THE INTENSE DARK BLUE COLOUR...
In the refurbished main hall of The Nederlands Stripmuseum you can see comics, posters and illustrations that show the music culture of Groningen. The driving force behind this exhibit is Dim Junius. After I look at everything, we have a cup of coffee: ‘Do you see the intense dark blue colour of the walls? When the space became vacant, they wanted to make everything white,’ he says. ‘But the hall with the dark colours reminded me of pop venues like Simplon and Vera. That's how the idea for Comic Sonic came about, to combine comics and music.’ The exhibit shows that the worlds of sound and image have much in common: ‘musicians use cartoonists for their “artwork”, and cartoonists seem to have always had a thing for music.’
GODFATHER OF UNDERGROUND COMICS
First, my gaze settles on the signed covers of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. But what’s even more interesting is the discovery that cartoonists closer to home are being approached to design record covers as well. Take Bert Hadders: the musician from Groningen turns out to be a big fan of the artist Peter Pontiac. As one of the uninitiated, I had never heard of this man, but here at the comic museum, I quickly find out that he is a big deal. In fact, the room I’m standing in is named after him: the ‘Pontiaczaal’. After Googling a bit, I see that this ‘godfather of underground comics’ passed away in January 2015. Though he was already ill, Pontiac worked on Bert Hadders' Bosklopper Tapes. The cover tells a beautiful cartoon story; I look at it for a while and walk on. Then I linger on the work of Herre-Jan van den Berg: an autobiographical comic strip in which he tells how he, as a music lover and cartoonist, now sells records at Plato in Groningen. ‘Especially for this exhibit, he picked up drawing again,’ Dim says. What begins as a peek into a boy's room turns out to be a ‘comic-book tour’ of Groningen's musical life.
WHERE THE CANDYBEETLE DWELLS
For each item there seems to be a story. For example, Dim points me to a poster by Willem Kolvoort, a member of Vera's Artdivision: "this is one of my favourite works: a strong and simple image with humour." I see a big angry ladybird: on the design it says ‘where the candybeetle dwells...’ Dim explains that it is the title of a special project by Kolvoort: ‘Designers are often open to the work and are asked by bands. Kolvoort once reversed this principle. He asked several bands from the Netherlands and the USA to write a song inspired by work from his graphic novel ‘Where the candybeetle dwells...’
MORE LADIES?
Only at the end of the conversation do I find out that Dim himself makes music and draws. As drummer for The Dinos and The Suitable Guys, he also designs the promotional material for both bands. How is it that the two worlds combine so well? Drawing and making music are two hobbies in which you can easily develop, right at home in your bedroom. Some go for the music, others sit for hours drawing, or they do a little of both. I imagine dark attics filled with band posters and comic books, where boys draw their own comic-book heroes or cover songs by Green Day or Nirvana. But, even though Comic Sonic shows a lot of work by male illustrators, Dim tells us that an increasing number of Groningen ladies are also taking up drawing comics. Of course we know Barbara Stok, but it's also well worth looking up the work of Helemaal Kim or the Stalinski sisters.
Comic Sonic will be on display until 31 May at Het Nederlands Stripmuseum in Groningen
Text: Minke van der Velde