Suske

Suske (English: Willy, Luke, Bob, Spike) is one of the main characters in the popular Belgian comic strip Suske en Wiske by Willy Vandersteen. He is the boy of the duo. History When Willy Vandersteen created his first adventure story with the characters Wiske, Tante Sidonia and Professor Barabas, "Rikki en Wiske in Chocowakije" ("Rikki and Wiske in Chocowakije") (1945) he already gave the little girl Wiske a boy companion called Suske. However, in this early incarnation the boy was her older and stronger brother. Also, Vandersteen's publisher had changed the character's name into "Rikki" without his knowledge, let alone with his approval. This turned out to be for the better, since Vandersteen felt that the character was way too old to be a good companion to the much younger Wiske. He also resembled Tintin too much. Thus, at the start of the next story, "Op Het Eiland Amoras" ("On The Isle of Amoras") (1945) Vandersteen sent Rikki off to get a ration stamp for shoes and effectively wrote him out of the series. In the course of the story Wiske, Sidonia and Barabas travel to the isle of Amoras where Wiske meets a local orphan named Suske. He explains to her that he is the last living relative of Sus Antigoon, his great-great-great-grandfather. Wiske joins him in the Amorasians' battle against their oppressors. At the end of the story Suske is adopted by aunt Sidonia and travels back to Belgium. Suske was named after Vandersteen's father, Sus Vandersteen. The diminutive "-ke" in Flemish dialect means "little", thus "Suske" would translate back to "Little Sus". In some stories his full name, François, is mentioned, but not often.