Hans G. Kresse

Hans G. Kresse (Amsterdam, 3 December 1921–Doorwerth, 12 March 1992) was a Dutch cartoonist.

Hans G. Kresse, born in the Netherlands in 1921, started his career as a comics artist in 1938 in the scouting magazine De Verkenner.

He joined the Toonder Studios in 1944, where he worked on a variety of comics, starting with the typical Toonder-style animal comic Robby, but soon changing to the first of Kresse's realistic works like De Gouden Dolk (1946).

It was in this historical realistic style that he would continue to work for the remainder of his career.

In the 1950s, he was also active as an illustrator for Donald Duck written by Dick Dreux.

The same year, he created his magnum opus, the Viking series Eric de Noorman.

As was typical for Dutch comics at the time, it was a comic with the text below the drawings instead of inside text balloons.

The comic first appeared in the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, and was later also published in the Netherlands and in Wallonia in French.

The series continued until 1964, and a spinoff series Erwin, de Zoon van Erik de Noorman started as a regular ballon comic in 1966.

During and after those years, Kresse created many one shot comics and contributed numerous illustrations to many Dutch youth magazines.

The most famous of his comics of these years are Matho Tonga, Vidocq, Mangas Coloradas and Alain d'Arcy.

His second main series, Les Peaux-Rouges, depicting the history of the Native Americans during the Spanish conquests of North America, debuted in 1973.

He was the winner of the 1976 Stripschapprijs.

Published at the famous French language editor Casterman, Kresse worked on it until 1982, when he had to retire due to failing eyesight.