Dick Briel

Dick Briel was a Dutch comic artist best known for creating the *Professor Julius Palmboom* series, a science-fiction adventure strip drawn in the clear, elegant *ligne claire* style. He was born in Leiden on 28 December 1950 and later lived in Amsterdam. After studying at the Rietveld Art Academy, Briel's first two *Palmboom* stories appeared in the weekly comic *Eppo* in 1979. Oberon published those adventures as albums in the 1980s, and a third story, *London Labyrinth*, ran in the *Veronica* TV magazine before being collected. The series—featuring plots involving killer plants and a distinctly 1950s atmosphere—found an international audience, with French editions released by Glénat. Briel also co-wrote the humorous horror comic *Max en Mummie* with Ruud den Drijver, which was drawn by Steven Dupré and later Wout Paulussen. His other works include the strip *Hulbert* and the collection *Scenes from Victorian Times*. A fourth *Palmboom* adventure, *Ratcliffe Highway*, was left unfinished at his death. Briel died of cancer in The Hague on 25 September 2011.