“Dickie and Vicky Go Wild”, an exhibition of cartoons by Pieter de Poortere opens this week at RedWillow Macclesfield, as part of this year’s Macc-Pow! comic festival in the town, the exhibition running Wednesday 4th June until Friday 1st 2025.
First exhibited last year at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival last September, Macc-Pow are thrilled to now have chance to bring Pieter De Poortere work to Macclesfield.
“Dickie”, known as “Boerke” in Europe, first published over 20 years ago, tells the story of a loser who is constantly betrayed by his own shortcomings, desires and naivety, crushed by the indifference of the world, in one-page silent comics.
The exhibition features Farmer Dickie and his partner Vicky and some of their best adventures, plus some very special landscape paintings with unexpected cameo appearances.
Pieter De Poortere’s Natural Born Loser comic will be available to buy at Macc-Pow! on 28th June.
Macc-Pow! takes place in the heart of Macclesfield in Cheshire later this month, bringing you the very best in comic art from around the world, supported by Macclesfield Town Council. This year, the event will be taking over three rooms in the glorious Macclesfield Town Hall, with two rooms exclusively for a fantastic market place. Rub shoulders with fellow creators, first-timers, and legends from the world of comics all under one roof.
Pieter De Poortere is a Flemish comic strip author, known to the general public mainly for the comic strips and the animation series “Boerke” (Dickie). His work combines cynical humour with an innocent graphic style.
De Poortere started his career in 2000 as a freelance illustrator and was first published in Humo and, later, in Focus Knack. Pieter de Poortere made his debut in 2001 with the album Boerke, which immediately won the prize for the best Dutch-language album of the year. The cynical humour and the innocent graphic style are De Poortere’s clear signature.
Several Boerke albums have been published since, and the series has been translated into seven languages and the animation series, based on the books and produced by De Hofleveranciers, can be seen in more than 10 countries. The success of this first series led to a quick decision on a second season, to be aired in 2023.
The wordless comics of De Poortere have an international potential, as shown by the success of the permanent exhibition of his work in the Brussels Comic Book Museum. But there is also a lot of interest abroad in Boerke, where our amiable loser stumbles through life as Dickie. In 2011, for instance, a wall of Boerke designed by De Poortere was inaugurated in Paris and in 2019 he published the album Super Mickey, in the Mickey Mouse homage series published by Glénat.
Pieter De Poortere has also created several children’s books over the past 20 years. For the Van Eyck Year, he created the book Lam for the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, in which he depicts the figures of the ‘The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb’ in his native city of Ghent.
Pieter De Poortere is chairman of the board of directors of the Belgian Comic Strip museum in Brussels.
• “Dickie and Vicky Go Wild” Wednesday 4th June – Friday 1st August 2025, Redwillow Macclesfield, RedWillow Brewery Ltd, The Lodge, Sutton Garrison, Byrons Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 7JW | Free | Suitable for ages 12 and above
• Macc-Pow 2025 27th – 29th June 2025, Macclesfield, Cheshire | Latest Information: Facebook | Web: maccpow.co.uk
• Pieter De Poortere is online at: dickiecomics.com
| Web: pieterdepoortere.blogspot.com |
Instagram: @pieter.depoortere | Facebook: @pieter.depoortere.5
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Animation, Comic Art, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions, Other Worlds
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