'Bang!'.
Yurg is a Belgian comic artist who co-illustrated the one-shot comic series 'Bang' (1984) and the humorous adventure series 'Slimmeke Slim' (1986) in collaboration with scriptwriter Marc Legendre. Yurg gained notability as the artist behind the celebrity comic 'Wendy Stript Ze!' (1991-1992), based on Flemish pin-up Wendy van Wanten. A more recent comic series by his hand is the thriller 'Bruxman' (2011-2014), scripted by Stan Laureyssens.
Early life and comics
Jurgen De Muynck was born in 1957. In his early years, he had several odd jobs, including chauffeur, waiter, warehouseman, house painter and played drums in several young bands. He eventually settled on becoming a freelance graphic artist. He used the pseudonym Yurg, based on his first name.
Slimmeke Slim
While drawing for advertisement companies, Yurg created the comic strip 'Slimmeke Slim' (1984) with scriptwriter Yaack Bakker, serialized in the comic magazine Kuifje (1984). 'Slimmeke Slim' features the wacky adventures of a goofy klutz who, despite his name (which would translate to Smarty Smart, though on his official website Yurg uses 'Cliff Clever' as a translation) really isn't all that bright. In 1992-1993, two adventures of this series 'Slimmeke Slim en de Discosaurus' and 'Slimmeke Slim en de Raptoms/Zaptrons' were also serialized in the newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen. In 2003, the 'Slimmeke Slim en de Discosaurus' story was reprinted in the Suske en Wiske family holiday books, published by Standaard Uitgeverij.
Bang
In 1986, Yurg drew the gag comic 'Bang!', printed in comic magazine Robbedoes. The black comedy jokes were scripted by Yurg's good friend Marc Legendre (under the pseudonym 'Ikke'). Gags were collected in one album, with a back cover featuring caricatures of Legendre and Yurg by their friend, Jan Bosschaert.
Other comics with Marc Legendre
Yurg and Legendre remained regular collaborators throughout the decades. For the women's magazine Libelle, they made 'De Familie Twist' (2000) and illustrated several short stories and articles in another women's magazine, Flair. In 2017, Legendre and Yurg published 'Het Ei van Pato de Eend' (2017). The story revolves around a duck, Pato, and is set in Spain - where Legendre resided at the time.
De Kinderen van de Regeling
Between 1988 and 1994, Yurg illustrated the science fiction series 'De Kinderen van de Regeling' for Sjors & Sjimmie Stripblad, scripted by Ross Cappaert.
'Slimmeke Slim'.
Wendy van Wanten
In 1992, Yurg collaborated with Tony Beirens on a celebrity comic about the Flemish pin-up Wendy van Wanten. Van Wanten gained fame in the late 1980s thanks to her appearances as announcer in the late-night erotic show 'De Pin-Up Club'. Promoted as an innocent sex bomb, who deliberately used a sort of "baby talk" with a lot of diminutives, she captured the horny imaginations of many men. Soon Van Wanten became a regular panel member in various TV game shows and also started a career as pop singer.
Her comic strip, 'Wendy Stript Ze!', was prepublished in Panorama, which allowed for a lot of nude scenes and other erotic innuendo. Two albums, 'De Privé-Perikelen van Wendy van Wanten' (1992) and 'Wendy Trekt Aan Het Langste Eind' (1993), were published by Loempia - the same publisher responsible for other Flemish celebrity comics, such as 'Jean-Pierre van Rossem' (by Erik Meynen) and 'Urbanus' (by Urbanus and Willy Linthout). Like most comics based on a media craze, the 'Wendy van Wanten' comics failed to gain much interest beyond the hype and have nowadays faded away in obscurity.
'Wendy Stript Ze', starring pin-up model Wendy Van Wanten.
Ella & Mekanik
Under the pseudonym Munka, De Muynck worked with scriptwriter Giba on 'Ella & Mekanik' in Suske en Wiske Weekblad. Three adventure stories were serialized in issues #32-33 (1998), 4-5 and 22-24 (1999)
D-Codeer de Toekomst
Under his own name, Yurg illustrated the book 'D-Codeer de Toekomst' (2014), a self help book written by Luc Devos (not to be confused with Luc De Vos, lead singer of the band Gorki).
Bruxman
Together with crime author Stan Lauryssens, Yurg made the thriller comic series 'Bruxman', published by Bonte in two books in 2011 and 2014, and in a one-volume collection in 2014. The series revolves around a group of young crime investigators, active in Antwerp. Coloring was provided by Walter De Strooper. Originally, Lauryssens wanted to write a straightforward novel, but at the instigation of Yurg, they turned it into a comic book series instead.
Graphic contributions
In 1985, Yurg made a contribution to the book 'Tegenaanval' (De Lijn, 1985), an anti-military book advocating the liberation of cartoonist Wim Stevenhagen, who was sentenced for refusing to fulfill his military service for reasons of principle. Yurg and Stan Lauryssens also contributed to the collective comic book 'Op het Spoor van Pom' ('t Mannekesblad, 2011), which paid homage to Pom.
Advertising and animation career
In the late 1980s, Yurg made several advertisement pages for Atari video games. Later in his career, he also worked as a graphic designer for video games. He also designed the anthropomorphic lion on the beer cards of the brand 'Bolleke De Koninck'.