Dutch Zorro stories

[M.J. Prior]

Niels Houlberg Hanssen:

> After they had been published every week for a year, they 
> suddenly disappeared. Was there a Zorro "fever" in the 
> Netherlands in 1964-1965? (Perhaps the late-1950s Disney 
> Zorro series was broadcast in Dutch TV in those years?)

I don't know when Disney's Zorro TV series (1957-9) was 
first broadcast in the Netherlands, but I know it's still 
frequently repeated on Belgian TV. Zorro's always been 
very popular, but to speak of a sudden Zorro "fever" in 
1964-5 seems a bit overdone.

In fact, a Zorro comic appeared in the Dutch weekly "Pep" 
from 1962 till 1968, and it was indeed inspired on 
Disney's TV series. First, the magazine simply published 
American Zorro stories (mostly by Alex Toth), but from 
1964-5 "Pep" produced its own stories, drawn by the famous 
Dutch artist Hans G. Kresse.

So the answer to your question seems to be: No, the Zorro 
stories didn't suddenly appear and disappear, they were 
merely a Dutch continuation of the American stories. But I 
really don't know anything about why Hans Kresse stopped 
drawing them. Your assumption that their apparition in the 
weekly has something to do with the popularity of the TV 
series seems a good one.

Here are some links (including one to Inducks, because the 
link you provided was a bit messed-up):

http://users.fmg.uva.nl/pbakker/pep/zorro.html
http://lambiek.net/artists/k/kresse.htm
http://coa.inducks.org/comp2.php?lg=0&default_o=1&znl=on&xapp=ZOR

Greetings,

Michiel Prior.