Fokke & Sukke is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 comic strip created by writer and illustrator Jean-Marc van Tol, and writers John Reid and Bastiaan Geleijnse. The strip is published in the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad

NRC Handelsblad

NRC Handelsblad, often abbreviated to NRC, is a daily evening newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. The newspaper was created on October 1, 1970, from merger of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and Algemeen Handelsblad . In 2006 a morning newspaper, nrc•next, was launched...

.

Fokke & Sukke first appeared in 1994, in the student magazine Propria Cures. The one-panel comic, usually featuring humor of a politically incorrect

Political correctness

Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...

 nature, became very popular in the Netherlands. The strip has appeared in numerous Dutch publications, as well as over a dozen compilations. In 2003, Fokke & Sukke were awarded the Stripschapprijs

Stripschapprijs

The Dutch Stripschapprijs is a prize awarded to comic writers and cartoonists for their whole work. It is awarded annually by the Stripschap, the Dutch Society of comics fans. The prize is non-pecuniary.-Winners:...

, the Netherlands’ premier cartoon award.

The strip stars are Fokke, a duck wearing a small sailor's cap, and Sukke, a canary

Domestic Canary

The Domestic Canary, often simply known as the canary, is a domesticated form of the wild Canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from the Macaronesian Islands ....

 bird wearing a backwards baseball cap. In the tradition of Donald Duck

Donald Duck

Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...

 and Porky Pig

Porky Pig

Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...

, neither of them wear pants. Not in the tradition, however, their genitals are clearly (and consistently) shown - sometimes even when they are wearing pants.

In 2006, the strip began to appear in English speaking countries under the title "Duck and Birdie." While the creators have pointed out that "Fokke" and "Sukke" are ordinary West Frisian-language

West Frisian language

West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...

names, they decided to avoid unnecessary controversy and use a name that would not be so easily misunderstood.

As of the 1st of May 2009, Fokke & Sukke have also started a career in German, appearing daily on the German news website DNews as 'Fokke & Sokke'.