Franka
Franka is a popular Dutch comic book series drawn and written since the mid-1970s by the graphic artist Henk Kuijpers. The principal character is a strong female Dutch sleuth who solves mysteries in exotic locales.
Franka has been translated into a variety of languages, including Danish, German, French and Spanish.
Principal character
Franka, the lead character that the series is named after, is a young, attractive and adventurous female private investigator. She lives in a slightly fictionalised version of the Netherlands, and since 1993's Flight of the Atlantis has clearly been revealed as a resident of Amsterdam. The cases she solves often take place in the worlds of art, antiquities, fashion and film, and also often feature exotic locales full of smugglers, pirates and other shady businessmen.Dominant women are a recurring theme of the series, similar to other Franco-Belgian comics series such as Yoko Tsuno. A single woman for long time, Franka acquired a male partner and love interest in the later volumes, the reformed art thief Rix. More often than not she is also accompanied by her dog Bars.
Franka was not the main character in the very first adventure of the series. Instead, Jarko played the central role, and Franka is only a secretary in the Criminology Museum. However, by the second story of the first volume, Franka has become a central character, though not yet as exclusively so as in the later volumes.
Drawing style
Franka is an example of the ligne claire style frequently associated with European comics, and Kuijpers' drawing style is noted for its high artistic standards, particularly clarity of line and accurate detail of elements like cars and buildings. The panels often contain additional little interesting or humorous details not relevant to the main storyline.The style of drawing has developed significantly from the early comics, in which for example the characters had large eyes and squat proportions, to the more realistic figure drawing of the middle volumes to the slightly more stylized, 'fashion-designer' look of the latest issues. Also changed were the visual depiction of females - the Franka of the later volumes is a much more sexual creature than in the early volumes, where she only had friends, but never partners. While the early volumes rarely show nakedness, all volumes play with erotic poses and later volumes show Franka and other characters naked. Sexual acts, however, are generally only hinted at, though, again, this becomes more explicit in the later volumes.
Publications
Publication history
Franka originally appeared in the weekly comic magazine Pep which, in 1975, merged with Sjors into Eppo. Franka became one of the magazine's fixtures for the next eleven years. In 1988 Eppo became Sjors & Sjimmie but it took another year before Franka made her comeback. In 1992 she returned to annual appearances starting at the beginning of the year. After Sjors & Sjimmie ceased publication in 1999 Franka went on to become the subject of her own online magazine. In February 2009 Eppo was revived as a forthnightly magazine appealing to original readers as well as their offspring; Franka is one of several household names to be included. In January 2010, she was voted Dutch comic strip heroine of all time.From the 1990s onwards, Franka was also serialised in Veronica Magazine, the magazine of Veronica TV, which with weekly sales of over 1,000,000 was among the most widely circulated Dutch periodicals.
Franka has also been published in German, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Scandinavian languages, as well as in French ''.
Incidents from previous volumes are often referred to in the subsequent ones, although they can be read independently.
Albums in the official series
The following are the Dutch language editions. From volume 1 to volume 8 the publisher was Oberon, from volume 9 to 15, Big Balloon, and from volume 16 Franka BV.1. Het Misdaadmuseum
2. Het Meesterwerk
3. De Terugkeer van de Noorderzon
4. De Wraak van het Vrachtschip
- De Terugkeer van de Noorderzon and De Wraak van het Vrachtschip together form one episode.
6. Het Monster van de Moerplaat
- also includes the episodes Pyromaniac and Saboteur.
8. De Ondergang van de Donderdraak
- De Tanden van de Draak and De Ondergang van de Donderdraak together form one episode.
10. Gangsterfilm
11. De Vlucht van de Atlantis
12. De Blauwe Venus
13. De Dertiende Letter
14. Het Portugese Goudschip
15. De Ogen van de Roerganger
- Het Portugese Goudschip and De Ogen van de Roerganger together form one episode.
17. Eigen risico
- Succes Verzekerd and Eigen Risico together form one episode.
19. Het zwaard van Iskander
20. De Witte Godin
21. Het Zilveren Vuur
- Het zwaard van Iskander, De Witte Godin and Het Zilveren Vuur together form the trilogy De reis van de Ishtar
23. Geheim 1948
24. Operatie Roofmoord
Albums not in the main series
- The Cadillac Club
- Harley Collection
- Kerstkaarten, Overschakelen and Aquarellen
- * These three volumes appeared in the "kill them pirates" edition produced by Franka BV as a reaction to pirated publications of Franka items after a quantity of Kuijpers' drawings had been stolen.
- Felle Flitsen, specially produced for strip cartoon week by the publishing house Silvester of 's-Hertogenbosch.
- Het geheim van de archiefkast
- Het halssnoer - early version of Moordende Concurrentie.
- Technicolor Widescreen
Trivia
- Exponents of Amsterdam's public transport company make regular cameo-appearances.
- In 1985 Eppo placed an April Fool's joke suggesting that Steven Spielberg would turn Dragon's Teeth into a Hollywood blockbuster movie.
- The same year, shortly before the publishing of Dragon's Fall, a fake advert emerged telling Franka was busy removing every forged Chinese antiquity in existence.
- Work on Murderous Competition already started before Dragon's Teeth; it took seven years to complete before it was serialised late 1989 in the forthnightly Sjors & Sjimmie. The Saboteur was republished as a prequel to introduce Laura Lava to the younger readers.
- In issue 22/2009 of Eppo Franka is lined up in an identity parade of possible offenders who brutally robbed the young girl Elsje of her copy of Eppo. Other suspects include Agent 327 and Leonard.