De Kiekeboes

De Kiekeboes is the most successful Flemish comic strip since Suske en Wiske. Though Suske en Wiske has more success and thus larger sales globally, De Kiekeboes are far more popular in Flanders today. Author Merho started his career as a protégé of Suske en Wiske author Willy Vandersteen, but since 1977 he started his own comic strip: “Kiekeboe” (since 2010 renamed as “De Kiekeboes”).

At first sight “De Kiekeboes” is your typical Flemish family strip in the tradition of Suske en Wiske, Jommeke and Nero. All stories center around the family Kiekeboe: father Marcel, mother Charlotte, teenage daughter Fanny and school boy Konstantinopel. However, the series have a more realistic every day life setting avoiding many of the typical comic book strip clichés: no World's Strongest Man, no Absent-Minded Professor, no Talking Animal and fantasy elements are kept to a minimum. We do know that ghosts exist (“Spoken in Huis”), vampires (“Het Witte Bloed”, “De Kus van Mona”, “De Babyvampier”,…), strange prehistoric monsters (“Met De Franse Slag”), aliens ("De Trawanten Van Spih") and occasionally some physically impossible gags occur. But most of the time everything is set in a realistic atmosphere. Fanny and Charlotte are not Conveniently an Orphan or adopted, but Marcel and Charlotte’s real children. The early albums are still a bit naïve and childish like a traditional comic strip, but gradually the series started Growing the Beard and became Darker and Edgier. Many of the early one-dimensional characters became more complex. Story lines touched more adult and often risqué subject matter like prostitution, drugs, transsexuality, religious cults, racism, homosexuality, … The sly erotic jokes also became more prominent and explicit in later stories. Today “De Kiekeboes” is mostly an adult strip, though it still manages to keep its stories amusing and interesting for children as well.

The main characters are:

Marcel Kiekeboe: The big moustached father. A joyful, enthusiastic but naïve man who is often manipulated by others like his mother, Moemoe, and his boss, Van De Kasseien. He has a tendency of taking impulsive decisions that sometimes cause major problems.
Charlotte Kiekeboe: The mother of the family. Originally a very bland flat character her personality became more assertive and self-assured over the years.
Fanny Kiekeboe: The teenage daughter who doesn't go to school anymore, but works various jobs. She is self-assured, headstrong, socially engaged and brave. Many plots have scenes where she walks around in erotic or semi-nude poses. She has also had a lot of boyfriends.
Konstantinopel Kiekeboe: The young son, who is smart well beyond his years.
Moemoe: Kiekeboe's mother. She is a meddlesome, opportunistic, headstrong and pushy woman who often claims Kiekeboe and the rest of the family don't do enough for her. Often she will defend a certain opinion militantly, only to claim the exact opposite later in the story, despite all the effort other characters did for her. She is also very elitarian and interested whenever Fanny dates a doctor or a lawyer.
Mevrouw Stokvis: Moemoe's best friend, although their friendship borders to rivalry. She is an invisible character and never seen by the readers.
Nonkel Vital Marcel Kiekeboe's uncle and Moemoe's brother-in-law. He is a happy-go-lucky and meddlesome character who often bickers with Moemoe about family matters.
Leon Van Der Neffe: Kiekeboe's neighbour who works as a military. He is an unsympathetic, snobistic, egocentric, prejudiced, xenophobic and racist man, originally married to a woman with the same opinions. He and his wife, Carmella, have two children: a boy, Joeksel, and a girl, Froefroe, who are actually more intelligent and sympathetic. They often play with Konstantinopel. At a certain point in the series he divorced and since then his one-note character got more depth and even sympathetic aspects.
Fernand Goegebuer: Another neighbour of Kiekeboe. Generally sympathetic, optimistic and helpful but often obtrusive, naïve and nosy. He has a tendency to spit while he talks.
Firmin Van De Kasseien: Kiekeboe's boss. A vain, arrogant, corrupt and adulterous man who frequently uses Kiekeboe to do legal and illegal things for him. He never thanks Kiekeboe for all the trouble he goes through to help him. Van De Kasseien also regularly cheats on his wife, Chichi, and tries to seduce anything in a skirt. This often brings him in a lot of trouble.
Inspecteur Sapperdeboere: A police inspector who enjoys eating more than solving crimes.
Alanis: Fanny's girlfriend.
Balthazar: One of the series' villains. He is a naïve, childish, clumsy and dumb man who is generally too stupid to be a real threat to the Kiekeboes. Most of the time he is more obnoxious and irritating to the other criminals who work together with him.
Timotheus Triangl: A James Bond type villain who wants to take over the world. Originally he was a little man, but later he underwent a sex change and since then he is a woman.
Dédé la Canaille: A dangerous French criminal who wants to kill Kiekeboe for putting him behind bars.
Alain Provist The boss of an employment agency, frequently consulted by Charlotte.
Meneer Kreuvett A restaurant critic.
Bibi Pralin Gaga An African dictator and parody of Idi Amin. His accomplice is Amoko, an African wizard whose head is always hidden behind a mask.
Moïse Mombakka: An African foreign exchange student who dated Fanny for one album and later became president of Boeloe Boeloe after the deposition of Bibi Pralin Gaga.
De Dikke Dame A fat nameless woman who makes one cameo appearance in each album as a Running Gag.
Jens: Fanny's longtime boyfriend for ten albums. Since then they broke up.
Elodie Melody: A dumb female pop singer
Tomboy A black female prostitute who keeps her work a secret. Fanny is the only one who knows about it.

One of “De Kiekeboes” most notorious trademarks are the puns and word play jokes, usually hidden in album titles, background gags, throwaway jokes and characters’ names.

Tropes used in De Kiekeboes include:

Alliteration: “De duivelse driehoek”, “De zwarte zonnekoning”, “Kies Kiekeboe”, “De pili-pili pillen”, “De fez van Fes”, “Een koud kunstje”, “Vrolijke, vrolijke vrienden”
Adolf Hitler:
- Dictator Sstoeffer in "Het Plan S Stoeffer" is a clear parody.
- His handkerchief is auctioned in "Het Edelweissmotief".
Alien Abduction: Happens to Joeksel, Froefroe and Konstantinopel in “De Trawanten van Spih”.
All for Nothing: Kiekeboe tries to get a cake which has a ring hidden inside in the album “De Taart”. When he finally retrieves the cake after many shenanigans it turns out he left the ring at his local baker’s place.
Alternate Ending: An alternative ending to the story “De Zaak Luc Raak” is provided in “Afgelast Wegens Ziekte”.
Ambiguously Gay: Jujuul the flamboyant gay vampire.
Art Evolution: The early albums look a bit different compared to later albums.
Badass Long Hair: In “De Haar-Tisten” a religious cult whose members all have long hair try to make everybody bald so that they can sell them a hair growing serum.
Badass Mustache: Marcel Kiekeboe’s moustache. The real life Moustache Club of Antwerp even called him the “Moustache Of The Year” in 1984! Merho then drew a story about it: “De Snor van Kiekeboe”.
Bad Boss: Firmin Van De Kasseien is Kiekeboe's boss and a vain, promiscuous, adulterous, corrupt one at that.
Bankruptcy Barrel: Shown in “De Fez van Fes”.
Berserk Button: In the album “Jeanne Darm” Nick Nack, head of the fresh drink company “Kameel” goes berserk whenever someone mentions the name of the rival company “Dromedaris”.
Beware the Nice Ones: In “De wraak van Dédé” Fanny’s boyfriend Kris Kras turns out to be a henchman for Dédé La Canaille, Kiekeboe’s sworn enemy.
Big Bad: Timotheus Triangl, who is a James Bond type villain. Kiekeboe’s sworn enemy is however Dédé La Canaille, a French convict.
Big Eater: Inspecteur Sapperdeboere
Bilingual Bonus: In a lot of stories foreign characters will speak mixing Dutch words with typical expressions of their own language.
- Subverted in “Met De Franse Slag” where Kiekeboe translates Dutch expressions and sayings literally in French, as a joke only people who speak French will get.
Boot Camp Episode: In “Geeeeeef Acht” Kiekeboe is sent to the army due to an administrational mistake.
Bound and Gagged: Happens to Fanny in “Het Edelweissmotief”.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: The characters are well aware they are comic strip characters and frequently address the audience. Merho even took this to more experimental levels in the albums “Album 26”, “Afgelast Wegens Ziekte”, “De Simstones”, “Het Geslacht Kinkel”,…
The Bermuda Triangle: Plot element in “De Bermuda Driehoek”.
Breakout Character: Fanny who eventually put Marcel Kiekeboe, the actual protagonist, in the shadow. In the foreign translations she is also the protagonist instead of him.
Butt Monkey: Balthazar. But Van De Kasseien also treats Merho as his butt monkey as well.
Character Development and Characterization Marches On:
- Charlotte, Kiekeboe’s wife, was originally a very bland and passive housewife. In the album “Het Lot van Charlotte” she got so fed up with slaving for her husband and children that she and Kiekeboe briefly separated. They eventually came back together, but since then Charlotte become more assertive and free-thinking. She also regularly goes out part time working.
- Leon Van Der Neffe, Kiekeboe’s neighbour, was originally nothing more than a unsympathetic, vain, snobbish and racist man. Later in the series he and his wife divorced, changing his character to a more pitiful loser trying to find a new wife.
Children Are Innocent: Subverted. Konstantinopel, Joeksel and Froefroe are supposedly around five years old, but know a suspiciously lot about sexual topics.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Fanny, usually.
Clueless Chick Magnet: All women fall in love with Kiekeboe when he accidentally gets some aphrodisiac potion spilled over his body in “De Onweerstaanbare Man”.
Comic Book Adaptation: The album "Grof Wild" is a comic book adaptation of the eponymous literary story by Belgian crime author Pieter Aspe. Merho got permission of the author to adapt the plot into a Kiekeboes story.
Comic Book Time: The characters don’t age, except for one short story in the album “Afgelast Wegens Ziekte”, where all his characters age 20 years into the future.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Firmin Van De Kasseien.
Crapsack World: “De Kiekeboes” shows a more grimful, yet recognizable version of our modern day society compared to other more traditional comic strips.
Creator Cameo: Merho did this in “Album 26”.
Crossover: De Kiekeboes had a crossover with the comic strip Urbanus in the album “Kiekebanus”, where the creators of each comic drew the story together.
Cultural Translation: Despite best efforts the comic never caught on in other countries, except the Netherlands where it is a cult success.
Dark and Troubled Past: Tomboy the prostitute only shares her secrets with Fanny.
Darker and Edgier: The later, more definitive “De Kiekeboes” albums are far more adult and risqué than the first twentysomething albums.
Defector From Commie Land: In “De één zijn dood” a recognizable spoof of a Cold War Eastern European country is shown.
Does This Remind You of Anything??: Used regularly.
Don't Explain the Joke:
- Some of the early albums did this regularly.
- Merho jokes with this aspect in “De Wereld Volgens Kiekeboe” where a character is named “Verstockt”. Konstantinopel then asks: “Zou het kunnen dat die Verstockt vrijgezel is?” (“Could it be that that Verstockt is single?”) He then explains that it is a reference to the phrase “een verstokte vrijgezel” (“a lifelong single”), but sheepishly adds: “Of course, when you have to explain a joke it’s not very funny anymore.”)
Double Entendre: Used a lot
Dreaming of Things to Come: In “Met De Franse Slag” Fanny hears a chilling animal roar in a dream. Later in the story she hears the same scream in real life.
Dream Sequence: Used in “Met De Franse Slag”, among other albums.
Early Installment Weirdness: The early albums are more traditional comic book stories with cute fantasy creatures (“De Wollebollen”) and less inspired stories and puns. The characters don’t have much depth to them and there’s none of the more daring subject matter that can be found in later stories. To make matters worse many plot elements and jokes are told by Mr. Exposition narrative devices. Even Merho sees many of these old stories as an Old Shame.
Escape From the Crazy Place: The real Napoleon Bonaparte is sent to a mental institution in "Een koud kunstje" for thinking he is Napoleon. He eventually escapes.
Executive Meddling: Spoofed in “Album 26” and “The Simstones” where Merho is told to update his comic strip.
- Merho encountered too much executive meddling during the filming of “Misstoestanden”, a live action adaptation of his characters which he felt was a disgrace to his series. The film quickly flopped and disappeared into obscurity. Merho got his revenge by making two stories mercilessly satirizing executive meddling: “Misstoestanden” and “De Simstones”.
The Faceless: The face of a villain character in “De Doedelzak van Mac Reel” remains obscured or hidden from the audience until the very last page.
Faking the Dead: Pop artist Romeo Alfa fakes his own death in “Black Out”.
Family Rivalry: Between the Kiekeboes and the Van Der Neffes.
Fan Service: Fanny’s erotic poses
Femme Fatale: Fanny, to most men.
Fictional Country: Boeloe Boeloe, Burlandia, Eunuchië, Paranoia, Papagaya, Itsi Pitsi, El Tondzon
Fountain of Youth: In “Kiele Kiele Boe” Kiekeboe is changed into a baby overnight.
Funny Background Event: Just keep your eyes open when reading an album.
Fun with Acronyms: And Merho has a lot of fun with that!
Game Show Appearance: Plot element in "Hoe Meer Kijkers".
Gang of Critters: De Wollebollen in “De Wollebollen”.
Gender Bender: Happens to Inspecteur Sapperdeboere in "Over Koetjes En Kalfjes" due to a huge ammount of female hormones in his food.
The Generalissimo: South American dictators regularly play an important part of the plot (“Het Plan Sstoeffer”, “Zeg Het Met Bloemen”, “De Roze Rolls”,…)
Getting Crap Past the Radar: In the early years Merho still had to keep everything clean and decent, but occasionally he snuck in some erotic scenes and jokes. Throughout the years the series' popularity grew and thus the stories became more suggestive, risqué and sometimes even controversial.
The Ghost: The ghosts of two medieval robbers are shown in “Spoken In Huis”.
Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: Merho enjoys puns and word play.
Hammer and Sickle Removed For Your Protection: The communist country in “De Eén Zijn Dood”.
Happy End: Sometimes subverted.
Harmless Freezing: In “Een Koud Kunstje” it turns out that Napoleon Bonaparte was originally frozen to unthaw him several years later.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Tomboy
Hopper Shot: Fanny and Inspecteur Sapperdeboere sat in this restaurant in the album "Blond en Blau W".
Hot-Blooded: Leon and Carmella Van Der Neffe
Hurricane of Euphemisms
Hurricane of Puns: It’s a trademark of the series.
Hypnotic Eyes:
- Konstaninopel is temporarily hypnotized in “De Onthoofde Sfinx”.
- Kiekeboe too in "Black-Out".
Hypocritical Humour: Many characters strongly defend a certain opinion, only to do the exact opposite later.
I Ate What?? In “Een zakje chips” Kiekeboe accidentally eats a bag of crisps full with computer chips. (In Dutch the word “chips” is used both for crisps and computer chips.)
Idea Bulb: In “Album 26” the characters walk around in a darkened room, until Fanny gets the idea to use the idea bulb to lighten the room.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Inevitable in the Hurricane of Puns that this series is...
Killed Off for Real: Occasionely characters die in this comic strip.
Knife-Throwing Act: Depicted in “Doorgestoken Kaart”
Limited Wardrobe: For years the characters mostly wore the same outfits, but recent albums show them wearing different types of clothing to go along with the times.
Long Neck: In “De Pili-Pili Pillen” Balthasar’s neck grows to enormous lengths.
MacGuffin: In “Het Stokvis-Incident” it turns out that the entire case has nothing to do with Mevrouw Stokvis at all. The villain just named his project after her, without any particular reason.
Marilyn Maneuver: Fanny does this classic Marilyn Monroe pose in “De Medusa-Stichting”.
Master of Unlocking: Balthazar shows he's able to open an "easily locked door" in "Afgelast Wegens Ziekte" just by pointing at it.
Meaningful Name: Since almost every character has a Punny Name there are also many hidden meanings in their names.
The Mafia: Characters in “De Hoofdzaak” and “Witter dan wit”.
Mass Hypnosis: In “De Dorpstiran van Boeloe Boeloe” the people Boeloe Boeloe are brainwashed into loving the president by being forced to eat a certain type of mind bending soup used as a Mind Control Device
The Movie: Adapted to the big screen twice, but in both cases it wasn’t a big success.
The Napoleon: Plays the central role in “Een Koud Kunstje”.
Never Mess with Granny: Moemoe always gets what she wants.
Nobody Poops: Subverted in “Album 26”, where Kiekeboe goes to the toilet in the middle of the story: “Just because other comic book heroes never do this doesn’t mean I have to do the same.”
No Name Given: One character, “De Dikke Dame” (“The Fat Lady”) makes a Hitchcock Cameo in every album, but nothing is known about her, not even her name.
Nosy Neighbor: Fernand Goegebuer, who often walks in during an inappropriate moment or whose talkativeness causes a lot of trouble.
Old Shame: Merho doesn’t like some of his earliest albums which followed a more traditional comic book structure, including fantasy stuff, unnecessarily exposure of jokes and plot points and too bland and childish jokes.
Overly Long Name: Mr. Osnoprodavonoblikavitch in the album "Hotel O" who's never been able to remember his own surname. He shortens it to the letter "o", despite other people miraculously remembering it without any mistakes.
Painted Tunnel, Real Train: Just the painted tunnel part. In “Het Witte Bloed” Kiekeboe escapes from prison by drawing a large circle on the wall and simply walk through it, something he saw in a movie by Mack Sennett. In "Prettige Feestdagen" he tries the trick again, but fails.
Parental Bonus: This is a comic strip that adults can enjoy on different levels.
People Jars: Comic book characters are put in jars in the album “Kiekebanus”.
Pie in the Face: A national tradition in the country Itsi Pitsi in the album “De Zoete Regen”.
Plot-Relevant Age-Up: In “Het Stokvis-Incident” a serum is discovered that can make people grow to old age.
Police Are Useless: Inspector Sapperdeboere, who usually spents more time eating than actually solving crimes.
Print Long Runners: Since 1977.
Product Placement: Merho drew one album “Avontuur in Sun Parks” where the Kiekeboes have an adventure in the amusement park “Sun Parks”.
"Psycho" Shower Murder Parody: In "Het Plan Sstoeffer" Fanny takes a shower and thinks: "If I'm quick, I'll be able to catch "Psycho" by Hitchcock on TV". While she is showering she is attacked by a spy, but she notices him just in time and knocks him out.
Pulp Magazine: The magazine “Top Roddel”.
Punny Name: It’s a trademark of the series! Almost every characters has some kind of pun hidden in his or her name.
Punny Stuff
Puppet Permutation: Subverted. De Kiekeboes and villain Balthazar were originally based on puppets in Merho's brother Walter's puppet show. Merho decided to use them as his main cast.
Real Life Writes the Plot: Merho is frequently inspired by real life newspaper articles or events, Ripped from the Headlines.
- Dictator Bibi Pralin Gaga was inspired by Idi Amin
- President Bod in “Heil Bod” is a spoof of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
- The thief El Bousidi in “De Fez van Fes” was inspired by a real thief with that name who stole Merho and his wife’s luggage during a trip to Morocco.
Really Gets Around: Fanny has had a lot of boyfriends over the years.
Real Person Cameo: National and international celebrities also regularly have small cameos in the stories, including Louis De Funes, Fernandel, Laurel and Hardy, Woody Allen, John Cleese, Hergé, Rene Goscinny, Jean Gabin, Bourvil, Victor Borge, Khomeini, the cast of Little Britain, Jacques Tati, Michael Jackson, Grace Jones and many Belgian and Dutch celebrities.
Religion of Evil: Found in “De Haar-Tisten”, "Het Boerka-Complot" and “De getatoeëerde mossel”.
Rene Goscinny: Has a cameo in "Het lijk had gelijk"
Running Gag:
- Fernand Goegebuer spits whenever he talks
- Mevrouw Stokvis is always mentioned, but never seen
- A fat anonymous lady called “De Dikke Dame” always makes a cameo in each album.
- Inspecteur Sapperdeboere will always start eating instead of solving a case
- Van De Kasseien frequently cheats on his wife
Sexy Discretion Shot: Used often in the early albums, until it gradually became more explicit.
Sexy Secretary: Mr. Van De Kasseien has a lot of them... for obvious reasons.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: Fanny is often put in erotic and (semi) nude situations.
She Who Must Not Be Seen: Mevrouw Stokvis, the best friend of Moemoe is always mentioned, but never seen by the audience.
Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now??: Konstantinopel is seldom seen at school, though it is often mentioned. Compared to other comic book heroes we DO occasionally see him at school, for instance “Kiekeboeket” and “De Hoed van Robin”.
Shout-Out: Little winks to popular films, books, other comics or TV series are occasionally provided.
Show Within a Show: In “Vrouwen Komen Van Mars” de Kiekeboes go inside a comic book that Kiekeboe enjoyed reading as a kid. The style is Deliberately Monochrome and a parody of the 1940s and 1950s Flemish comic strips.
Slapstick: Merho is a huge fan of Laurel and Hardy, so slapstick elements are often included.
Sizeshifter: Balthazar’s head and neck change size in “De Pili-Pili Pillen” due to the side effects of various pills.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Certain albums have a feel good atmosphere, others are more dark and cynical.
Smug Snake: Leon and Carmella Van Der Neffe
Special Guest: For his album “Doorgestoken Kaart” Merho sought advice about magician’s tricks from Belgian magician Gil Ricardo. As a way to thank him he gave him a cameo role in the album.
Suicide as Comedy: Kiekeboe jumps off a bridge in “Afgelast wegens ziekte” because he thinks he’ll die in three days and wants to end it all quicker. His attempt fails when a van carrying sand passes by.
Symbol Swearing
Tarzan: Van Der Neffe briefly dresses like him and swings on the lamp post in “Afgelast Wegens Ziekte”.
That Didn't Happen: The story of “Haaiman” turns out to be an idea for a script that Kiekeboe ultimately refuses to act out.
Time Travel: Kiekeboe travels to the future in “De Wereld Volgens Kiekeboe”.
Too Dumb to Live: Balthazar, probably the most useless villain ever.
Treasure Hunt: In the album “De Schat van Mata Hari”.
Underwater Base: Plot element in “De duivelse driehoek” en “De Medusastichting”.
Unexpected Inheritance: “Het Mysterie van Spell-De-Prik”.
Unintentional Period Piece: When you read all the albums chronologically you get a real sense of different decades passing by: The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The Noughties,...
Vague Age: Most characters don’t have a specific age. Fanny was once said to be 16 years old, but since she drives a car she most be at least 18 years old according to Belgian law.
Vampire Fiction: Vampires are frequently reappearing characters in the series.
Villainous Crossdresser: Timotheus Triangl underwent a sex change in “Zeg Het Met Bloemen” and since then he is a woman.
What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?? Though marketed as- and popular with- a children's comic strip, a lot of stuff is not specifically intended or understandable for children.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?? Fanny, who doesn't go to school anymore, but does work various plot relevant jobs from now to then.
Write Who You Know:
- Merho sometimes added inside jokes in his stories, usually about his friends and colleagues.
You Just Ruined the Shot: Fanny interrupts a bank robbery in “Fanny Girl” only to discover that it was actually the shooting of a film scene.