Bulletje en Boonestaak ( later spelled Bulletje en Bonestaak) was one of the first very successful Dutch newspaper comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

s, the first Dutch comic moralists, and the first Dutch comic translated into other languages.

It ran from May 2, 1922 until November 17, 1937 in the Dutch papers Het Volk and Voorwaarts, drawn by the Flemish

Flemish people

The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...

 artist George Van Raemdonck

George Van Raemdonck

George Van Raemdonck was a Belgian comics artist and painter, and is generally considered to be the first Flemish comics author. He mainly worked for left-wing, socialist and anti-fascist magazines and newspapers, creating thousands of political cartoons.-Biography:George van Raemdonck was born in...

, who had moved to the Netherlands as a war refugee in 1914, and Dutch writer A. M. de Jong.

The comic appeared in 1924 in German translation and in 1926 in French as well (Fil de Fer et Boule de Gomme). A Dutch comics award for contributions to the development of Dutch comics, the Bulletje en Boonestaak schaal is named after this comic.

Characters and story

The contents are the adventures of the boys Bulletje (Bully) and Bo(o)nestaak (Beanstalk), the former short and sturdy, the latter thin and tall, who accompany their fathers, captain and coxswain

Coxswain

The coxswain is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives us a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from cox, a coxboat or other small vessel kept aboard a ship, and swain, which can be rendered as boy, in authority. ...

 on the ship "Herkules" on a very long trip, but those adventures were told in a socialistically engaged fashion. The comic was controversial as the stories contained for instance nudity, fighting, vomiting and the use of bad words.

Later editions were often censored, swimming trunks were added and parts of the story were cut. For instance, the beating of the stars of the comic of a concurrent newspaper with different political views in episode #1 and the begging, mutilated World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

veterans in episode #2 were cut from the story in the 1949 edition.

Episodes

• Ontmoeting met Jopie Slim en Dikkie Bigmans (nr. 1-90)
• Ouwe Hein's eerste schipbreuk (nr. 91-182)
• Ouwe Hein onder de zeerovers (nr. 183-274)
• Avonturen in New York (nr. 275-366)
• Naar het midden-westen (nr. 367-459)
• Ouwe Dick en de bende van Zwarte Jack 5 (nr. 460-551)
• Ned's avonturen in Alaska (nr. 552-643)
• Paardendiefstal op de farm (nr. 644-35)
• Weer aan boord van de Herkules (nr. 736-827)
• Ouwe Hein onder de ijsberen (nr. 828-841)
• De onderwerping van de menseneter (nr. 942-1044)
• De vertellingen van de menseneter (nr. 1045-1146)
• Hoe Bulletje en Bonestaak de bewoonde wereld terugvinden (nr. 1147-1248)
• Alle raadselen opgelost (nr. 1249-1329)
• Ouwe Hein's wonderbaarlijke reis door het luchtruim (nr. 1330-1438)
• Het Neptunusfeest op de Herkules (nr. 1439-1566)
• Ouwe Hein's avonturen onder de Barbarijse zeerovers in de Sargassozee (nr. 1567-1664)
• Ouwe Hein's wonderbare thuiskomst (nr. 1665-1769)
• Van oorlogje spelen en heldendom (nr. 1770-1888)
• Bulletje en Bonestaak in Brazilië (nr. 1889-1978)
• Met Braziliaanse oceaanvliegers naar Florida (nr. 1979-2085)
• Landing op Schiphol (nr. 2086-2186)
• Muiterij op de Herkules (nr. 2187-2292)
• Ouwe Hein in Eldorado (nr. 2293-2403)
• Jacht op het goud van Ouwe Hein (nr. 2404-2499)
• Ouwe Hein wordt president van Brazilië (nr. 2500-2600)
• Een orkaan teistert de Herkules (nr. 1-99, nieuwe telling)
• Reparatie in Californië (nr. 100-195)
• Scheepshond Nero maakt de stad onveilig (nr. 196-295)
• Roodkapje, Nero en de boze wolf (nr. 296-391)
• Ouwe Hein in China (nr. 392-488)
• Kamperen in Californië (nr. 489-587)
• De eerste reis van Sinbad de Zeeman (nr. 588-685)
• Ontmoeting met Tom Mix (nr. 686-781)
• De tweede reis van Sinbad de Zeeman (nr. 782-883)
• Tom Mix, de Lange Kogelspuwer (nr. 884-982)
• Ouwe Hein onder de reuzen van Afrika (nr. 984-1085)
• De derde reis van Sinbad de Zeeman (nr. 1086-1191)
• De Sioux roken de vredespijp met de Commanchen (nr. 1192-1297)
• De vierde reis van Sinbad de Zeeman (nr. 1298-1400)
• Tom Mix in Mexico (nr. 1401-1509)
• Tom Mix in het Dal der Gelukzaligen (1510–1615)
• De lange vijfde reis van Sinbad de Zeeman (1616–1721)
• Ouwe Hein als oesterduiker (nr. 1722-1828)