Czech comics
Encyclopedia
History
The beginnings of the comics genre in the Czechoslovakia are connected with the popular magazine Mladý hlasatel ("Young Herald"), published in the 1930s. In 1938, the magazine began publishing a popular comic series Rychlé šípyRychlé šípy
Rychlé šípy is the name of a fictional club of five boys, consisting of Mirek Dušín, Jarka Metelka, Jindra Hojer, Červenáček , Rychlonožka and a dog named Bublina . They were invented by the Czech writer Jaroslav Foglar. Rychlé šípy are universally known in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,...
, written by Jaroslav Foglar
Jaroslav Foglar
Jaroslav Foglar was a famous Czech author who wrote many novels about youths and their adventures in nature and dark city streets.-Early life:...
and drawn by Jan Fischer. The publishing of Rychlé šípy continued up to 1989, with stand-stills enforced by Nazis, and later by the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia. Among other significant personalities of the early Czech comics are Josef Lada
Josef Lada
Josef Lada was a Czech painter and writer.He is best known as the illustrator of Jaroslav Hašek's World War One novel The Good Soldier Švejk...
and Ondřej Sekora
Ondřej Sekora
Ondřej Sekora was a Czech painter, illustrator, writer, journalist and entomologist. He is known mainly as an author of children books. Sekora was also one of the first propagators of rugby in Czechoslovakia....
.
Comics in the Czech Republic
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
whilst under communist rule were seen as bourgeois. As an alleged part of the bourgeois propaganda, the genre was displaced from the public sphere. However, the generation of the 1960s managed to acquire a more tolerant attitude by the communists. Following the disputes with the critics of the official communist newspaper Rudé právo
Rudé právo
Rudé právo was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia....
, some of the comic creators were allowed to publish during that time.
Čtyřlístek
Ctyrlístek
Čtyřlístek is a Czech comics book continuously published since 1969 created by Jaroslav Němeček. In the 1980 an average edition contained about 220 000 prints and became one of the most popular comics book for children in the Czechoslovakia.-Plot:...
, one of the most popular comic books for children in the Czechoslovakia, is continuously published since 1969. Another important personality of the Czech comics, Kája Saudek, began his career in the 1960s. Saudek was the most persecuted comic creator during communist era.
After communist rule ended, numerous publishing houses began to publish comics across the former communist countries of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, including Thorgal
Thorgal
Thorgal is a critically acclaimed Belgian comic book series by the Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and the Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński. It first appeared in serial form in the "Tintin" magazine in 1977, and has been published in hardcover volumes by Le Lombard from 1980 on...
and Funky Koval
Funky Koval
Funky Koval is a 3-part Polish science fiction/detective story/political fiction genre comic book published in People's Republic of Poland in the 1980s. It gained a cult following and is still recognized as one of the best Polish comics.-History:...
(which had started already in the early 1980s). Many magazines specializing in comics were published, amongst them Bublinky and Jánošík. However this quantity flooded the market, leading to small sales for individual titles. This saw the bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
of almost all the magazines. , however, the Czech comics market is on a rise, with several full-time publication houses, amongst them BBart, Netopejr and Crew
Crew (comic)
Crew, the first regular Czech international comic magazine, started publication in 1997. It was meant to be published every two months, but it started having long breaks after the first year. Officially publication ended in 2003 with Crew 21....
.
Notable comics
In 2009, the Czech comics server Komiksarium organized a poll to elect the most significant Czech comics. Sixty members of the board included comic publishers, creators and collectors. They selected ten most important works in the Czech comics history:- Muriel a anděléMuriel a anděléMuriel a andělé is a comic album written by Miloš Macourek and drawn by Kája Saudek, originally created in the late 1960s and published in 1991. The album is considered one of the masterworks of Czech comics; it was voted the best Czech comic in a poll held by the newspaper Mladá fronta DNES in 2009...
(Muriel and Angels) - Miloš MacourekMiloš MacourekMiloš Macourek was a Czech poet, playwright, author and screenwriter.- Biography :During his career, Macourek worked in various professions. From 1953 to 1960, he was a teacher of the art history; later he worked as a dramaturgist at the Barrandov Film Studios...
, Kája SaudekKája SaudekKája Saudek is a Czech comics illustrator. He is one of the most important exponents of the Czech comics since the late 1960s. He is the twin brother of the photographer and painter Jan Saudek.- Biography :...
(1967–1969) - Rychlé šípyRychlé šípyRychlé šípy is the name of a fictional club of five boys, consisting of Mirek Dušín, Jarka Metelka, Jindra Hojer, Červenáček , Rychlonožka and a dog named Bublina . They were invented by the Czech writer Jaroslav Foglar. Rychlé šípy are universally known in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,...
- Jaroslav FoglarJaroslav FoglarJaroslav Foglar was a famous Czech author who wrote many novels about youths and their adventures in nature and dark city streets.-Early life:...
, Jan Fischer, Marko Čermák (1938–1989) - Lips TullianLips TullianLips Tullian is a comic series written by Jaroslav Weigel and drawn by Kája Saudek in 1972. The series was published by the popular Czechoslovak weekly magazine Mladý svět...
- Jaroslav WeigelJaroslav WeigelJaroslav Weigel is a Czech actor, writer and painter. From 1970, he is a member of the Jára Cimrman Theatre.- Biography :...
, Kája Saudek (1972–1985) - Voleman Jiří Grus (2007)
- Arnal a dva dračí zuby - Ondřej NeffOndrej NeffOndřej Neff is a Czech science fiction writer and journalist. He is the founder of , one of the earliest and most popular Czech daily news/comments websites, and , a website about digital photography for amateurs.His father Vladimír Neff was a popular writer, author of many historical...
, Kája Saudek (1988) - Velké putování Vlase a Brady - František SkálaFrantišek SkálaFrantišek Skála jr is a Czech sculptor, painter, children's book illustrator, musician, and dancer.He studied woodcarving at Secondary Applied Arts School Prague, 1971–1975 and in 1982 graduated from the University of Applied Arts in film and television graphics.He achieved his first major...
(1989) - Nitro těžkne glycerínem - Štěpán Kopřiva, Jiří Grus (2006)
- Příhody malého boha - Vlastislav Toman, František Kobík (1973–1974)
- Vzpoura Mozků - Václav Šorel, František Kobík (1977–1979)
- ČtyřlístekCtyrlístekČtyřlístek is a Czech comics book continuously published since 1969 created by Jaroslav Němeček. In the 1980 an average edition contained about 220 000 prints and became one of the most popular comics book for children in the Czechoslovakia.-Plot:...
- Jaroslav Němeček, Ljuba Štíplová (since 1969)