Mr. Nicolas Verstappen
Position: Full-Time Lecturer
Educational history
- Master in Performing Arts; Orientation: Writing and Cinematographic Analysis. Conferred with great distinction on October 19, 2000 by the Université l
- B.A. Candidate in Philosophy and Literature; Art History and Archaeology: Contemporary Art. Conferred on September 12, 1998 by the Université libre de
- (2015, reprint; 2013, first printing) “Interview with Chester Brown” in: Chester Brown: Conversations, University Press of Mississippi.
Work history
- After studying Art History and Film Writing at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), Nicolas Verstappen launched the zine series “XeroXed” in which he published his interviews with alternative cartoonists from around the world, such as Charles Burns, Craig Thompson, Shaun Tan, Kan Takahama, Debbie Drechsler or Miriam Katin. A radio show co-host for Radio Grandpapier and a regular comics chronicler for “Beaux Arts Magazine”, his interest in autobiographic comics led him to research comics
- An occasional panel moderator, exhibition curator (“The Sleep of Reason: V for Vendetta & David Lloyd” retrospective), and workshop coordinator (Pierre Feuille Ciseaux international comics residency-laboratory), he focuses his research on Trauma & Comics, and on the History of Thai Comics. His 288-page monograph “The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes” will be published on April 2021 from River Books in both Thai and English versions: https://www.riverbooksbk.com/.
Portfolio
- Books - “The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes”, River Books, 288 pages, April 2021.
- (July 2019-February 2020) Nine-month research project titled “From Moral Tales to Social Narratives, or the Development of Thai Comics from the late 1950s to the early 1990s”, funded by the Faculty of Communication Arts.
- (July 2018-February 2019) Seven-month research project titled “The Early Days of Siamese and Thai Comics Art: Local and Transnational Development of the Art Form from the 1930s to the 1980s”, funded by the Faculty of
- (2016-2017) One-year research project titled “Thai Comics in the 21st Century: Identity and Diversity of a New Generation of Thai Cartoonists”, with an in-depth survey and interviews with 20 Thai cartoonists, editors and comics collectors, funded by the Faculty of Communication Arts. Final report submitted on June, 2017.
- Academic publication (papers and book chapters)
- (June 2019). “When Popeye and Mickey Mouse became Siamese: The Birth of Thai Comics Art and its Early Borrowings”, academic paper, in: Moving Worlds (Vol 19:1 "Comics Fiction").
- (June 2019). “Geister, Hexen und Gespenster - Die Welt des thailändischen Comic-Künstlers Tawee Witsanukorn” (in German), co-written with Benjamin Baumann, in Thailand-Rundschau 2 (2019).
- (June 2018). “Prayoon Chanyawongse’s Cartoon Likay: Amalgamating Likay Theatrical Form and Comics into a Unique Thai Genre”, academic paper, in: The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 8(1):9.
- (March 2018). “Crossing Panel Borders: Transnational Collaborative Comics Writing and Mindful Development Communication”. Book chapter, in: K. Seneviratne (Ed.), Mindful Path to Sustainable Development: A New Paradigm of Development Communication from Asia. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
- Other publications
- (November 2019) “Asterix Adventures in the Kingdom od Siam / Astérix le Siamois”
- (in English & French), in: Magazine Latitudes.
- (2018) “Ein thailändischer Bram Stoker” (in German; about Phi Krasue creature in Thai movies and comic books), co-author with Benjamin Baumann, in Südostasien 3/2018.
- (2015) “Muted and Mutated: Animal-headed characters in autobiographic trauma-related comic books” in: M. Barker, J. De Lappe and C.J. Walters (eds.). Asylum, the magazine for democratic psychiatry: Comics & Mental Health Part 4, Winter 2015, Vol.22/4. Monmouth, United Kingdom.
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