Sjors #49/1970
Sjors #49/1970 marks the debut installment of 'Arad en Maya,' the Dutch science-fiction serial that would become one of the most distinctive original features in the entire run of the Sjors weekly. The issue arrived at a pivotal editorial turning point: having shed its dependence on British-import strips the previous year, De Spaarnestad was actively building a new identity for Sjors around homegrown Dutch talent, and the simultaneous presence here of Jan Steeman's first work on both 'Sjors en Sjimmie' and 'Arad en Maya' in a single issue reflects just how central Steeman was to that reinvention. The 'Arad en Maya' strip introduced a genuinely innovative premise to the Dutch comics landscape — two protagonists from the technologically advanced planet Mytica, with Maya's telepathic hair band making her one of the more unusual lead characters in Dutch children's comics of the era. The lasting cultural footprint of the series can be measured by the fact that the city of Almere later named a street in its dedicated Comics District after the character Maya.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The 1969–1970 editorial overhaul of Sjors magazine by De Spaarnestad in Haarlem was a direct response to declining readership and a perception that the weekly looked old-fashioned compared to its hipper rival Pep. The new strategy prioritised reprints from the Belgian Robbedoes magazine alongside freshly commissioned Dutch originals, and Jan Steeman — who had left the Toonder Studios that same year — was recruited to anchor two flagship series simultaneously. For 'Arad en Maya,' Steeman was paired with veteran scripter Lo Hartog van Banda, a Toonder Studio alumnus whose satirically tinged science-fiction writing had already found an audience through 'Arman en Ilva'; for 'Sjors en Sjimmie,' the scripting in this early period fell largely to Frans Buissink. The result was a single year — 1970 — in which Steeman became the primary artistic engine of the magazine.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Sjors #49/1970 contains the opening episode of 'Arad en Maya in de ban van de Flerenplaneet,' the very first story arc of the series, which ran through Sjors #14/1971.
- The 'Arad en Maya' series was created by writer Lo (Lodewijk) Hartog van Banda and artist Jan Steeman, debuting in Sjors magazine in 1970.
- The two lead characters, Arad and Maya, inhabit the planet Mytica in a distant star system; Maya is a biologist who communicates telepathically with animals via a hair band, and Arad is a spaceship operator — an unusual protagonist pairing for Dutch children's comics.
- The issue simultaneously features an instalment of 'Sjors en Sjimmie en de boorbazen,' part of Jan Steeman's first run as artist on the long-running title strip, having taken over from Jan Kruis in 1970.
- The 'Arad en Maya' serial ran in Sjors from 6 June 1970 until November 1974, comprising nine complete stories.
- The first 'Arad en Maya' album ('Manus op Mytica') was published in book form by Oberon in 1973; the complete series was later collected in ten albums by CentriPress between 1977 and 1980.
- Sjors #49/1970 appeared during the magazine's major editorial reinvention: from 1969 onward, De Spaarnestad replaced its diet of British-imported strips with Belgian (Robbedoes) reprints and new Dutch originals.
- The character Maya was later honoured with a street named after her in the Comics District of Almere, the Netherlands, recognising her lasting place in Dutch comics culture.