Walter Moers – Drawing Author and Writing Illustrator
Walter Moers, born in Mönchengladbach in 1957, lives and works in Hamburg. Because he doesn't appear in public, little is known about him. A self-taught artist, he began drawing comics and writing screenplays in 1984, including for the children's television program "Sandmännchen". At the end of the 1980s, two of his most famous characters entered the scene: the taboo-breaking "Little Asshole" and the fibbing Captain Bluebear, who began spinning his tall tales on the children's programme "Die Sendung mit der Maus" starting in 1991. Moers's heroes also conquered the big screen. His character "Adolf, the Nazi Pig" reached the charts with the song "I'm Sitting in My Bunker".
Disappointed by the untapped potential of the television character Captain Bluebear, Moers published a novel about the young Bluebear in 1999, aimed more at a younger audience: "The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear" is the first work set in the fantasy world of Zamonia. In the second novel set there, "Ensel and Krete" (2000), the lindworm Optimus Yarnspinner, presented as the book's actual author, makes his first appearance. From then on, Moers positions himself as the translator of the Zamonian original and maintains this identity in interviews. Ten more Zamonia novels followed, including "The City of Dreaming Books" and most recently "Qwerty," all of which became bestsellers.
Moers's books are artful blends of adventure novel and satire, richly illustrated and peppered with allusions to literature, art history, and pop culture. His trademark is the playful experimentation with language – for example, In "The Fönig" (literally: "The Fing"), a fairy tale in which the letters "f" and "k" are swapped. The exhibition offers a comprehensive insight into the multifaceted work of Walter Moers, one of the most original and imaginative storytellers in contemporary German-language literature.
From Lindworm Castle to Bloxberg – Optimus Yarnspinner
The Zamonian writer Optimus Yarnspinner (in German: Hildegunst von Mythenmetz) is born in Lindworm Castle, where he spends the first 70 years of his life. His literary mentor, Dancelot Wordwright, is a formative influence on the young lindworm and leaves him the manuscript of an anonymous author, which deeply impresses Yarnspinner and prompts him to set out for Bookholm to find the unknown poet. His perilous search leads him into the city's catacombs. There, Yarnspinner meets Homuncolossus, who becomes his literary mentor. When Bookholm burns down, Yarnspinner experiences the Orm, the power of creativity, for the first time. After sparsely documented years of wandering and a stay on Eydernorn, Yarnspinner travels to Gralsund. Here, he writes his first novel, "The Zamomin," which, however, only becomes a classic years later. With "The Nattifftoffenhaus," Yarnspinner achieves his first successes.
After a career setback caused by his diva-like behavior, Yarnspinner travels to Florinth. A fall into a dimensional rift gives the depressed author renewed energy: with "The Talking Oven," he establishes the genre of dead matter poetry. In the novel, he also processes his unhappy relationship with his wife, Yette von Stanzenmacher. His second marriage to Arzamia von Verswerker lasts barely two years. Returning to Gralsund, Yarnspinner writes the Lindworm Castle Octology.
At the height of his career, Yarnspinner realizes he has lost his artistic spark. When a mysterious letter hints at the return of Homuncolossus, he travels once more to Bookholm, learns about the culture of Puppetism, and regains the Orm. His great success and political tensions plunge Yarnspinner into another existential crisis. The author embarks on a journey to the continent of Yhöll and is presumed lost for 75 years until he unexpectedly reappears at his publisher's office, presenting a ten-thousand-page manuscript about his adventure. "The Journey to Yhöll" becomes a bestseller and receives numerous literary awards. The certainty that he has reached the zenith of his fame plunges Yarnspinner into another depression. One day before his 500th birthday, he climbs the Bloxberg mountain and disappears again for many years. Little is known about the second half of his life. However, contrary to Yarnspinner's expectations, many of his best-known works, such as "Ensel and Krete," "The Roasted Guest," and his twelve-volume autobiography, fall within this period.
Captain Bluebear
(in German: Käpt’n Blaubär)
Cast off and full speed ahead!
From 1991, the yarn-spinning Captain Bluebear appeared in the German children's TV show "Sendung mit der Maus". The five-minute shorts were shown at the end of every programme. By 2012, around 200 episodes had been produced, with Bluebear inventor Walter Moers initially still involved as a writer. The storylines were acted out with puppets, and the tall tales that Bluebear tells his grandchildren were animated as cartoons in the unmistakable Moers style.
Captain Bluebear quickly became one of the most popular characters on German children's television. In addition to the original stories, actor Wolfgang Völz's characteristic North German accent certainly played a part in this.
In addition to numerous appearances in television shows, cinema films and musicals, Bluebear became a novel hero in 1999: His autobiography ,,The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear' is the beginning to the fantastic Zamonia series.
Asshole in Oil
Little Asshole entered the comic world at the end of the 1980s. However, the figure left its mark on art much earlier, as the exhibition "Asshole in Oil" proves. It spans an arc from the Stone Age to Pop Art. Little Asshole, himself an icon of our present day, appears in a variety of guises and proves to be an almost archetypal figure.
With the series "Asshole in Oil" (first published in 1993), Moers presents himself as a connoisseur of art history, an unerring parodist and copyist who has mastered various styles and techniques. The works, which were created within a few months in a "creative frenzy", draw on the rich pool of collective visual memory.
The accompanying descriptive texts (accessible via QR code) take aim at the typical academic style of this museum text genre.
2025
Qwerty
(in German: Qwert; not published in English)
In 2025, "Qwerty" was published as the last novel in Moers's Zamonia series, which began a quarter of a century ago with ‘The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear’. The twelve books are set on the fantastic continent of Zamonia (and its parallel dimensions). Most of the novels are linked by their supposed author, the lindworm Optimus Yarnspinner, whose works Moers translates and illustrates.
This ‘editor's fiction’, an age-old literary trick, is just one of countless stylistic devices used by Moers. His extravagant stories and detailed drawings are full of subtle allusions and intertextual cross-references.
Moers effortlessly compiles literary genres, motifs and topoi, from classic heroic epics to baroque and romantic novels and modern pop culture. As in his comics, he shows himself to be a master of persiflage, wordplay and caricature.
His latest work fits in seamlessly with this: The story of the gelatine prince Qwerty Uiop, who lands in Orméa after falling into a dimensional hole and passes 43 aventures as Prince Kaltbluth, is a parody of medieval chivalric novels such as ‘Parzival’ and is thus in the tradition of ‘Don Quixote’.
1999
The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear
(in German: Die 13½ Leben des Käpt’n Blaubär)
In 1999, Walter Moers opened a new chapter in his work: While his comics had previously caused a furore, ‘The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear’ was his first novel. He wanted to show that much more could be done with the character of Captain Bluebear than was possible in children's television. And so Moers created an entire continent: Zamonia.
The episodic structure of the work is in the tradition of the bildungsroman or picaresque novel: in 13½ chapters, Bluebear recounts the first half of his life's journey, which – similar to Moses in a basket – begins in a floating nutshell. Numerous inserts from the encyclopaedia of the scholar Professor Dr Abdul Nachtigaller present the phenomena of Zamonia and at the same time poke fun at unworldly erudition. The creative use of type, reminiscent of comics, turns the book into a postmodern synthesis of language, illustration and typography.
Even the first Zamonia novel is full of unexpected twists, digressions and parodies of literature, film and art. He soon found a huge „all-ages” fan base. The legend of Zamonia was born.
2000
Ensel and Krete
(in German: Ensel und Krete; not published in English)
After the publication of „The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear”, Moers announced that he would be tackling one literary genre in each of his subsequent novels. In „Ensel and Krete” it is the fairy tale. „Hansel and Gretel”, the story of the Brothers Grimm serves as a loose model: on an excursion into the Great Forest, bored Ensel persuades his sister Krete to leave the safe paths. In the forbidden part of the forest, the siblings have to face all kinds of dangers.
‘Ensel and Krete’ is the first Zamonia novel to be supposedly written by the lindworm Optimus Yarnspinner. His peculiar style becomes apparent when reading the book: It is peppered with footnotes and 24 ‘Yarnspinnerian digressions’ that interrupt the progress of the plot. The vain poet takes the liberty here of devoting an extensive digression to every conceivable topic - be it the bedtime story of the dried-up grey bread, a passionate reckoning with his greatest critic, Laptantidel Latuda, or the 680-times repetition of the word ‘Brummli’. The text itself thus becomes a labyrinth in which you can get lost.
2003
Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures
(in German: Rumo & Die Wunder im Dunkeln)
After Optimus Yarnspinner was introduced as the author of ‘Ensel and Krete’, the third novel once again features Moers himself as the author. The heroic epic about the young Wolperting Rumo, who frees his beloved Rala from the Netherworld, unfolds over almost 700 pages.
Moers describes his title hero as follows: ,,Since I wanted to write an adventure novel I thought a little locomotive like this, which doesn't reflect too much, is the best thing to drive the plot forward. Besides, my previous heroes were always physical wimps, only sporty with their mouths. I thought: why don't you try it the other way round?"
As always, there are unexpected twists, allusions and running gags. Compared to other Zamonia novels, however, ‘Rumo’ is much bloodier, as the ‘Blood Song’, which is sung several times, shows.
Once again, typography plays an important role: the two creatures forged into Rumo's sword - the demon warrior Grinzold and the troll Dandelion - speak in Fraktur and italics respectively. They shout in bold enlargement, while the utterances of the Non-Existent Teenies appear thin and miniaturised.
2007
The Alchemaster's Apprentice
(in German: Der Schrecksenmeister)
‘The Alchemaster's Apprentice ’ is a free retelling of the 1856 novella ‘Spiegel the Cat’ by Gottfried Keller (in Moers’s novel: Gofid Letterkerl). The Zamonian town of Malaisea is home to the sadistic Alchemaster Succubus Ghoolion, who haunts the town with plagues and scary music. In order to obtain fat for his alchemical experiments, he fattens the little crat Echo with exquisite food.
Alchemy and the related art of cookery are two of the novel's main motifs: this ‘culinary fairy tale’ is about eating and being eaten. Banquets are celebrated with a wealth of words and images.
Otherwise, the book is indebted to horror literature and expressionist silent films: The Alchemaster resembles the vampire from F. W. Murnau's horror classic ‘Nosferatu’ (1922). Literary critics have also drawn comparisons with James Bond: ‘So Ghoolion is striving for world domination, .... and Echo, this little helpless creature, will prevent it and save the world, or at least Malaisea and its eternally ailing inhabitants.’
2024
The „Einhörnchen” Who Wanted to Live Backwards
(in German: Das Einhörnchen, das rückwärts leben wollte; not published in English)
So now it is the fable genre, or more precisely the Zamonian Laughing Fable (abbreviated to ‘Flabel’), that Moers parodies in 20 short stories. Once again, Optimus Yarnspinner appears as the author. Many of the creatures that feature are familiar from earlier novels.
The invention of the flabel is attributed to the ‘gifted humorist Ruberth Jasem’ (an anagram of the fable writer James Thurber). A Flabel must contain at least seven wry smiles, three laughs and a joke finale. In terms of difficulty, this makes it comparable only to the Zantalfigorian dialect sonnet. A moral, however, is not intended; most flabels end in bloodshed.
In an afterword, Moers writes that the fable genre is usually considered ‘hopelessly outdated’. One thinks of ‘moralistic punchlines’, ‘certainly not of contemporary literature, intelligent humour, surprising twists and witty dialogue’. When translating the original, he therefore took great liberties and ‘uninhibitedly updated’ it to such an extent that they are actually his own texts. To paraphrase the Zamonian aphorist Surak Lark: Translating means replacing! (Übersetzen heißt: Üb ersetzen!)
2004
The City of Dreaming Books
(in German: Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher)
Moers always works on different books at the same time. While working on ‘Rumo’, he wrote ‘The City of Dreaming Books’ rather playfully. To his surprise, the book is still regarded as the main work in the Zamonia series. It was on the bestseller list for 21 weeks and has been translated into many languages.
After ‘Ensel and Krete’, it is the second novel to identify Optimus Yarnspinner as the author. The lindworm is also the first-person narrator and main character. The book - supposedly only the first two chapters of his 25-volume travel memoirs - tells the story of how Hildegunst matures into a poet.
The flyleaf already visualises what it is all about: books, books, books. Readers enter a world in which books are dangerous and can even kill. The story is a declaration of love to the printed word - and at the same time an apt satire on the literary world.
The stylistic device of the anagram is used excessively. The names of great poets such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Oscar Wilde are twisted into Ojahnn Golgo van Fontheweg and Orca de Wils. Moers gives himself the anagram Werma Tosler, the illustrator of Count Zamoniak Klanthu zu Kainomaz's novel ‘The Silence of the Sirens’.
2011
The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books
(in German: Das Labyrinth der Träumenden Bücher)
After ‘The City of Dreaming Books’, this is the second novel set in the city of Bookholm: 200 years after his first fateful visit, Optimus Yarnspinner returns there. In Bookholm, he is introduced to the culture of Puppetism and attends a performance at the Puppaecircus Maximus. To his surprise, his work ‘The City of Dreaming Books’ is performed there. A story within a story, typical of Moers (and Yarnspinner), takes its course ...
The literary scholar Gerrit Lungershausen sees a ‘mischievous self-parody’ in ‘The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books’. The fragmentary nature of the book, which suddenly breaks off, and the unoriginal plot are thematised in the novel itself and take Moers' literary play with the audience's expectations to the extreme.
He lets Yarnspinner complain: "I had degenerated into a pop caricature pampered by literary prizes and public favour, who had lost all capacity for self-criticism and almost all artistic instincts. Someone who only quoted himself and copied his own works without realising it.''
2019
The Book Dragon
(in German: Der Bücherdrache; not published in English)
In ‘The Book Dragon, Moers returns to his roots as a comic artist: the framing story - a dream episode - in which Optimus Yarnspinner meets his alter ego, the Bookling Optimus Two, is told as a picture story, much to the delight of many fans.
In the main plot of the novel, Optimus Two sets off in search of the legendary dragon Nathaviel (an anagram of the mythical sea monster Leviathan). He lives in the subterranean Orm Swamp, which is imbued with the creative power of countless books. A "running gag" of the convoluted novel is the recurring question "Or, oh my beloved friends, is this where the story really begins?"
The topic of humour is also addressed: „Humour is important!”, pontificates Nathaviel with a raised paw. "There is a fine line between melancholy and despair. This boundary) this wafer-thin protective wall) that prevents us from falling into the bottomless pit) into a terrible nothingness: that is humour. And the blacker this humour is) the better it works. Believe me!''
2023
The Island of a Thousand Lighthouses
(in German: Die Insel der Tausend Leuchttürme; not published in English)
This magnum opus about Yarnspinner’s adventures on the island of Eydernorn was published in 2023 as an epistolary novel in the style of Bram Stoker's ‘Dracula’. In interviews, Moers said that he had used the book to come to terms with a traumatic childhood experience: As a five-year-old, he was sent to the German island Norderney because of asthmatic complaints. Maybe that's why the island has to go under at the end ...
With his usual imaginative humour, Moers creates a wealth of insular forms of existence, such as „Hummdudeln” and „sharkodiles”. Allusions to maritime classics such as ‘Moby Dick’ and the works of H. P. Lovecraft run through the story.
For the first time, it is not Moers who appears as the illustrator) but the author Optimus Yarnspinner himself. The washed pencil drawings therefore differ stylistically from the illustrations in the other Zamonia novels.
In the end, Eydernorn goes down in a spectacular finale. When asked why he created a completely new world only to destroy it again, Moers replies that there is probably nothing more pleasurable. Most children already do this in the sandpit.
2018
Christmas on Lindworm Castle or Why I hate Hamoulimepp
(in German: Weihnachten auf der Lindwurmfeste oder Warum ich Hamoulimepp hasse; not published in English)
‘Christmas on Lindworm Castle is a collection of letters written by Optimus Yarnspinner to the Nocturnomath Ahmed ben Kibitzer. In it, the author describes the customs of the Zamonian Christmas festival ‘Hamoulimepp’, against which he harbours a deep aversion. The name of the three-day celebration is derived from the mythical figure Hamouli and his companion Mepp, who bring presents every year.
Illustrator Lydia Rode, with whom Moers had already collaborated on the book ‘Princess Insomnia’, once again contributed watercolours based on drawings by Moers. The pages of the book are designed like historical letters and there is an appendix with taxonomic tables. Here, Moers once again pokes fun at science - a recurring theme in his books.
Little Asshole
(in German: Kleines Arschloch)
At the end of the 1980s, a character entered the German comic stage who was as shameless as he was disarmingly honest: Little Asshole is an overweight, short-sighted child who has no regard for conventions and decency - he says and does what others might think in silence. Moers hit the zeitgeist with deep black humour and punchlines below the belt: Little Asshole became a cult figure, earning its creator the reputation of an enfant terrible of the German comic scene and laying the foundation for his career. However, Moers soon tired of the character and turned his attention to other things from 1995 onwards.
Adolf, the Nazi Pig
(in German: Adolf, die Nazi-Sau)
Can we laugh about Hitler? This question stirred the German public around 2000. Back then, the dictator conquered the comedy stages: He appeared on ‘RTL Samstag Nacht’ and in the ‘Harald Schmidt Show’, was parodied by Helge Schneider, Bully Herbig and Christoph Maria Herbst; finally, Timur Vermes' satire ‘Er ist wieder da’ (‘He's back’) became a million-seller in 2012. In part, the satires were a reaction to the constant media presence of Hitler, whose ‘private side’ was illuminated in numerous documentaries and articles. At the same time, they are part of a long tradition of Hitler parodies dating back to Chaplin's ‘The Great Dictator’ (1940) and Mel Brooks' musical ‘Springtime for Hitler’ (1967).
In Germany, however, laughing at Hitler was a taboo. With his Adolf comics, Moers took on a pioneering role: ‘Adolf - Äch bin wieder da!!’, a bitterly wicked satire on the cult of celebrity and personality of the present day, was published as early as 1998. Two more volumes followed by 2006. Moers went ‘viral’ in 2006 with the video clip for the song ‘I’m Sitting in my Bunker’ - long before this term was in general use.
2002
The „Fönig”
(in German: Der Fönig; not published in English)
Two years after the Zamonia novel ‘Ensel and Krete’, another book based on fairy tale motifs was written, ‘The Fönig’ (literally: The Fing). The short story about a headstrong king is full of silliness and nonsense, but can also be understood as a criticism of warmongering and militarism. Moers achieves this linguistically by consistently swapping the letters ‘f’ and ‘k’, which leads to comical word creations and onomatopoeia. The expressive images emphasise the ridiculousness of the Fönig character, who is depicted sitting on the loo and making love. The fairy tale was a complete success, also in the audiobook version narrated by Dirk Bach. One reviewer wrote: "With a simple but ingenious idea, Walter Moers has created a fairytale book for adults that you can really laugh yourself to death. Not only the consonant twisting, but also the ideal world of fairy tales is mercilessly pulled through the cocoa here."
Early comics
After early publications, including in the comic fanzine ‘PLOP’, Walter Moers' first own cartoon volume ‘Aha!’ appeared in 1985. In the following 15 years, Moers published around one album per year (mostly with Eichborn-Verlag) before concentrating on the Zamonia novels from the end of the 1990s. His politically incorrect comic stories were also printed in the satirical magazines ‘Titanic’ and ‘Kowalski’. While most of these early works were aimed at an adult audience, Moers also published some children's stories, for example ‘The Schimauski Method’. With a reduced style - the facial expressions of the long-nosed figures are often shown in just one sweep of the line - Moers quickly became one of Germany's best-known comic artists.