'Kari Lente'.
Robert Mau was born in 1926 in Mortsel, and studied Latin, Greek and architecture. He began his career working as an architect, sculptor, painter and illustrator. In the early 1950s, he was an illustrator for De Katholieke Digest, for which he also created the comic 'Tante Zulma'. His comic 'Snoppeke & Kozijn' for Kerkelijk Leven (nowadays Kerk en Leven) remained unpublished due to a flood at the publishing firm Halewijn in Linkeroever.
Pits en Kaliber - 'De Verloren Safari'.
Starting in 1959, Mau made illustrations and political cartoons for 't Pallieterke, and in 1959 he started a collaboration with magazine Iris/Ons Land ('Piet Velo en Tony', 'De Pagadders'). In that same year, he created his first important comic series, 'Pits en Kaliber', published in albums by Algemene Pers, Heideland, Het Goede Boek and Het Volk, as well as in the magazine Ohee.
Kari Lente - 'De Tiran en het Varken'.
In 1962, his best-known, Franquin-inspired comic debuted: 'Kari Lente'. This series about an adventurous girl journalist and a remarkable animal called Slurfie was first published in Gazet van Antwerpen on 12 July 1962. Later on, it also appeared in Het Belang van Limburg and Het Friesch Dagblad. Several albums were published by among others De Standaard in Antwerp, and later Knorr and Born, where the series started under the title 'Klarinet & Co'. Kari Lente was also translated into English as 'Clever Claire'. One story, 'De Tiran en het Varken', ran as 'The Tyrant and the Pig' in the British comic magazine Sparky between April and June 1968. also appeared in English as 'Clever Claire', running in Sparky between 1968 and 1969.
In 1989, 'Kari Lente' finally appeared in color. His wife became colorist. The series ran in Gazet van Antwerpen until 1994.
Pits en Kaliber - 'De Verloren Safari'.
In 1989, Mau was knighted als Ridder in de Kroonorde. He passed away in 2006. On 4 June 2011, his creation Kari Lente received a statue, sculpted by Monique Mol. It was erected in the park of Brasschaat, behind the St. Antonius church.
Bob Mau once designed the album cover of a comedy single by Paul Van Hoeydonck.
'Kari Lente' and 'Pits and Kaliber'.