De rode kater

De rode kater ("the red tomcat") is a ginger cat character created by Dutch cartoonist Jan Kruis, starring in a domestic comic strip that debuted in the Dutch women's magazine Libelle in 1970.

Few comic characters can claim a Silver Age debut and still be gracing pages well into the 2020s, but De rode kater is exactly that kind of enduring presence — a beloved fixture born in the pages of Libelle in 1970, brought to life by the celebrated Dutch cartoonist Jan Kruis. Over more than five decades and 729 catalogued appearances — nine of them collector-recognized key issues — this ginger cat has woven himself into the fabric of Dutch comics culture through the warm, domestic world of Jan, Jans en de kinderen. Sharing the page with the Tromp family and their circle, De rode kater is a testament to how a quietly charismatic character can anchor a strip across generations and become genuinely irreplaceable.