German comic book, drawn by Broesel (german for Crumb), published in paperback format since the early eighties, and arguably the most successful comic book ever to be originally produced in Germany.
Currently heading towards its eleventh book, the comic deals with a young fellow from northern Germany who loves to work on his motorcycle, loafs around, skips work, drinks loads of beer, and pokes fun at the local policemen. All characters are drawn with enormous noses and speak heavy north german dialect, which is a bit of the trademark of the series. Totally politically incorrect and language humour prevails in the series which has also spawned three movies (Beinhart, Das muss kesseln and Volles Rohr!). There have also been numerous albums, calendars, merchandise product, a stock (noted at the german stock exchange), computer games , a race event and a brand of beer: Boelkstoff, most of which are also featured in the book.
Some of Werner is very funny indeed, while other parts are just plain dull. There are plans to internationalize Werner for the American market. How this idea started or will be made workable is still a mystery as the series is firmly based in the cultural roots of northern Germany, the humour often not even understood or funny at all in southern Germany, most of it being dialect based language humour. Taking that away would take the essence of the characters away, leaving it in would only cause confusion in international viewers. Nevertheless, a TV-series is planned, which is supposed to launch in the US first, and only after that in Germany as well.
Here is a list of currently published titles in order of publication: