Dick Matena – RIP
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The prolific Dutch comics artist Dick Matena passed away yesterday. He was 83 years old. He also published under the pseudonyms A. den Dooier, John Kelly and Dick Richards.
Dick was born and raised in The Hague in Amsterdam. Not one who did well in school settings, he dropped out of school at age 15 and worked odd jobs. He briefly took night classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. He dropped out in the first year. About this time he became interested in abstract art and comics. His boss at Van Moorsel department store saw a few of his cartoon characters and encouraged him to approach Toonder Studios. Dick secured a job at Toonder Studios in 1960 where he worked until 1968.
While at Toonder he created his first comic Polletje Pluim, a comic based on animals living in the forest. According to Dutch comic historian/collector Ger Apeldoorn Dick was an admirer of Walt Kelly and his comic Pogo. Looking at Polletje Pluim you can see Pogo‘s influence.
After Toonder Studios, Dick moved on to a comic magazine called “Pep.” Between 1968 and 1975 Dick became one of the “Big Five” comic creators. The others include: Martin Lodewijk, Daan Jippes, Fred Julsing, and Peter de Smet. Dick’s major contrition was a comic called De Argonautjes, a parody comic of the Greek mythological story of Jason and the Argonauts drawn in the style of Astérix. The series ran from 1968 to 1974.
Later work took him to the cartoon magazine Eppo where he was a writer under the pen name Dick Richards. From here he gained international success doing work for alternative magazine New York City based Heavy Metal, Spanish indie magazines like El Víbora, and the French Métal Hurlant. He also started a long contribution on Disney’s Dutch Donald Duck weekly.
In the late 1970s he changed his drawing style to a more realistic comic book style. He wrote initial scenarios for the science-fiction series Storm (1978–1981). He would return to the Storm series in the mid-1990s to expand its universe with spin-off comics. After 2000, Dick began adapting Dutch and Flemish classic literature into comics. His works include: De Avonden (The Evenings), Kort Amerikaans (Short American), Kaas (Cheese), and Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight).
In his last decade he continued with Kees de Jongen (Kees the Boy), De Jongen met het Mes (The Boy with the Knife), and a series called Tom Poes stories (2013–2015).
He was awarded the highest honor in Dutch comics—the Stripschapsprijs (Stripschap Prize) in 1986. In 2003 was the only non-Belgian cartoonist awarded the Bronzen Adhemar (Bronze Adhemar) for his book De Avonden. The Bronzen Adhemar is awarded by Flemish Ministry of Culture to a Flemish cartoonist for their body of work.
Feature photo by Vera de Kok, 2014.
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