Mussengang: the early days

The first instalment of Mussengang appeared on 29 August 1984. It was one of the rare instalments to not appear on the back cover, but inside the newspaper itself. First-year student Mathilde de Bruyne is dropped off by her mother at student house Mussengang 9, a fictional building in this well-known alleyway. Mrs De Bruyne is a somewhat vague and formless figure with a headband, Mathilde a young-looking woman with a large rucksack. Bert Cornelius was still searching for his style, and the Mussengang characters for their personalities.

By illustration 2 (12 March 1986), they had all had some time to develop. Here, we are introduced to Mathilde’s younger sister Yvette. Mrs De Bruyne has acquired the allure of a film star, complete with sunglasses. Yvette de Bruyne is about to emerge as a flamboyant femme fatale. And Bert Cornelius as a brilliant illustrator.

Angry letters

In the early years, the Mussengang instalments frequently led to indignant responses from readers. In particular, Bert Cornelius’ illustrations attracted much criticism. On this illustration (3), we see fraternity member Eduard de Bock heavy-handedly throwing out his girlfriend Yvette de Bruyne, after she made a sneering remark about his sexual performance and suggested that De Bock was attracted to men. In the following weeks, this led to letters to the editor and a call to have the illustrator fired. This was accompanied by a drawing of Bert Cornelius’ grave being peed on by a small dog.

One of the letter writers remarked – correctly – that the illustration went further than the story, which ended with Eduard de Bock responding angrily to Yvette’s remark and making a threatening move towards her (6 May 1986).

None of the readers – or UKrant editors – noticed that the angry De Bock has two left feet (and two left hands): he is keeping his balance with his one left leg and two left hands while kicking poor Yvette out of the door with his other left leg.