Horus Hippo Returns in production. Dutch comic artist Stefan de Groot is working on the Graphic Novel Horus Hippo Returns. It will be a part of a series of books titled The World of Whatif?
Marinus Hollanders 1928
In 1996 Stefan wrote and drew the comic Kwab van het witte doek (Kwab of the Silver Screen). It was a comic with photographs and drawings. It was an homage to the Out of the inkwell cartoons by Max Fleischer. Kwab, a former cartoon character, is brought back to life after 69 years by Stefan de Groot. The author is pulled into the comic by Kwab aka Horus Hippo and confronts the cartoon character. As the story goes, Horus Hippo was a Dutch cartoon character who was very popular in the Netherlands in the 1920s. The cartoon character was invented by Marinus Hollanders, the grandfather of Stefan de Groot. In 1927 he set up a studio on the Spaarne in Haarlem: Teekenfilmfabriek Hollandia. The studio made several Kwab cartoons until 1928, the year sound was added to the film. Hollanders signed a contract with an American distributor Charles Mintz for his animated cartoon character that was named Horus Hippo Hollanders could no longer meet the requirements and the studio went bankrupt. All of the films were lost in a fire. Only a few sketches, posters, and model sheets survived.
After 69 years, Stefan de Groot revived Horus Hippo in the comics Kwab of the Silver Screen (1996) and Kwab and the World of Whatif? The Retroflash (1999). The books were published in 2000 through the American companyToonscape as comics for the eBookman. The eBookman was one of the first ebook readers.
The comics Horus Hippo of the Silver Screen and The Retroflash will be bundled in the Graphic Novel Horus Hippo Returns. It will be a series of books under the name The World of Whatif?. Stefan de Groot has started to redraw and rewrite the story. The photographs of Kwab of the Silver Screen will be replaced by drawings. The book will be available in the autumn of 2023. Stefan de Groot will post videos about the work in progress on his YouTube channel Stayf Draws.
Creative Publishers released the book Kwab aka Horus Hippo 30 Years. It is a book about the history of Kwab Hippo aka Horus Hippo. The book shows a lot of sketches and background information about the 12 comics that Stefan de Groot created from 1992 until 2014. The book is available on Amazon.
