De Rechter (The Judge) is a Dutch newspaper comic written and illustrated by Jesse van Muylwijck.
The comic follows the day to day activities of the titular judge and other characters at the Courthouse where they all work. Aside from the judge, characters include the judge’s wife, two lawyers (one with a beard, the other clean shaven), de officier van justitie (prosecuter), de griffier (court clerk), de notaris (notary), a female journalist and her young daughter and de deurwaarder (debt collector).
Tropes:
- Bizarre Gambling Winnings: In one story arc, the judge and his wife go to a casino and win the jackpot at a slot machine, but after heading home they get robbed. The thief not just takes their money, but also the Judge's toga. The thief is eventually caught in the same casino, where he has already gambled away the stolen money again. But he had more luck when betting the toga, as he somehow won 36 new togas, which the Judge can have now.
- Christmas Episode: Christmas, New Years eve and other holidays tend to show up in the comics published on these holidays.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": None of the characters real names are ever used. Aside from the Judge (who has a nickname used by his wife, “Beertje”), all of them are only known by their title or function.
- Evil Debt Collector: De Deurwaarder can be very relentless to do his job. All Played for Laughs of course.
- Evil Lawyer Joke: The clean shaven lawyer is frequently a target for these kind of jokes. Averted with the bearded lawyer, who is generally portraited in a more positive light:
- One example: during his vacation, the lawyer goes diving and runs into a shark. The two politely greet each other as colleagues.
- Another, the Judge and the Prosecuter have the following conversation:Judge: Some job we have. Every day we get to deal with liars, scumbags, and smooth criminals.
Prosecuter: Yes... and their clients.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: On occasion, characters from other comics or cartoons have (1 panel) cameo's in the comic, like Cacofonix (who in said comic is send to America by the lawyer to sing at Donald Trump's inauguration).
- Limited Wardrobe: The characters are nearly always wearing their toga’s, even when they are not at work.
- Mistaken Identity: One comic, a criminal about to go on trial mistook the prosecuter for the lawyer, and asked him not to say anything about "that corpse in the concrete mixer" or "that secret bank account in Switserland". Needless to say, the man suffered a massive Oh, Crap! moment when he realized his mistake. The Prosecutor even pointed out that this is why they all wear the same toga's.
- Nap-Inducing Speak: One comic, the Lawyer practiced his speech in front of the mirror. Then his own reflection fell asleep, much to his dismay.
- Print Long-Runners: Since 1993.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Many of the comics are based on recent headlines from the newspapers the comic is published in.
- Story Arc: The comic switches back and forth between standalone gags and longer stories that take up multiple comics.
