2280)"The Adventures of Nero", Belgium: A popular Comic strip by Marc Sleen: 100th Anniversary of Sleen's Birth and 75th Anniversary of Nero Comic strip: Bpost (Belgian Post) has brought out a Stamp on this popular Comic Strip in Belgium: Stamp issue Date: 21.03.2022:
Marc Sleen 100 - Nero 75:
The "Adventures of Nero" (or "Nero") was a Belgian comic strip drawn by Marc Sleen and the name of its main character.
The original title ranged from "De Avonturen van Detectief Van Zwam" in 1947 to "De Avonturen van Nero en zijn Hoed" in 1950, and finally "De Avonturen van Nero & Co." from 1951.
It ran in continuous syndication until 2002. From 1947 until 1993 it was all drawn by Sleen himself. From 1992 until 2002 Dirk Stallaert took over the drawing while Sleen kept inventing the stories.
Together with "Suske en Wiske" and "Jommeke", "Nero" is regarded as the Big Three of Flemish comics.
The stories were noted for their satirical content, with references to politicians and celebrities of the day.
With Nero, Marc Sleen holds the world record of issues of a comic book series title drawn by the same author. He drew "The Adventures of Nero" single-handedly from 1947 to 1992 without any assistance from other artists. This feat is even more remarkable considering he also drew other comic strip series from 1947 to 1965.
The series debuted in the newspaper "De Nieuwe Gids" in the autumn of 1947 and was written and drawn by Marc Sleen from the start.
The Central character of Nero:
Originally the central character was "Detective Van Zwam", but halfway through the first story "Het Geheim van Matsuoka" ("The Secret of Matsuoka") (1947), Van Zwam meets a man who has drunk from a serum that makes people go insane and thinks he is the Roman Emperor Nero.
The character was also dressed in a toga with some laurel leaves behind his ears. Near the end of the story the character regained his senses and revealed his real name was "Schoonpaard" (in reprints this was changed to "Heiremans", in both cases inside joke references to colleagues of Sleen).
The character proved popular and remained a friend of Van Zwam in the next stories, though everyone kept referring to him as "Nero" rather than by his real name. After nine stories, the series was renamed after "Nero" and Van Zwam became a side character instead.
Sleen continued drawing Nero for many decades and terminated the series for good in 2002, when his eyesight became very poor and he ran out of assistants.
The Story-line of the "Adventures of Nero":
The Adventures of Nero is a humorous adventure comic strip about Nero, an unemployed man who describes himself as "newspaper appearance" and prefers reading his newspaper on his sofa.
He and his wife, named "Madam Nero" ("Madam Nero") by everyone, have one son, Adhemar, who is a child prodigy. Nero has an eccentric group of friends, who often help him out or force him to set out on an adventure.
Many stories display a love for nature and the animal world, which mirrors the creator's own frequent safari trips.
Since the album Het Groene Vuur ("The Green Fire") (1965) nearly all "Nero" albums end with a traditional waffle feast, where Madam Nero and Madam Pheip bake waffles for the entire cast.
The Stamp:
Technical details:
Issue Date: 21.03.2022
Designer: Layout : Myriam Voz
Printer: Stamps Production Belgium
Process: Offset
5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020
6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020
7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020
Posts on Finland on this Blog:
15) "Franking Labels" from Greenland: Franking Labels issued by POST Greenland Filatelia since 2009 onwards: A brief analysis
16) Ancient Postal Routes - the Postal Boat Race - between Aland and Sweden", Aland, Finland: A EUROPA Postage Stamp of 2.00 Euro issued by Aland Post: Date of Stamp issue: 08.05.2020
For interesting posts from the Caribbean Netherlands on this blog:
9) "De Haar Castle", Utrecht, Netherlands: The first Coin to be released in the "Dutch Castles" Coin Series: A silver Ducat Trade Coin with a history spanning over 350 years, minted by the Royal Dutch Mint: Date/Year of Delivery: 04/2020
10) First Atlases, Netherlands: Commemorating 450 Years of the first Atlas (1570-2020) & others: A Stamp Sheet of six stamps depicting the Atlases which were compiled in the Netherlands in the 16th & 17th Centuries AD: Stamp Set issued by POstNL: Date of Stamp Set issue: 23.03.2020
12) 75th Anniversary of the United Nations Organisation (UNO), The Netherlands: A Coin-card set of three denominations of 0.50 Euros, 0.20 Euros and 0.05 Euros minted by the Royal Dutch Mint to celebrate the milestone: Year of Coin-card issue: 2020
Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"Nice informative post. Thanks for sharing."
Thank you Khanna sahab.
Delete