Lo Hartog van Banda, posing next to a cardboard cut-out of the character Panda.
Lo Hartog van Banda - also referred to as just "Banda" - was one of The Netherlands' most prolific scriptwriters, both for comics and children's TV series. He was one of the closest co-workers of Marten Toonder, especially on the 'Tom Poes' comic. Hartog van Banda co-wrote many of the newspaper comic's classic stories and created a new recurring character, the German-talking professor Zbigniew Prlwytzkofsky. He also provided plotlines for many other Toonder Studio's productions, like 'Kappie', 'Panda', 'Koning Hollewijn' and 'Eric de Noorman'. Among his personal creations were the science fiction serial 'Martin Evans' (art by Ben Abas, Dick Vlottes and Gerrit Stapel, 1955-1959), the soap opera 'Het Dagboek van Marion' (art by Jan Wesseling, 1957-1961) and the philosophical drama 'Student Tijloos' (art by Gerrit Stapel and Thé Tjong-Khing, 1961-1963). After leaving Toonder, Hartog van Banda scripted the first Dutch graphic novel, 'Iris' (1968), a psychedelic one-shot set in a futuristic Amsterdam, and the dystopian, socially conscious science fiction newspaper serial 'Arman en Ilva' (1969-1975), both drawn by Thé Tjong-Khing. From the late 1960s until the early 1970s, Banda wrote various scripts for children's comics in the magazines Pep and Sjors, including 'De Argonautjes' (art by Dick Matena, 1968-1973), 'Blook' (art by Johnn Bakker, 1968-1973) and 'Arad en Maya' (art by Jan Steeman, 1970-1974). For the Belgian artist Morris, he scripted the 'Lucky Luke' stories 'Fingers' (1983), 'Nitroglycerine' (1987) and 'Chasse Aux Fantômes' (1992), which are considered some of the best stories of the series in the post-Goscinny period. Lo Hartog van Banda's narratives were renowned for their use of philosophical elements and socially conscious satire, while he also regularly added occult and magical elements to his stories. As a TV writer, Hartog van Banda was the creative mind behind the classic children's TV series 'Ti Ta Tovenaar' (1972-1974) and 'De Bereboot' (1976-1978).
Early life and career
Lodewijk Hartog van Banda was born in 1916 in The Hague. His family roots lay on the Moluccan Banda islands, where his ancestors were gardeners of nutmeg trees. In The Hague, Lo's father had quickly squandered the family inheritance, after which his wife left him with her two sons. As a child, Lo already had a vivid imagination. At night he used to tell his younger brother stories, but he also roamed the family home with his imaginary friend and was troubled by nightmares. As he showed a talent for drawing, he attended the Art Academy of The Hague, where one of his teachers was Paul Citroen. When his mother died, Hartog van Banda eventually dropped out of art school and found work as an office clerk. At age 20, he moved to the Dutch colony the Dutch Indies (nowadays Indonesia), since he hoped there would be better job opportunities. A gross miscalculation, because shortly after his arrival he had already spent most of his 400 guilders' budget and was expected to pay the exact same sum to the immigration service as a deposit. The young Dutchman managed to get two weeks delay on the payment, while he quickly started looking for a job. In Sumatra, he was lucky to find work as a copywriter and graphic designer for advertisements at the newspaper Deli Courant.
As he was sympathetic towards the local population and often defended them in conflicts with his editors, Hartog van Banda received the stigma of being "anti-colonial", "anti-English" and "a Communist sympathizer". In May 1940, the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, so in the Dutch Indies, the colonial authorities arrested anybody with suspicious ideologies, including Banda, who was by then living in Java. During his jailtime, Banda wasn't allowed to go to another part of the jail, which was behind a trip-wired wall. With a couple of other inmates he climbed over it, and cut his leg. Unavoidably they were discovered, but due to his wound Hartog van Banda couldn't run so fast and was apprehended. When his friends were also caught, the group decided to spark a riot and light some mattresses on fire. Afterwards, he and the other rioters were sent to small, separate cells, where each bed was just a shelf on top of a toilet. After a few months, Hartog van Banda went on a hunger strike. It became tougher once he didn't receive water any longer. Eventually he gave up, just around the time the Japanese army invaded the Dutch Indies in January 1942. He and other prisoners were deported to Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam in Suriname, and later brough to the Jodensavanne jungle camp. During this period, his situation improved, and Banda did all sorts of chores, including unloading boats, working in the forest crew and even helping out as medicine man.
'De Wonderlijke Lamp van Professor Halowits', Lo Hartog van Banda's children's book from 1948.
Even when World War II ended in May 1945, it still took about a year before the camp was dismantled and Hartog van Banda could return to civilian life. Back in the Netherlands by August 1946, he received an office job at the Dutch Ministry of Finance, while writing stories in his spare time. After quitting his day job, Banda started working on a boys' book called 'De Wonderlijke Lamp van Professor Halowits', published by Uitgeverij West-Friesland in 1948. Together with his friend Ben Abas, he published four issues of the science fiction adventure magazine Fantasie en Wetenschap (1948-1949). All the other credited writers in the magazine were pseudonyms for either Banda or Abas. He subsequently wrote naughty stories for Cheerio! magazine, and adventure serials for the magazines of De Geïllustreerde Pers. His first comic script was 'Fabulus De Klokkendokter', which appeared in a journal of watchmakers in 1949. The artist of the story was uncredited, but it may have been Ben Abas, or perhaps Hartog van Banda himself. By now married, Lo Hartog van Banda often had to write four to five short stories per week to make ends meet. For more financial security, Hartog van Banda got a new job at the Dutch-Indies Insurance Company NILLMIJ, while, between 1949 and 1951, studying actuarial mathematics.
'Fabulus de Klokkendokter', Hartog van Banda's first comic script. The artist is unknown. Maybe Ben Abas or Banda himself?
Toonder Studios
In 1948, Banda first applied for a job as a writer with the Marten Toonder Studios in Amsterdam, at that time the biggest, most productive and therefore most lucrative comics and animation studio in The Netherlands. However, he was rejected, receiving the reply that "mister Toonder writes his own stories". After his graduation in 1952, he tried again, this time using a bold plan to get hired. Together with his friend Ben Abas, he had created a newspaper comic called 'Baron van Tast', and found the newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad interested in running it. Instead of accepting this opportunity, Banda wrote to Toonder instead, and added a copy of the letter from Algemeen Handelsblad. At the time, this newspaper ran the comic strip about the gnome Olle Kapoen, which was created for the Toonder Studio's by Marten Toonder's wife Phiny Dick. Since it was the studio's least popular comic strip, Banda hinted that his 'Baron van Tast' comic would probably replace 'Olle Kapoen' in the newspaper soon. Basically blackmailing Toonder, Banda asked him to either hire him, or get kicked out of the paper. Amused by Banda's abrasive plan, he hired the young scriptwriter, who promptly gave up his job at NILLMIJ and began his staff position at the Toonder Studio's. At the time, the Toonder Studio's had gathered a small team of additional writers, consisting of Dirk Huizinga, Waling Dijkstra, Lodewijk Karseboom and Jan Gerhard Toonder, but Banda became the most versatile collaborator on Toonder's own comic creations. As a result, the 'Baron van Tast' comic was shelved, but the plot was reused for the 1960s comic 'Baron Bluff', drawn by Jan van Wensveen. The name 'Baron van Tast' reappeared in the 1970s, when Jan van Haasteren launched his zany humor comic of the same name in Pep magazine.
Toonder Studios: Tom Poes
Hartog van Banda quickly moved up the ladder as one of the major scriptwriters for Toonder's comic department, participating in most of his comic series, especially Toonder's signature comic 'Tom Poes'. Launched in 1941, this funny animal comic about the friendship between a young white cat and a nobleman bear, Olivier B. Bommel, was by the 1950s appearing as both a text comic in newspapers and a balloon comic in magazines. At first, Banda became a regular scriptwriter for the 'Tom Poes' balloon comics, serialized in the Disney weekly Donald Duck and the opinion magazine Wereldkroniek, with artwork by Wim Lensen and Frits Godhelp. After a while, Hartog van Banda also became an important contributor to the 'Tom Poes' newspaper comic in De Volkskrant. Together with Marten Toonder, he plotted stories, which Toonder then rephrased in his trademark literary style, while artists like Ben van 't Klooster and Ben van Voorn provided the artwork.
During the 1950s, Banda played a vital role in the evolution of 'Tom Poes' from a straightforward children's comic into a satirical comic with socially conscious themes and exquisite cultivated language that adult readers enjoyed too. Banda once described his scriptwriting as a game of chess: "Tom Puss is a white bishop, who'd go for his goal in a direct line, and never change colors. Bommel on the other hand is a knight, who'd jump from black to white throughout the events." Just like a chess game, Banda wasn't always sure where his plot lines would take him. Toonder sometimes merely came up a basic concept and then asked Banda to continue the story from there. Often there wasn't time to properly prepare a new storyline, so Banda just began setting the mood, while constructing the plot while improvising. He often found inspiration while paging through dictionaries, since it provided him with suitable associations to the story's overall theme.
Lo Hartog Banda enriched the 'Tom Poes' universe by introducing the new recurring character Professor Zbigniew Prlwytzkofsky, who originated in the 'Tom Poes' balloon comic 'Het Ding X 13' (1953), serialized in Wereldkroniek, but was later incorporated in the newspaper comics too. The professor with his difficult-to-spell name is notable for his mixture of German-sounding expressions in his language. His design was based on Der Inspektor from Rudolf Dirks' gag comic 'Der Katzenjammer Kids', which also had German loan words as a trademark.
Lo Hartog van Banda had a big role in the plot of the classic Tom Puss story 'De Bovenbazen' (art by Dick Matena, 1964), in which Bommel is confronted with the upper stock exchange circles.
Toonder Studios: Kappie, Panda and Koning Hollewijn
Besides 'Tom Poes', Hartog van Banda also wrote for several of the other newspaper comics created by Marten Toonder, which were all text comics. Between 1952 and 1962, he wrote or co-wrote several stories of Toonder's nautical comic 'Kappie' (1945-1972), drawn by Joop Hillenius and others. During that same period, he also wrote full scripts of Toonder's other major newspaper strip, 'Panda' (1946-1991), a funny animal comic about a young panda bear, drawn by artists like Ben van Voorn, Harry Hargreaves and Dick Matena. As the syndicated comic was particularly popular in England - where it ran as a balloon comic version in the Evening News - Banda applied typically British elements into his dialogues, like the use of understatements. He additionally made the intrigues more complex, giving the recurring villain Joris Goedbloed a more prominent role.
The first new Toonder creation to be launched after Banda was hired was 'Koning Hollewijn' (1954-1971), a fantasy comic about a noble king and his court, serialized in the newspaper De Telegraaf and its companion paper Nieuws van de Dag. Banda played an important role in developing the tone of the series. 'Koning Hollewijn' features political satire, but presented on a family-friendly level. Hollewijn was a wise king, who often contemplated before taking his decisions. To Banda, this didn't lead to exciting stories, so he created the side character of Wiebeline Wip, the monarch's more impulsive secretary.
Lo Hartog van Banda created the character of Wiebeline Wip for the Koning Hollewijn comic ('Koning Hollewijn en de Zoekgeraakte Rechten', art by Toonder Studio's).
Martin Evans
Hartog van Banda additionally developed three newspaper comics of his own for the Toonder Studio's, of which the science fiction serial 'Martin Evans' (1955-1959) was the first. In 1954, Banda teamed up with the artist Ben Abas again to create the sci-fi newspaper comic 'Martin Evans', starting with the serial that later became known as 'Het Venuskruid' ("The Venus Herb"). In the December 1954 issue of the Toonder Studio's syndication magazine Cartoonder, the comic strip was first advertized. In the following year, the strip was first published in Scandinavian newspapers, as well as the Belgian magazine 't Kapoentje. After 100 episodes, the Toonder Studios decided to cancel the comic, apparently out of dissatisfaction with its overall theme and quality. Ben Abas was allowed to continue the comic on his own, but then without the studio as intermediary. Offended on how he was treated, the artist dropped the comic altogether. At the time, Hartog van Banda was unaware of what went on behind the scenes. As a result, he wasn't amused by Abas' sudden and unexplained departure. The former friends never had the chance to work things out, because around that time, Abas emigrated to Australia. The original 'Martin Evans' story was finished by an unknown studio co-worker.
In the Netherlands, the 'Martin Evans' comic didn't appear in regional newspapers like Echo and De Stem until 1958 (when the artist Ben Abas was already in Australia). The Toonder Studio's had brought the comic back into circulation, because space travel had gained in popularity after the 1957 Sputnik launch. For these new publications, the final non-Abas strips were remade by penciler Thé Tjong-Khing and inker Dick Vlottes. In 1959, Banda and Vlottes also made a second episode, 'De Zero-Vaart'. That same year, a third and fourth story were plotted by Banda, but scripted by Harry van den Eerenbeemt and drawn by Gerrit Stapel.
Het Dagboek van Marion
For a female audience, Hartog van Banda created the balloon comic 'Het Dagboek van Marion' (1957-1961), published in the newspaper De Telegraaf. For this series, which mostly dealt with fashion and was set in colorful locations like Paris, he applied a diary format. Strongly inspired by Stan Drake's American soap opera comic 'The Heart of Juliet Jones', 'Het Dagboek van Marion' was drawn by the well-known illustrator Jan Wesseling in collaboration with Thé Tjong-Khing. Several of the 18 stories in total were co-written by Harry van den Eerenbeemt.
Student Tijloos - 'Het Spiegelpaleis' (art by Thé Tjong Khing).
Student Tijloos
Hartog van Banda's most notable work during his Toonder Studio's period was probably 'Student Tijloos' (1961-1963). Initially an abandoned project developed by Marten Toonder with Jan Kruis in 1959, Banda made it his own when it was revived in the early 1960s. For a serialization in Algemeen Dagblad, Banda reworked the original concept into a philosophically oriented newspaper strip about a student who changes disciplines in every story. Between October 1961 and June 1963, Banda wrote six stories with Student Tijloos, most of which illustrated by Gerrit Stapel, except for the third story, 'Het Spiegeldoolhof' (1962), which was largely drawn by Thé Tjong-Khing. This specific story was also the most notable installment in the series, largely due to Thé's film noir influenced artwork and clever, cinematic camera angles. In this story, the young student studies architecture. He meets a girl who lives in a mysterious house that manipulates the personalities of its inhabitants. The deeply philosophical storyline was unusual for Dutch comics at the time, and a forerunner for Banda's later collaborations with Thé.
Toonder Studios: other series
As a true chameleon, Hartog van Banda often helped other creators at the Toonder Studios with their series, and served as a tutor to other scriptwriters, for instance Harry van den Eerenbeemt and Marten Toonder's son, Eiso Toonder. More sporadically, he helped with plotting stories and writing text captions for the early stories of the medieval comic 'Otto van Irtin' (1955-1957) in De Telegraaf, drawn by Gerrit Stapel, as well as Hans G. Kresse's epic Viking Saga 'Eric de Noorman'. In 1954, he also wrote the story 'De Ondergang van Ur' for Piet Wijn's newspaper comic 'Aram van de Eilanden'. For the newspaper De Telegraaf, Banda plotted the illustrated stories of 'Opa en Oma' (1959-1960), about a loving elderly couple. The texts were further developed by Geert Elfferich and Jan Moraal, while Thé Tjong-Khing provided illustrations. Hartog van Banda also collaborated with Thé on the weekly funny animal children's comic 'Ridder Leo van Zuylenburg' (1959-1961) for Vrije Geluiden, the magazine of broadcasting corporation VPRO. Starting in 1965, he was one of the scriptwriters for the Toonder Studio's production of stories with the Disney characters 'Hiawatha' and 'Big Bad Wolf' in the Disney weekly Donald Duck. Initially alternating on writing duties with Andries Brandt, he quickly left this production when Patty Klein became Brandt's main writing partner. According to Klein, Banda around the same time also provided scripts for the Hanna-Barbera comic book De Flintstones, published by De Geïllustreerde Pers.
Leaving Toonder
Although Hartog van Banda enriched Toonder's productions in many ways, his taskmaster wasn't known for expressing his respect towards his employees, which left the versatile scriptwriter somewhat frustrated. In December 1964, he gave an interview to Jan Godschalk of the newspaper Haagse Post, in which he was asked about the Toonder Studios. Up to that point, the general audience didn't know much about the studio, presuming that Toonder was the sole mastermind behind all of the studio's comics. Unbeknownst to Banda, Godschalk had inside information about the studio, which he revealed in the printed article, alongside more general criticism of Toonder's working methods, for instance the taking credit for other people's works and a supposed decline in quality. All this information and criticism was added by the journalist without Banda's knowledge or consent, while his quotations were used to prove Godschalk's statements. When Toonder read the article he was furious.
In later interviews, Banda reflected that he always enjoyed brainstorming with Toonder. Since the latter was interested in astrology, Banda also started studying the topic. Precisely because they had such a close bond it hurt him deeply that Toonder was so angry about the 1964 interview and didn't believe him when he said that the journalist had twisted his words. By the time they were back on good terms, Toonder moved to Ireland. Banda rejected the two options given to him him: emigrate to Ireland too and continue their collaboration, or stay in the Netherlands and become studio chief. He didn't want to live in Ireland, but felt that working without Toonder's company wasn't much fun either.
So in September 1965, Banda left the Toonder Studio's altogether, although he continued to do the occasional freelance writing job for them. Banda spent the next fifteen months working in the advertising industry on campaigns for Venz, Andy and Seven-Up through the J. Walter Thompson agency, followed by a short stint with Joop Geesink's Dollywood studios.
'Iris', artwork by Thé Tjong-Khing.
Iris
Lo Hartog van Banda's collaboration with Thé Tjong-Khing continued with the colorful and psychedelic comic 'Iris' (1968), published by literary publisher De Bezige Bij. Largely inspired by Guy Peellaert's groundbreaking pop art comics 'Les Aventures de Jodelle' (1966) and 'Pravda, la Survireuse' (1967), the story was situated in a futuristic Amsterdam, where amusement, popstar idolation and free sex control everyday life, all orchestrated by a "Dream King". Banda constructed an alternate reality in which people were free to walk around naked, but not without wigs. The typical Amsterdam public urinals function as public "Love ins" and their interior expands in an hallucinative way when one takes a pill. The writer's grim vision of the future was however told from a philosophical and non-political point-of-view, and with Thé Tjong-Khing's swinging pop art panels, the book never became too dark. The story was not event-driven, but had an emphasis on emotions and interpretations, told from the perspective of the lead characters Iris and Mark. Since the reader follows most events through the female protagonist's eyes, the authors chose to name her Iris.
With its philosophical and dreamlike undertone and experimental and erotic graphics, 'Iris' is considered the first Dutch graphic novel. Production was a true joint effort and the story was constructed organically. The artist Thé sometimes deviated from Banda's initial vision, after which the writer alternated the story. In true pop art style, almost all of the characters were based on celebrities, most notably Iris, who borrowed her initial looks from British pop icon Twiggy. In 2018, Sherpa reprinted the story in a fully colored luxury volume with an extensive background dossier by Rudy Vrooman.
'Arman en Ilva' - 'De Perfecte Kringloop' (art by Thé Tjong Khing)
Arman en Ilva
After 'Iris', Hartog van Banda and Thé Tjong-Khing launched another contemporary comic series, 'Arman en Ilva' (1969-1975), syndicated to Dutch regional newspapers through the Toonder Studio's. The space opera comic was notable for not relying on heroic protagonists or high-tech spacecrafts. Instead, the character-driven plots focused on a young couple, Arman and Ilva, who, like a futuristic Adam and Eve, appear in dystopian environments. For his story ideas, Hartog van Banda didn't need faraway galaxies. For instance, the high-rise blocks of the Amsterdam neighborhood Bijlmermeer were used as inspiration for the desolate environments in the story 'De Perfecte Kringloop' (1972). In another story, 'De Bijzonder Begaafden' (1971), Hartog van Banda explored the dangers of artificial intelligence. Dark and occult elements formed the core of the story 'Het Poppenhuis' (1970), while the personality of main character Ilva was questioned in 'Een Robot Is Ook Maar Een Mens' (1969).
In 1975, Khing and Banda left the comic. Five more more episodes were made by Gerrit Stapel until 1976. Between 1977 and 1983, a first series of books was published by Brabantia Nostra. Nowadays, the first Dutch "psychological science fiction comic" is still considered a classic, and has been compiled in a luxury book collection by Sherpa since 2006.
'De Argonautjes' (Pep #31, 3 August 1968).
Pep
From 1968 on, Hartog van Banda was also a productive scriptwriter for the children's magazines of De Geïllustreerde Pers. His main output was for the comic magazine Pep, of which he was the most prolific writer between 1968 and 1972. With Dick Matena as artist, he created 'De Argonautjes', a comic based on Greek mythology, for which he wrote scripts from 1968 to 1973. Banda and Matena also created three stories of the medieval comic 'Ridder Roodhart' (1969-1971). For Johnn Bakker, Banda scripted the first five stories of superhero parody 'Blook' (1969-1972), and worked with Henk 't Jong on the first two plots of the sci-fi comic 'Titus' (1971-1972). During the early 1970s, he additionally wrote episodes of Gideon Brugman's horror parody 'Ambrosius' and Jan van Haasteren's absurd series about the hallucinating 'Baron van Tast tot Zeveren'.
'Arad en Maya', with art by Jan Steeman (Sjors #20, 19 May 1972).
Sjors
For Sjors, Hartog van Banda created the science fiction series 'Arad en Maya' (1970-1974) with Jan Steeman. Consisting of nine stories, this series dealt with spaceship operator Arad and the girl biologist Maya, who could communicate with animals and creatures through her telepathic hair band. In 1973, the first story 'Manus op Mytica' was published in book format by Oberon. Between 1977 and 1980, the full series was published by CentriPress. Between 1970 and 1972, he was also the first writer of 'Distel', a comic by Joanika and Börge Ring about a strange-looking boy with purple hair, who lived in a fantasy jungle with talking animals. He was succeeded on the feature by Patty Klein.
Tina
Later in the 1970s, Hartog van Banda also wrote many scripts for the girls' magazine Tina. By 1971, the magazine was gradually breaking free from its English roots, and began featuring locally produced comics. To replace the British comic 'Jack en de Wild Boys', about a young pop group, Banda and the artist Gideon Brugman.came up with a new musically themed serial, 'Patty en de Big Silver Bull Band' (1971-1976). One of the first Dutch original comics in Tina, the magazine's editors did their best to promote it. As they had done with Patty's British forerunner Jacky, Tina magazine released an actual maxi-single of the fictional band, which Tina readers received for free with their weekly. Following a talent show, the sixteen-year-old Marion Biesthorst from The Hague was chosen from 600 participants to take the role of Patty and record the songs 'Patapoe', 'I Am Young' and 'Sound of the River'. Under the name Patty, Biesthorst subsequently released the singles 'Ricky Radio' (1973) and 'Lazy Baby' (1974) on the Polydor label.
However, Banda's best-remembered contribution to Tina was probably the thriller story 'De Twee van Oldenhoek' (1975-1976), another collaboration with Thé Tjong-Khing. In comparison to Tina's regular melodramatic serials, the story about two twin sisters living with their aunt in the castle of Oldenhoek was far more heavy-handed. Their investigation into a series of break-ins confronts them with a creepy and violent villain. During a strangling scene, the editors even had to step in to make the story less scary. The original, unaltered scene did appear in the book publication in the 'Tina Topstrip' collection.
De Vrije Balloen
Hartog van Banda was also one of the original contributors to De Vrije Balloen, the independent comic magazine initiated in 1975 by Patty Klein and Jan van Haasteren. During the second half of the decade, however, he dropped most of his comic-related activities, leaving several of his ongoing projects to Klein.
'Patty en de Big Silver Bull Band', with art by Gideon Brugman (Tina #48, 20 September 1971).
TV scriptwriting
During the 1970s, Hartog van Banda however dropped most of his comics activities, leaving several of his running projects to Patty Klein, and moving on to write some of the most successful Dutch children's television shows of the time. As early as the 1956, Banda had already written a puppet film with 'Tom Poes' for the Toonder Studios, while scripting fairy tales for the children's game show 'Er Was Eens...' on VPRO television. However, he only truly made his mark two decades later, when he scripted the popular children's TV series 'TiTa Tovenaar' (1972-1974) about a magician (Ton Lensink) and his daughter (Maroesja Lacunes). Although each episode was only five minutes long, the series spawned several books, records and other merchandising, while being popular in reruns too. In 1974, Frans Piët made a comic based on the series, published in Televizier magazine.
Another popular TV series by Banda was the puppet series 'De Bereboot' (1976-1978), about a group of bears on a boat. He made the series in collaboration with his son Rolf Hartog van Banda, who designed the puppets and held artistic control. 407 episodes with lengths between 5-10 minutes were produced, and broadcast at first on a daily and then on a weekly basis by the NOS and the AVRO. This series was followed by 'De Astronautjes' (1978-1979), another puppet production by father and son Banda. Voice actors involved in both productions were Trudy Libosan, Maroesja Lacunes, Jan Borkus and Paul van Gorcum, with music by Joop Stokkermans. Books based on Van Banda's TV series were written by his daughter Helen Arends-Hartog van Banda (b. 1949). The pre-school magazine Bobo ran both a comic (1976-1977) and text stories (1978) based on 'De Bereboot', with artwork by Rolf Hartog van Banda in collaboration with Ton Beek.
'Lucky Luke' - 'Fingers' and 'Chasse Aux Fantômes'.
Asterix/Lucky Luke
In the early 1980s, Hartog van Banda returned to writing comics, when the French publisher Dargaud made plans for a monthly magazine built around the famous Gaul 'Astérix', created by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. Since Goscinny had passed away in 1977, Hartog van Banda took the opportunity to offer his services as a new scriptwriter for the series. He wrote a 30-page story for 'Astérix', of which Daan Jippes drew the first pages. According to legend, Uderzo felt so threatened by Jippes' graphic talents that he vetoed the project. However, a more confirmed reason why the Jippes-Banda story was never completed was probably the fact that Astérix Mensuel never saw the light.
Yet Banda did become one of Goscinny's successors on one of his other signature series, the western comic 'Lucky Luke', drawn by Morris. Since they both had Dutch as their mother tongue, Morris and Hartog van Banda got along well. During a ten-year period, Banda wrote three 'Lucky Luke' stories. In 'Fingers' (1983), Lucky Luke and the Daltons face off against a wonderfully skillful magician. In 'Nitroglycérine' (1987), the "poor lonesome cowboy" has to transport nitroglycerine to the company Union and Central Pacific. In 'Chasse Aux Fantômes' (1992), Banda and Morris brought back the character of Calamity Jane who, together with Luke, investigates some strange ghostly apparitions. Particularly 'Fingers' is generally considered one of the best 'Lucky Luke' albums since Goscinny's death.
Recognition
In 1975, both Lo Hartog van Banda and Hans G. Kresse were awarded the Stripschapprijs for his entire body of work by the Dutch comic appreciation society Het Stripschap. It was the only prize Banda received during his lifetime, and he was so far the first and only person to receive the award who was solely a comic scriptwriter. Since 2003, the Dutch city of Almere has a street in its Comics District named after Maya from Hartog van Banda and Jan Steeman's series 'Arad en Maya'.
Death and legacy
Lo Hartog van Banda died in February 2006 in his hometown The Hague, at the age of 89. One of his final projects was the script for a 'Ti Ta Tovenaar' musical, and he also worked on the scripts of a revival of the TV series (2008-2009).
Both in comics and in television, Hartog van Banda has left his mark in Dutch popular culture. As one of the country's first professional comic writers, he was known to always write with his artist's strongest abilities in mind. If they were great in expressive close-ups, like Thé Tjong-Khing, or better in large crowd scenes, like Dick Matena, then he gave them several opportunities to show off these skills.
Besides working with his father on 'De Bereboot' and 'De Astronautjes', Rolf Hartog van Banda has also been active as a writer and artist of comics, for instance for the non-Disney comic 'Sidi en Smook' (1992) in Donald Duck weekly, drawn by Kees de Boer. From the mid-1980s until the early 2000s, Rolf wrote a great many short stories for Tina, using the pen name Mano. As an artist, Rolf Hartog van Banda has worked with inker Ton Beek on comics based on 'De Bereboot' and 'The Pink Panther'.
Lo Hartog van Banda. Photo: Rob van der Nol.