Comic strip by Aleks Deurloo.
Aleks Deurloo is a Dutch comic artist and graphic designer, as well as a founding member of the Lamelos collective, also consisting of Boris Peeters, Sam Peeters and Jeroen Funke. After teaming up at the art academy in the 1990s, the Lamelos team has given color to the Dutch small press comics scene with both their collectively created zines and as hosts of playful happenings and events. Their best-known joint creation is the superhero spoof 'Kaasheld en Poephoofd' (2002-2018). As a solo artist, he has worked on mini-comics, paintings, silkscreens and other artworks from his atelier in an historical Zwolle building, often showcasing his love for strange creatures and machinerie.
Early life and career
Aleks Deurloo was born in 1975 in Emmen, in the northern Dutch province of Drenthe. His father ran a shop for radios and televisions. Between 1991 and 1995, he studied Graphic Design at Cibap in Zwolle, subsequently enrolling at the Illustration faculty of the Constantijn Huygens University of the Arts in Kampen (nowadays part of the ArtEZ University of the Arts), where he graduated in 2000. Among his main graphic influences are Moebius, Paul Bodoni and Dave Cooper. As other artistic inspirations, he has mentioned film clichés, nature, (pseudo-)science, and organic, architectural, or fantastic creations.
'Kaasheld'.
Lamelos
At the Art Academy of Kampen, Aleks Deurloo began teamed up with fellow students Boris Peeters, Sam Peeters and Bouwe Brouwer to form the Lamelos colletive ("Lemmego"). The name was derived from the VPRO children's TV show 'Rembo & Rembo', where a character was chained to a fence while constantly yelling "Hellepie, lamelos!" ("Help! Let me go!"). Under this banner, they began working on collectively created and self-published DIY comic zines through their "Prima Titel" imprint, starting with 'Lamelos: Mission 1' in 1997. Shortly afterwards, Jeroen Funke joined the team, and after their third release, Brouwer left - he eventually became a primary school teacher and part-time photographer and haiku writer. At the Academy, the Illustration teachers were not too happy with the comic activities of the four students. They all had to repeat a grade, and were sent home with additional tasks. But when Boris won the VPRO Comic prize for new talent in 1998, the teachers changed their tone, and the Lamelos team could continue to build on their cartooning exploits.
As a four-piece collective, Lamelos spearheaded the 21st century generation of Dutch indie comic creators, innovating the scene with their playfully absurd and experimental creations and events. Inspired by the 1990s wave of alternative "non-art" cartoonists like Jeroen de Leijer and Marc van der Holst, they tried out different ways of making comics for each release. Sometimes, they alternated on artwork per page or panel, on other occasions they divided the tasks for doing characer art and backgrounds. While some of the Lamelos productions are made by only single or selected members of the group, their body of work remains a collective effort, prevailing over the invidivual contributions of each creator. With his background in graphic design, Deurloo had a keen eye for the production values and typography of their releases.
During their heyday in the first decade of the 21st century, Lamelos released over a 100 self-published comic books, which they presented and sold at comic conventions and other events. In addition, their comics have appeared in alternative comic magazines like Beeldstorm (1998-2000), Zone 5300 (2001- ), Gr'nn (2001-2004), Zozolala (2002-2007), MYX (2003-2007), Parcifal (2005-2006) and the football monthly Johan, as well as the online portal Cutie Magazine.
Comic story for Zone 5300 #100 (2012).
Lamelos characters
For the short-lived satirical magazine PIM ("Politically Incorrect Magazine", 2002), they made their signature creation 'Kaasheld' ("Cheesehead"). A superhero spoof, the character's head is modelled after one of the least impressive traditions of Dutch gastronomy during birthday celebrations: little blocks of cheese on a cocktail stick adorned with the Dutch flag. While PIM magazine folded after only three issues, Kaasheld proved to be more than a one-time character. Continuing their comic in magazines like Zone 5300, MYX, Vice, Parcifal, Lamelos gave their cheesy superhero the side-kick Poephoofd ("Poophead"), in reference to the general Dutch annoyance of dog poop on the streets. Combined, this typically Dutch superhero team-up fought against their enemies in an absurdistic as well as mundane superhero world. Between 2006 and 2014, MYX publisher Silvester collected the series in five volumes. From 2011 to 2018, the 'Kaasheld en Poephoofd' comic appeared on the back page of the homeless newspaper Haags Straatnieuws, where it replaced Marnix Rueb's 'Haagse Harry'. During this final incarnation, the strip was mostly created by Boris Peeters and Jeroen Funke, who were both living in The Hague at the time. In these new adventures, the Peeters-Funke duo introduced several new superheroes, like Vogelpoephoofd ("Bird poop head"), Konijnenkeutheldje ("Little rabbit poop hero") and Superkut ("Supercunt", a flying vagina with a large tampon inside).
Other characters created by Lamelos are 'Popo & Bobo' (2003-2006), whose absurdistic adventures were published in three silkscreened booklets by Bries. Another recurring character was Professor Fleischmann, a very smart inventor, initially co-created with Olivier Schrauwen. In 2003, their comic strip 'Mak & Luuk' appeared in the music magazine OOR.
'Kaasheld en Poephoofd'.
Innovators of indie comics
In their comics, the Lamelos team playfully referred to classic comics like Jacovitti's 'Pinocchio', Frans Piët's 'Sjors en Sjimmie' and Walt Disney's Donald Duck, as well as to characters created by artist friends, such as 'Boer Jelmen' by Matthias Giesen. Additionally, their 'Kaasheld en Poephoofd' books contain guest contributions by fellow creators such as Luc Cromheecke, Floor de Goede, Marc van der Holst, Erik Kriek, Jeroen de Leijer, Michiel van de Pol, Peter Pontiac, Marcel Ruijters, Olivier Schrauwen, Typex, Berend J. Vonk and Wasco. In turn, the Lamelos crew had guest spots in the third 'Scribbly' collection by Jean-Paul Arends (2002), 'Gutsman 10' by Erik Kriek (2008) and Mattt Baay's 'Bunbun: Oh No Not Again' (2013). With friend and colleague Typex, they made 'Spekkie Pik in het Seksbos' (Bries, 2009), a pornographic spoof of Marc van der Holst's 'Spekkie Big'.
Their artwork has been exhibited in several Dutch cities, and also internationally in Angoulême (France), Berlin (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Budapest (Hungary), Lucca (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain). Mixing their cheerful yet slightly anarchist humor with absurd acts, Lamelos has been a regular presense at comic fairs and cultural festivals like Lowlands and Crossing Border. Starting out with making funny videos for Lowlands TV, Lamelos became an annual Lowlands act with their own comic-style tents on the festival grounds, and performances in cardboard costumes. In addition, they have made appearances as their Cheesehero and Poophead personas, and the team became known for their "Apples act", appearing as man-sized apples in bulbous costumes. One of the most notable Lamelos acts was the "Cardboard Robot Battle", which they have held at festivals in the Netherlands and abroad, often combatting against the members of other comic collectives (for instance in Helsinki and Barcelona). Notorious were the regular Lamelos auctions, mostly held at the Amsterdam comic store and gallery Lambiek (2006-2011). Amidst much noise and booze, the team auctioned off old, ugly and useless items, with the revenues being invested in new beer, while the unsold items were ceremoniously destroyed. In 2017, Zone 5300 dedicated its issue #116 to the 20th anniversary of the Lamelos collective.
Part of a comic about the history of Hamaland.
Solo career
By the 2010s, the individual Lamelos members had started families and spread out over the Netherlands. This has severely reduced their collective projects, which have remained limited to occasional team-ups. Aleks Deurloo was the only Lamelos member to remain in Zwolle, where he has been working from the art ateliers located in the monumental Emmanuelshuizen building at Praubstraat 21-23. Together with graphic designer Sigrid Spier, he has also been the caretaker of the building. In Zwolle, Deurloo and Spier have also collaborated on local cultural initiatives like the design of the Buurtarchief (Neighborhood Archive) and subsequent Buurtmuseum (Neighborhood Museum) in Zwolle's Dieze-Oost neighborhood.
As an allround artist, Deurloo has made drawings, paintings, etchings, screenprints and other works of art, using oil pastels, acrylics, Indian ink, (colored) pencils, markers and ballpoint pens. Under his own imprint BREB (Bibliotheca Robotica Et Belua), Deurloo has released privately printed small press publications in limited editions, for instance his 'Machinerie' series, showcasing his preference for weird creatures and surreal machinerie. Since 2006, his regular participations in the annual 24 Hour Comics events have resulted in a series of 'Zombie' comic booklets.
From: 'Machinerie #3'.
For his more commercial assignments, Aleks Deurloo has been represented by Hans Buying's Comic House agency. His illustration jobs have included designs for book covers, stickers, cards, labels, posters and typography. For the children's TV shows 'Studio Snugger' and 'Topdoks', he was commissioned by Studio Pupil in Amsterdam to make short animations, for instance for true-or-false history stories or small accidents. Among his other clients were the web technology company Leukeleu in Utrecht and the Netherlands Brain Foundation, while his solo comics, cartoons and illustrations have appeared in magazines like JOHAN and Vrij Nederland.
Graphic contributions
During the early 2000s, Aleks Deurloo was one of the artists participating in Gerrie Hondius's 'Teken Mijn Verhaal' ("Draw My Story") initiative, a foundation that draws out the (comic) stories created by handicapped children. He was also one of the contributing artists to 'Mooi is Dat' (2010) and 'Filmfanfare' (2012), two anthologies with comic interpretations of Dutch literary works and movies.
Zombie #4 - 'Headache'.