Jack Slender - 'Kwadraat 4' (2013).
Hendrik J. Vos is a Dutch comic artist and illustrator, with a strong preference for pulpy fantasy stories. During the 1970s and 1980s, he contributed sci-fi comic stories to several magazines, most notably to the four issues of his own magazine Krypton (1981). Together with Martin Lodewijk, he created a new episode of the classic Dutch 1940s superhero 'De Kat' ('De Kat in Constantinopel', 1980). Spending most of his time as a teacher at the Arnhem Academy of Fine Arts and as a commercial illustrator, Vos didn't return to comics until the 21st century with his own space hero 'Jack Slender' (2008-2014).
Early life and career
Hendrik Jan Vos was born in 1946 in Dordrecht, The Netherlands, and educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem. Between 1970 and 2006, he was a teacher at this academy. In addition, he has been active as an illustrator and occasional comic artist. An artist with a fascination for pulp and bizarre science fiction, Vos has named Willy Vandersteen, Edgar Pierre Jacobs, Richard Corben, Tanino Liberatore and Enki Bilal as important influences on his work.
Cover artwork for Krypton #1 and #4 (1981).
Comics
In 1973, Vos released his self-published mini-comic 'Paul Street Comics', followed by the underground-flavored comic book 'Manuels Medium' (Richard, 1976). Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, Vos contributed comic stories to alternative or adult-oriented comic magazines. His mostly science fiction tales appeared in Aloha, Hitweek, De Vrije Balloen, Gummi, Aloha, Wordt Vervolgd and Titanic. In 1981, Hendrik J. Vos and his friend Hans Pieko created four issues of their own bi-monthly science fiction magazine Krypton, published by Yendor in Rotterdam. Besides comics and illustrations by Vos and Pieko themselves, Krypton featured contributions by Bert Doesburg, Kees Smit and Bruno Visser. The sci-fi stories in Krypton by Vos himself included 'De Teletransfer', 'Bij Doctor Change', 'Yech & Twanno', 'Gorgon de Verzengende' and 'De Ring van Raklion', as well as the gag strip 'Castor de Ruimtepionier'. After a while, it became apparent that Krypton lacked a sustainable team of contributors, leaving Vos, Pieko and Doesburg to produce the majority of the artwork. As this proved unworkable, the title was canceled. Some of Vos' stories also appeared in the Spanish magazine Zona 84.
In later years, Vos collected his comic stories in his 'Edelpulp' collection, self-published under the artist's own Saturnus imprint. The series has included the volumes 'De Prins van de Paardekop' (1999), 'De Kat in de Karpaten' (2006) and 'Gorgon de Verzengende en Verder' (2007), as well as a portfolio book with both free and commercial illustration work, 'De Edelpulp Collectie' (2011).
'De Kat in Constantinopel' (1980).
De Kat
Vos' interest in pulp resulted in a collaboration with writer Martin Lodewijk for a new story with the classic Dutch superhero 'De Kat', originally created in the 1940s by Henk Albers. In 1980 and 1985, Lodewijk wrote two new comic books with a new rendition of the character, of which the first volume was drawn by Hendrik J. Vos, 'De Kat in Constantinopel' (Yendor, 1980). In 1985, a second installment was drawn by Bart van Erkel, but newly planned stories with Adri van Kooten and Eric Heuvel remained unfinished. In 1994, however, Hendrik J. Vos drew the new short story 'De Kat in de Karpaten' from a script by Pieter van Oudheusden, and edited by Martin Lodewijk. Originally intended for an American comic book that never saw the light of day, it was eventually printed in Vos' own self-published short story collection 'De Kat in de Karpaten' (2006).
'De Prins van de Paardenkop' (1999).
Studios
Based in Arnhem, Vos was closely associated with a group of artists that would later form Studio Arnhem, including Hanco Kolk, René Meulenbroek, Aloys Oosterwijk and Ben Jansen. While they were still students at the local Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a teacher, Vos was an advisor in the creation of their own amateur comic magazine De Omelet. During the 1980s, the team's Studio Arnhem brought forth a new generation of Dutch comic creators, working for several of the leading Dutch comic and children's magazines. By the 1990s, most of the original members had left, with only Ben Jansen remaining. During this period, Vos and Hans Pieko also worked in the studio at 31A Kastanjelaan - mostly on their own illustration work, but sometimes also on collaborative projects. After the death of Ben Jansen in 1994, Studio Arnhem was dissolved and Vos joined the Funny Farm studio, which moved into the same building. In this creative environment, he worked for many years in the company of Kees de Boer, Gerard Leever, Stef de Reuver, Jeroen Steehouwer, Hester van de Grift, Mars Gremmen, Frans Leenheer and other artists. During this period, he also contributed to the Funny Farm comic magazine Razzafrazz.
'Escapade', originally published in Razzafrazz #4 (1994), later colorized for the book collection 'De Kat in de Karpaten' (2006).
Illustrator
As an illustrator, the artwork of Vos was often used for educational purposes, for instance a booklet about different types of bridges by publisher Wolters-Noordhoff ('Bruggen Bouwen' by Jeroen Denters, 2000). On his own or with colleagues like Ben Jansen and Hans Pieko, he made large overview drawings for the Rijn and IJssel Water Board, the Arnhem city park Sonsbeek, the Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem and the Association of Friends of the Gelderland Castles. His more commercial work has included assignments for sticker sheets for children, an informative corporate presentation by the construction company Volker Stevin and illustrations for TNT Unlimited, the company magazine of the transport organization TNT. In his spare time, Vos has been making paintings and travel sketches.
His commercial work has also included the occasional comic strip. In 1977, he illustrated the comic booklet 'Zartan in de Asfaltjungle', written by Theo van den Boogaard and Rudie Kagie. Dealing with the experiences of single people in the jungle of public housing with its homeowners, project developers and municipal governments, the book was commissioned by the Citizenship Studies Foundation as part of its "Social Basic Education" project. Between 2004 and 2010, an episode of his cheerful sports strip 'De Klarendaller Kids' appeared twice a year in the brochures of Sportbedrijf Arnhem, the department of the municipality that coordinates and promotes sports activities.
Illustration for the menu of the restaurant De Haven van Huizen in Huizen.
Jack Slender
After his retirement from teaching, Vos returned to creating comics, for the occasion creating the space hero 'Jack Slender'. A cynical antihero in the spirit of classic sci-fi pulp stories, Slender gets caught up in all sorts of adventurous entanglements along with his robot sidekick Pépé and girlfriend/mechanic Tiecka. In 2007, the first 44-page episode 'De Quark-Generator' was serialized in the comic magazine MYX, and then published in a 2008 comic book by Orgcomicart. A second volume, 'Kwadraat Vier' (2013), was written by Willem Ritstier and published by the Flemish Comics Guild. 'De Amora Excursie', a final short story with Jack Slender written by Herman Roozen, appeared in the Summer of 2014 in Zone 5300 magazine.
Jack Slender - 'De Quark-Generator' (2007).
Graphic contributions
During the 1970s, Vos worked with Hans Pieko on several comic-related projects. From a script by Theo van den Boogaard, the Vos-Pieko team drew a 13-page comic story about 17th-century poet Joost van den Vondel, who is transported to our time. The story was created on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Vondel's death, and printed in the special catalogue accompanying an exposition at the Theater Museum in Amsterdam ('Vondel en Amsterdam', Espee, 1979). Also in 1979, Pieko and Vos initiated a comic project for the Filmweek festival in Arnhem. Every day, two large panels were revealed in the hall of the Rembrandt Theater, in which Arnhem mayor Hans Roelen and Head of Cultural Affairs Herman Hofman end up in scenes from famous movies. Pieko and Vos wrote and drew the story, aided by graphic artist Rinus Smit for the dialogue and by Frans Jongmans and Ben Bodt for reproducing the Pieko-Vos designs on the panels. The drawings were also printed in the local newspaper De Nieuwe Krant.
In 2007, Vos was one of the contributing comic creators to Menno Kooistra's 'Bloeddorst' horror anthology. His contribution was the pirate parody 'Kapitein Bloedbad', of which a colorized version appeared in 2020 in Zone 5300 magazine.
Free work by H.J. Vos.