Serbian comics

Serbian comics are comics produced in Serbia. Comics are called ''stripovi'' in Serbian (singular ''strip'') and come in all shapes and sizes, merging influences from American comics to bandes dessinées.

Comics started developing in Serbia in the late 19th century, mostly in humor and children's magazines. From the 1920s to the end of the 1980s, Serbian comics were part of the larger Yugoslav comics scene; a large number of titles was published from 1932 to 1991, mainly in Serbo-Croatian language. After the breakup of Yugoslavia and the crisis in the 1990s, Serbian comics have experienced a revival.

History

"The Golden Age" (1932-1941)

In 1932 ''Veseli četvrtak'' (''Merry Thursday''), an illustrated magazine for children, appeared in Belgrade; an unusually large amount of space was allotted to cartoons. The magazine featured foreign works such as ''The Katzenjammer Kids'', but also ''Doživljaji Mike Miša'' (''The Adventures of Mika the Mouse''), a Mickey Mouse pastiche by Serbian authors. Other weeklies and dailies such as ''Vreme'' and ''Pravda'' followed suit. In 1934, one whole page of ''Politika'' newspaper was devoted to ''Secret Agent X-9''. In addition to adventure comics, Walt Disney's cartoon animals were also popular at the time, especially Mickey Mouse, whose name would be used in the titles of a number of Yugoslav comic publications: ''Mika Miš'', ''Mikijeve novine'' (''Mickey's Newspapers''), ''Mikijevo carstvo'' (''Mickey's Realm''). An editor named Dušan Timotijević named the new art form "strip", after English " comic strip".

In 1934, the first two specialized comic magazines appeared - ''Strip'' and ''Crtani film'' (''Cartoon''). Their appearance and content were influenced by the Italian magazines ''Topolino'', ''L'Audace'' and ''L'Avventuroso'', as well as French magazines ''Le Journal de Mickey'' and ''Hop-là!''. Russian immigrant Nikola Navojev debuted in the pages of ''Strip'' with his works. Although he died at the age of 27, Navojev was a prolific author who created a number of characters for Strip, of which jungle girl Tarcaneta (''Tarzanette'') is best-known today. In 1935, inspired by the adventures of Alex Raymond's X-9, Vlastimir Belkić created the first original character in Serbian comics named Hari Vils. Similarly, other two Russian immigrants, artist Đorđe Lobačev and writer Vadim Kurganski, began working on their first comic, called ''Krvavo nasledstvo'' (''Bloody Heritage''), serialized in the illustrated periodical ''Panorama''. Not only was it the first successful modern comic produced in Serbia, but also the first title set in Yugoslavia.

Most of the Golden Age artists were Russian immigrants, collectively known as the Belgrade Circle and gathered at first around the ''Mika Miš'' magazine. Soon enough it was transformed into a real comic magazine, reprinting foreign classics like ''Prince Valiant'', ''Phantom'' and ''Flash Gordon'', but also publishing comics by the local authors. ''Mika Miš'' lasted from 1936 to 1941, when it ended with issue 505. Its domination would not be questioned until 1939 and the emergence of ''Mikijevo carstvo'' and '' Politikin Zabavnik''. The key figures behind all three publications were editors Aleksandar J. Ivković and Milutin Ignjačević. From 1935 to 1941 about twenty comic magazines were launched in Serbia, published weekly and bi-weekly, mostly in black-and-white. They were sold throughout Yugoslavia. In order to boost sales in the western parts of Yugoslavia (today's Croatia and Slovenia), some publications were printed not only in the Serbian Cyrillic but also Latin alphabet. Comics were distributed through convenience stores, newsstands and newsboys, with an average print run of 10,000 - 30,000 copies.

The notable works were inspired by cultural classics and Serbian folklore. The shortlist includes Ivan Šenšin's ''Hrabri vojnik Švejk'' (an adaptation of Jaroslav Hašek's novel ''The Good Soldier Švejk'') and ''Zvonar Bogorodičine crkve'' (an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame