Merho

Robert Merhottein was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1948.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Merho". In België gestript, pp. 140–141. Tielt: Lannoo. As a child, he already loved the comics by Marc Sleen and Willy Vandersteen, and wanted to become a comics artist when he grew up. He studied at the Sint-Lukas Art School in Brussels in the 1960s.{{cite web|url=http://www.rvi.be/rvi_master/insite/rvi_insite_kiekeboe_a/index.shtml |title=30 kaarsjes voor Kiekeboe |accessdate=2007-03-13 |author=Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal |year=2007 |language=Dutch |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927185459/http://www.rvi.be/rvi_master/insite/rvi_insite_kiekeboe_a/index.shtml |archivedate=27 September 2007 }}

Merho's first two comics, Comi en Dakske and Zoz and Zef, were made when he is only a teenager. Afterwards, he worked for five years as an assistant on Jerom and Pats with Studio Vandersteen, but then started his own series, Kiekeboe, in the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. Contrary to the other major Flemish newspapers like De Standaard/Het Nieuwsblad (with Spike and Suzy) and Het Volk (with Nero), Het Laatste Nieuws had no local, Flemish comic strip but only published Dutch comics by Marten Toonder or Hans G. Kresse, which left an opportunity for Merho.

Kiekeboe is a typical Flemish comic, about a normal family which unwillingly gets into all kinds of adventures. Filled with humour (mostly puns and misunderstandings), adventure, movie references, and some slight eroticism with the promiscuous teenage daughter Fanny, the comic became an instant success. The first story was serialized in the newspaper starting on 15 February 1977 and continues almost uninterrupted, although the comic has switched from Het Laatste Nieuws to Gazet van Antwerpen.{{cite web |url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=G2K1567TN |title=Merho over 30 jaar Kiekeboe |accessdate=2007-03-12 |author=Michel Kempeneers |year=2006 |publisher=Het Nieuwsblad |language=Dutch}}

With more than 100 albums, the Kiekeboe series is one of the three most successful Flemish comics and sells over 100,000 copies with each new album and 1 million albums per year in total.{{cite web |url=http://www.gentenaar.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=girjv3qg |title=Vader van Kiekeboe denkt lang niet aan afhaken |accessdate=2007-03-13 |author=De Gentenaar |date=November 2005 |language=Dutch |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006085213/http://www.gentenaar.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=girjv3qg |archivedate=6 October 2007}} The series does not have any success abroad, with only a short-lived French, German and English translation, and an unsuccessful rebranding for the Dutch market.

Image:Stripmuur kiekeboe.jpg, 1996]]

• 1983: Bronzen Adhemar, Turnhout, Belgium{{cite web |url=http://www.hln.be/hlns/cache/det/art_381306.html?wt.bron=hlnRPArtikels |title=Stad Hasselt huldigt Kiekeboe-auteur Merho |accessdate=2007-03-12 |author=Het Laatste Nieuws |authorlink=Het Laatste Nieuws |date=2007-02-16 |language=Dutch |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930195331/http://www.hln.be/hlns/cache/det/art_381306.html?wt.bron=hlnRPArtikels |archivedate=30 September 2007}}
• 1991: Award for Best Flemish Comic of the Flemish chamber of Comics Experts
• 2000: Stamp with Kiekeboe issued by the Belgian Post
• 2002: Honorary citizen of Zoersel, Belgium{{cite web |url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=nbra16112002_030 |title=Striptekenaar Merho is ereburger van Zoersel |accessdate=2007-03-13 |author=Marc Simons |publisher=Het Laatste Nieuws |date=2002-11-16 |language=Dutch}}

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• Matla, Hans: "Stripkatalogus 9: De negende dimensie". Panda, Den Haag, 1998. {{ISBN|90-6438-111-9}}

{{Commons category|Robert Merhottein}}

• [http://lambiek.net/artists/m/merho.htm Merho biography] on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• [https://www.standaarduitgeverij.be/wpg/de-kiekeboes/ Official site (in Dutch)]

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Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:Belgian comics artists

Category:Belgian comics writers

Category:Belgian comic strip cartoonists

Category:Belgian humorists

Category:People from Zoersel