The newspaper ‘De Standaard’ is to stop publishing the daily Spike and Suzy comic strip. The paper has published serialised versions of what is one of Flanders’ most popular comic strip book series since 1945. However, in future readers of ‘De Standaard’ will no longer be able to follow the adventures of the iconic comic strip duo in the daily newspaper.
"The end": ‘De Standaard’ newspaper stops publishing the Spike and Suzy comic strip
Published:
Suzy’s wink inside a black frame with the closing words “The end” that brings to a close each of her and Spike’s adventures really mean “The end” now ‘De Standaard’ is ceasing publication of the Spike and Suzy comic strip.
After 77 years the closing frame of ‘The Angry Bolete’ was the last Spike and Suzy comic strip fame to be published in the newspaper. However, fans should not despair as they will still be able to buy Spike and Suzy albums (Suske en Wiske in Dutch) at newsagents and bookstores and borrow them from their local library.
It all started in 1945 in the newspaper that was then called 'De Nieuwe Standaard'. Willy Vandersteen and later Studio Vandersteen provided a small a piece of a story that would later be published in comic strip album book form.
The daily commic strip achieved immediate popularity and other newspapers and magazines followed suit and publised their own serialised comic strip stories. There was Marc Sleen with Nero, Jef Nys with Jommeke", Pom with Piet Pienter and Bert Bibber and Merho with De peekaboo.
However, “Willy Vandersteen was the most important; he led where the others followed,” says the journalist and author Toon Horsten told VRT News. Spike and Suzy comic strips were also published in newspapers in The Netherlands.
The comic series appeared every day in the newspaper and later the story was published in album form. The members of many families fought over the newspaper to be the first to read the comic strip and many children also cut out the strips to save them.
In 2022 there are still comic strips in the newspapers, but these are serialisations of existing comic strip albums or they are comic strip adaptations of popular TV programs such as FC De Kampioenen and K3.
But why has ‘De Standaard’ decided to end its 77-year association with Spike and Suzy? Roel Daenen told VRT News that “The newspaper has weighed up costs against the benefits and moreover, the quality of the Spike and stories is no longer what it used to be.”