The Original Pinhead

Tuesday Comic Strip Day.

Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner was a long runing strip about a young female professional. It started in 1920. At least from somewhere in the twenties onwars, the Sundays were dominated by Winnie's brother Perry (Perry Winkle, get it?) and his gang of friends. Just like the Just So Kids, but less so. These Sundays are of particular interest to Dutch comic strip lovers, because they were reprinted and redrawn and finally continued seperately as the adventures of Sjors (and his gang of rebels). Sjors got his own magazine, which lived on until 1975, during which time Sjors himself was given longer adventurs and a African-Dutch friend called Sjimmie. In the seventies the strip was revamped as a straight adventure strip and in 1975 Sjors and Sjimmie were added to the line-up of a new magazine called Eppo, revamped again as the heroes of a one page gag strip. That evolved into a four page gag strip and finally they were even allowed to give their name to the magazine, which was called SjoSji. Aaaaaanyway. After the war Perry Winkle got a new friend called Denny, who was a bit lazy, not very bright... and a pinhead. This new guy, Denny, effectively took over the Sundays until 1953, during which time we were introduced to his pinhead father as well. According to Alan Holtz Branner was still at the wheel at this time. The art certainly is in his style. And although his successor, Max van Bibber officially didn't start ghosting the art until 1962 and Alberto Becattini says Jack Berrill ghosted from 1940 to 1958, I don't see Berril until 1954/55. So who drew or wrote 'the original Pinhead' remains a mystery.