Text - Rhodes University

Afrikaanse HeIde en Gode DeeI 3 and DeeI 9 are clever and pithy, containing a plethora
of references, both visual and verbal [fig 7]. The subtitle aligns this cornic with
Bitterkomix as an irreverent satire of cultural icons, invoking all the holy cows of
Afrikaans literature and politics with absurd, naive, childish humour. However, the intent
of these cornics is no more than satire, a quick joke.
The drawings are only as skilful as is necessary in order to articulate the punchline,
conveying the gist of the cornic without interfering in its communication. The pictures are
a condensation of the text, nothing more than a shorthand form of it, but they are
brilliantly efficient. Although the joke in both cases is literary, mostly verbal, the pictures
expand the humour of the story. Their whimsicality both adds to and tempers the
seriousness of the satire. In this, the artist is very unlike Bitterkornix, who are serious and
bitter and funny but never whimsical. Yet however absurd it appears, Afrikaanse HeIde
en Gode is well-informed and sophisticated.
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