoonist Wim Stevenhagen, who was sentenced for refusing to fulfill his military service for reasons of principle. Yurg and Stan Lauryssens also contributed to the collective comic book 'Op het Spoor van Pom' (2011), which paid homage to Pom.
Animation career
Yurg has also worked as an animator for computer games.
'Wendy Stript Ze'.