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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 23, 2021 18:41:31 GMT -5
There seems to a great stable of comics creators in Croatia!
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Josh
Full Member
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Post by Josh on Jul 23, 2021 20:29:50 GMT -5
Love that Star Wars strip. Excellent Tarkin.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 23, 2021 21:54:38 GMT -5
A little while ago, I made a what-the-heck buy of a big Humble Bundle collection of mostly European comics published by Humanoids. I'm unfamiliar with the vast majority of titles and names (excepting Jodorowsky & Moebius' Incal/Metabarons books), so I'd love it if someone(s) more familiar with these can toss out some recommendations to check out first, or skip until last.
Aftermath by James Hudnall & Mark Vigouroux
Armies by Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Picaret, & Jean-Claude Gal (vaguely remember this appearing in some old Heavy Metal magazines and being pretty good)
Balkans Arena by Philippe Thirault & Jorge Miguel
Book of Chaos by Mathieu Lauffray & Xavier Dorison
Carthago by Christophe Bec, Eric Henninot, Milan Jovanovic, & Ennio Bufi
Clockwerx by Jean-Baptiste Hostache, Jason Henderson, Tony Salvaggio, & Izu
Dark Rage by Thierry Smolderen & Philippe Marcele
Exo by Jerry Frissen & Philippe Scoffoni
Foligatto by Alexios Tjoyas & Nicolas de Crecy
The Fourth Power by Juan Gimenez
I Am Legion by John Cassaday & Fabien Nury
Izuna by Saverio Tenuta, Bruno Letizia, & Carita Lupattelli
Legend of the Scarlet Blades by Saverio Tenuta
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Alexandro Jodorowsky & Moebius
Metal by Butch Guice, Roman Surzhenko, Jerrold E. Brown, & Paul Alexander
Meyer by Jonathan Lang & Andrea Mutti
Muse by Terry Dodson & Denis-Pierre Filippi
Off-World Blues by JD Morvan & Bachan
Olympus by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger, & Butch Guice
Omni by Devin Grayson & Alitha E. Martinez
Orion's Outcasts by Julia Verlanger, Corbeyran, & Jorge Miguel
Pandemonium by Christophe Bec & Steffano Reffaele
Pandora's Eyes by Milo Manara & Vincenzo Cerami
Redhand - Twilight of the Gods by Kurt Busiek & Mario Alberti / Sam Timel & Bazal
Retina by Benoit Riviere & Philippe Scoffoni
Retroworld by Julia Verlanger, Patrick Galliano, Cedric Peyravernay, & Bazal
Sanctum by Xavier Dorison & Christophe Bec + Sanctum: Genesis by Christophe Bec, Philippe Thirault, & Stefano Raffaele
Savage Highway by Julia Verlanger, Mathieu Masmondet, & Zhang Xiaoyu
The Shadows of Salamanca by Christophe Bec & Stefano Raffaele
Shamanism by Igor Baranko
The Swords of Glass by Sylviane Corgiat & Laura Zuccheri
Thousand Faces by Philippe Thirault, Marc Males, & Mario Janni
The Tikitis by Jerry Frissen & Fabien M.
Wings of Light by Julia Verlanger, Harry Bozino, & Carlos Magno
Thanks!
I saw some of Madwoman of the Sacred Hart in Cheval Noir (Dark Horse's Euro-anthology, back in the early 90s), and it was good. Dionnet was one of the founders of Les Associates Humanoids and Metal Hurlant. I haven't seen The Fourth Power; but, everything I have seen from Juan Giminez is good. Other than Manara and the guys who primarily work in America, I don't recognize names or titles. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 23, 2021 21:58:16 GMT -5
There seems to a great stable of comics creators in Croatia! There was a pretty strong comic industry in the former Yugoslavia for generations. Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics included several entries, when it was published, in the mid-70s, and those strips and comics stretched back a bit. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 24, 2021 6:47:39 GMT -5
There seems to a great stable of comics creators in Croatia! There was a pretty strong comic industry in the former Yugoslavia for generations. Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics included several entries, when it was published, in the mid-70s, and those strips and comics stretched back a bit. True enough, but RR's point is pertinent: Croatia specifically seems to have produced an outsized share of top-notch comics creators. I mentioned upthread that back in the late 1930s, some of the biggest names in early Yugoslav comics scene were from Croatia, i.e., artists/writers like Andrija Maurović and Walter Neugebauer, and during the post-WW2 period, some of the most notable and best-loved artists throughout the former Yugoslavia were from Croatia, i.e., Julio "Jules" Radilović, Ivica Bednjanec, Žarko Beker and a bunch more I'm forgetting. And yeah, the present-day 'stable' from Croatia is quite impressive. I feel lucky that I got to know some of them personally.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 24, 2021 7:55:57 GMT -5
Time to reiterate that I enjoyed Igor Kordej's X-Men more than I did Ethan van Sciver's. His later European books were also pretty impressive!
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 27, 2021 1:37:42 GMT -5
A little while ago, I made a what-the-heck buy of a big Humble Bundle collection of mostly European comics published by Humanoids. I'm unfamiliar with the vast majority of titles and names (excepting Jodorowsky & Moebius' Incal/Metabarons books), so I'd love it if someone(s) more familiar with these can toss out some recommendations to check out first, or skip until last.
Aftermath by James Hudnall & Mark Vigouroux
Armies by Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Picaret, & Jean-Claude Gal (vaguely remember this appearing in some old Heavy Metal magazines and being pretty good)
Balkans Arena by Philippe Thirault & Jorge Miguel
Book of Chaos by Mathieu Lauffray & Xavier Dorison
Carthago by Christophe Bec, Eric Henninot, Milan Jovanovic, & Ennio Bufi
Clockwerx by Jean-Baptiste Hostache, Jason Henderson, Tony Salvaggio, & Izu
Dark Rage by Thierry Smolderen & Philippe Marcele
Exo by Jerry Frissen & Philippe Scoffoni
Foligatto by Alexios Tjoyas & Nicolas de Crecy
The Fourth Power by Juan Gimenez
I Am Legion by John Cassaday & Fabien Nury
Izuna by Saverio Tenuta, Bruno Letizia, & Carita Lupattelli
Legend of the Scarlet Blades by Saverio Tenuta
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Alexandro Jodorowsky & Moebius
Metal by Butch Guice, Roman Surzhenko, Jerrold E. Brown, & Paul Alexander
Meyer by Jonathan Lang & Andrea Mutti
Muse by Terry Dodson & Denis-Pierre Filippi
Off-World Blues by JD Morvan & Bachan
Olympus by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger, & Butch Guice
Omni by Devin Grayson & Alitha E. Martinez
Orion's Outcasts by Julia Verlanger, Corbeyran, & Jorge Miguel
Pandemonium by Christophe Bec & Steffano Reffaele
Pandora's Eyes by Milo Manara & Vincenzo Cerami
Redhand - Twilight of the Gods by Kurt Busiek & Mario Alberti / Sam Timel & Bazal
Retina by Benoit Riviere & Philippe Scoffoni
Retroworld by Julia Verlanger, Patrick Galliano, Cedric Peyravernay, & Bazal
Sanctum by Xavier Dorison & Christophe Bec + Sanctum: Genesis by Christophe Bec, Philippe Thirault, & Stefano Raffaele
Savage Highway by Julia Verlanger, Mathieu Masmondet, & Zhang Xiaoyu
The Shadows of Salamanca by Christophe Bec & Stefano Raffaele
Shamanism by Igor Baranko
The Swords of Glass by Sylviane Corgiat & Laura Zuccheri
Thousand Faces by Philippe Thirault, Marc Males, & Mario Janni
The Tikitis by Jerry Frissen & Fabien M.
Wings of Light by Julia Verlanger, Harry Bozino, & Carlos Magno
Thanks!
Needed some time to figure which were which in other languages.
I have read a bit of Christophe Bec, but I really don't like his writing. It tends to be very dark and with endings that made me go "so what was the point of this entire story?" Could be that the ones I read were exceptions. I've read Pandemonium of the ones below (about a mental institution in the 50s), but I never got the second and third issues.
Carthago by Christophe Bec, Eric Henninot, Milan Jovanovic, & Ennio Bufi Pandemonium by Christophe Bec & Steffano Reffaele The Shadows of Salamanca by Christophe Bec & Stefano Raffaele Sanctum by Xavier Dorison & Christophe Bec + Sanctum: Genesis by Christophe Bec, Philippe Thirault, & Stefano Raffaele
Book of Chaos by Mathieu Lauffray & Xavier Dorison Haven't read this one (is this Le troisième Testament? Don't see any title that I'd translate of Book of Chaos), but Lauffray's Valerian one-shot was very good and I liked Dorison and Lauffray colaboration Long John Silver. (Doublecheck... oh this seems to be "Prophet". Weird, that is a title that could be translated into English. Name changed to avoid confusion with the Liefeld creation, I guess?)
Dark Rage by Thierry Smolderen & Philippe Marcele
Again no idea which title this exactly is, but Smolderen has done a lot of different things. Marshall Blueberry probably the best known, also did Gypsy with Marini. I'm mixed on his writing: some things I liked a lot, others left me uncaring.
The Fourth Power by Juan Gimenez I've read this, artwork is great. The story leaves some to be desired, Gimenez is a better artist than writer.
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Alexandro Jodorowsky & Moebius Jordorowsky and Moebius: so weird, inventive and very well drawn.
Metal by Butch Guice, Roman Surzhenko, Jerrold E. Brown, & Paul Alexander
I've read this one, but can't remember anything about it. Artwork was good though.
Off-World Blues by JD Morvan & Bachan Was not a fan of Morvan's Spirou, but he has done loads of things and many of those are quite good.
Pandora's Eyes by Milo Manara & Vincenzo Cerami
Manara, so at least you have something nice to look at.
Redhand - Twilight of the Gods by Kurt Busiek & Mario Alberti / Sam Timel & Bazal
Busiek, so at least the writing will be good.
Guess I am not much use on these.
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Post by Calidore on Aug 5, 2021 9:52:58 GMT -5
I saw some of Madwoman of the Sacred Hart in Cheval Noir (Dark Horse's Euro-anthology, back in the early 90s), and it was good. Dionnet was one of the founders of Les Associates Humanoids and Metal Hurlant. I haven't seen The Fourth Power; but, everything I have seen from Juan Giminez is good. Other than Manara and the guys who primarily work in America, I don't recognize names or titles. Ah. I had a complete run of Cheval Noir (and may still have; can't remember if I auctioned it or it's in storage), but it's been a very long time since I read it. I remember loving the Schuiten/Peeters stories, and in general that it had more focus on scriptwriting than Heavy Metal did. On the downside, it was in black and white, and printing quality of course couldn't compare to HM, so detailed artwork like Druillet's suffered. I have read a bit of Christophe Bec, but I really don't like his writing. It tends to be very dark and with endings that made me go "so what was the point of this entire story?" Could be that the ones I read were exceptions. I've read Pandemonium of the ones below (about a mental institution in the 50s), but I never got the second and third issues.
Carthago by Christophe Bec, Eric Henninot, Milan Jovanovic, & Ennio Bufi Pandemonium by Christophe Bec & Steffano Reffaele The Shadows of Salamanca by Christophe Bec & Stefano Raffaele Sanctum by Xavier Dorison & Christophe Bec + Sanctum: Genesis by Christophe Bec, Philippe Thirault, & Stefano Raffaele Book of Chaos by Mathieu Lauffray & Xavier Dorison Haven't read this one (is this Le troisième Testament? Don't see any title that I'd translate of Book of Chaos), but Lauffray's Valerian one-shot was very good and I liked Dorison and Lauffray colaboration Long John Silver. (Doublecheck... oh this seems to be "Prophet". Weird, that is a title that could be translated into English. Name changed to avoid confusion with the Liefeld creation, I guess?)
Dark Rage by Thierry Smolderen & Philippe Marcele
Again no idea which title this exactly is, but Smolderen has done a lot of different things. Marshall Blueberry probably the best known, also did Gypsy with Marini. I'm mixed on his writing: some things I liked a lot, others left me uncaring.
The Fourth Power by Juan Gimenez I've read this, artwork is great. The story leaves some to be desired, Gimenez is a better artist than writer. Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Alexandro Jodorowsky & Moebius Jordorowsky and Moebius: so weird, inventive and very well drawn. Metal by Butch Guice, Roman Surzhenko, Jerrold E. Brown, & Paul Alexander
I've read this one, but can't remember anything about it. Artwork was good though.
Off-World Blues by JD Morvan & Bachan Was not a fan of Morvan's Spirou, but he has done loads of things and many of those are quite good.
Pandora's Eyes by Milo Manara & Vincenzo Cerami
Manara, so at least you have something nice to look at.
Redhand - Twilight of the Gods by Kurt Busiek & Mario Alberti / Sam Timel & Bazal
Busiek, so at least the writing will be good.
Guess I am not much use on these.
This was extremely helpful. Thanks much to both of you for the input.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2021 10:42:36 GMT -5
A title I've enjoyed and really need to pick back up reading is the Franco-Belgian sci-fi comic series Orbital. Written by Sylvain Runberg and illustrated by Serge Pellé, it follows two characters who are assigned as agents on intergalactic diplomatic peace missions, and I've really enjoyed both the storylines of the first two volumes I've read along with the visually quite compelling art. It began in 2009 so the early volumes below are just now entering "classic" status, the most recent volume was as recent as 2020.   |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2021 8:37:47 GMT -5
In my posting about Orbital per above, I was reminded why I started branching out with my reading towards the end of the 2000's. My interest in the Big Two had really declined during that decade, I just felt the quality wasn't there anymore and I wanted to explore what was out there that still might be a bit exciting. So another title that comes to mind is Scourge of the Gods from 2009 (again, just now entering classic status, I might call this "nouveaux classique"). It was a partnership between Marvel and French comic book publisher Soleil Productions. Scourge of the Gods was told over the course of two 3-issue series per below by French writer Valérie Mangin and Serbian artist Aleksa Gajić. It's an interesting concept...Attila the Hun invading the Roman Empire, but in a futuristic sci-fi setting. The art is very nice overall, and I particularly like the coloring on it, so important to the mood of a story. Overall, it's not say Metabarons level of greatness to me. But I will say it's a story worth sticking through to the end (you really need that second series part), it goes to another level with a reveal/development I thought was clever. The mature content felt a little gratuitous at times (like it had to just check that box), though self-admittedly I'm a bit of a "PG" guy overall who wanders into material like this if the overall story/art is quality stuff. Some visuals on the content:        |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 6, 2021 18:41:24 GMT -5
VojnaGoran Duplančić, 2021  This was originally released in installments as a web-comic on the forum page of a Croatian comics site (stripovi.com) from 2013 through 2015, but was only released as a hardcover book last month. It's based on the true story of the author's experiences as a corporal in the Yugoslav army posted in a base in Slovenia just when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991 - about a month before his mandatory one-year service in the army was supposed to end. It deals with the confusion that beset the troops in that base - most of whom were Serbs, Croats (like the author), Bosnians, Macedonians, etc. - as the brief war between the Slovenian territorial defense forces and the Yugoslav army broke out while none of them really knew what was going on, while their superior officers enforced an information blockade. The title, vojna, is the Slovenian word for war. It's a really well-done story that sheds some light on an almost forgotten early chapter of Yugoslavia's collapse. There's many moving scenes, like this one in which one of the few ethnic Slovenes on the base gets a local woman to take a written message to his family, and then everyone else at the base wants her to contact their relatives throughout the former Yugoslavia:  Duplančić doesn't sugar-coat anything, either, so he includes an incident in which he did not conduct himself very well when dealing with a foreign reporter. (Some of the pages, by the way, were done in color):  The very cartoony art is surprisingly effective for this story. Duplančić, by the way, is a pretty interesting guy. His day job is working as theoretical physicist at one of Croatia's premiere research institutions, but he's also an avid comics lover and spends his spare time drawing his own comics.
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Post by berkley on Aug 6, 2021 21:14:44 GMT -5
In my posting about Orbital per above, I was reminded why I started branching out with my reading towards the end of the 2000's. My interest in the Big Two had really declined during that decade, I just felt the quality wasn't there anymore and I wanted to explore what was out there that still might be a bit exciting. So another title that comes to mind is Scourge of the Gods from 2009 (again, just now entering classic status, I might call this "nouveaux classique"). It was a partnership between Marvel and French comic book publisher Soleil Productions. Scourge of the Gods was told over the course of two 3-issue series per below by French writer Valérie Mangin and Serbian artist Aleksa Gajić. It's an interesting concept...Attila the Hun invading the Roman Empire, but in a futuristic sci-fi setting. The art is very nice overall, and I particularly like the coloring on it, so important to the mood of a story. Overall, it's not say Metabarons level of greatness to me. But I will say it's a story worth sticking through to the end (you really need that second series part), it goes to another level with a reveal/development I thought was clever. The mature content felt a little gratuitous at times (like it had to just check that box), though self-admittedly I'm a bit of a "PG" guy overall who wanders into material like this if the overall story/art is quality stuff. Some visuals on the content: They both look interesting. At first glance I think Scourge attracts me a little more but that could be just that you gave us more visual samples of that one. I'll have a look for them. |
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Post by berkley on Aug 6, 2021 21:20:17 GMT -5
VojnaGoran Duplančić, 2021 This was originally released in installments as a web-comic on the forum page of a Croatian comics site (stripovi.com) from 2013 through 2015, but was only released as a hardcover book last month. It's based on the true story of the author's experiences as a corporal in the Yugoslav army posted in a base in Slovenia just when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991 - about a month before his mandatory one-year service in the army was supposed to end. It deals with the confusion that beset the troops in that base - most of whom were Serbs, Croats (like the author), Bosnians, Macedonians, etc. - as the brief war between the Slovenian territorial defense forces and the Yugoslav army broke out while none of them really knew what was going on, while their superior officers enforced an information blockade. The title, vojna, is the Slovenian word for war. It's a really well-done story that sheds some light on an almost forgotten early chapter of Yugoslavia's collapse. There's many moving scenes, like this one in which one of the few ethnic Slovenes on the base gets a local woman to take a written message to his family, and then everyone else at the base wants her to contact their relatives throughout the former Yugoslavia: Duplančić doesn't sugar-coat anything, either, so he includes an incident in which he did not conduct himself very well when dealing with a foreign reporter. (Some of the pages, by the way, were done in color): The very cartoony art is surprisingly effective for this story. Duplančić, by the way, is a pretty interesting guy. His day job is working as theoretical physicist at one of Croatia's premiere research institutions, but he's also an avid comics lover and spends his spare time drawing his own comics.
On my first quick skim through the images, for a second there I thought, "Great! Something's been translated into English!" but of course it was just the female reporter's dialogue.
Has any of Duplancic's stuff been translated into any other languages? What about the other Croatian comics you've posted here? Apologies if I or someone else here has already asked this and been answered.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 6, 2021 21:51:18 GMT -5
VojnaGoran Duplančić, 2021 This was originally released in installments as a web-comic on the forum page of a Croatian comics site (stripovi.com) from 2013 through 2015, but was only released as a hardcover book last month. It's based on the true story of the author's experiences as a corporal in the Yugoslav army posted in a base in Slovenia just when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991 - about a month before his mandatory one-year service in the army was supposed to end. It deals with the confusion that beset the troops in that base - most of whom were Serbs, Croats (like the author), Bosnians, Macedonians, etc. - as the brief war between the Slovenian territorial defense forces and the Yugoslav army broke out while none of them really knew what was going on, while their superior officers enforced an information blockade. The title, vojna, is the Slovenian word for war. It's a really well-done story that sheds some light on an almost forgotten early chapter of Yugoslavia's collapse. There's many moving scenes, like this one in which one of the few ethnic Slovenes on the base gets a local woman to take a written message to his family, and then everyone else at the base wants her to contact their relatives throughout the former Yugoslavia: Duplančić doesn't sugar-coat anything, either, so he includes an incident in which he did not conduct himself very well when dealing with a foreign reporter. (Some of the pages, by the way, were done in color): The very cartoony art is surprisingly effective for this story. Duplančić, by the way, is a pretty interesting guy. His day job is working as theoretical physicist at one of Croatia's premiere research institutions, but he's also an avid comics lover and spends his spare time drawing his own comics.
On my first quick skim through the images, for a second there I thought, "Great! Something's been translated into English!" but of course it was just the female reporter's dialogue.
Has any of Duplancic's stuff been translated into any other languages? What about the other Croatian comics you've posted here? Apologies if I or someone else here has already asked this and been answered.
Outside of one or two things that Platinum Editions did, I haven't seen much from that part of the world, in English, in the US. Platinum Editions was a a company/imprint in conjunction with Malibu (more as one of Scott Rosenberg's side deals) and Ervin Rustemagic (of Fax From Sarajevo fame), and his Strip Art Features. Most of what they published was from Sergio Aragones and Joe Kubert's Abraham Stone; but, they had one book, Once Upon a Time, in the Future, with art by Zeljko Pahek. Aside from that, Malibu also reprinted the superhero series, Cat Claw, from Bane Kerac. The only other things I can think of are the stories that Darko Macan and Edvin Biukovic did for Dark Horse, but that was original work in English and not reprinted translations. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 7, 2021 3:25:19 GMT -5
(...)
Has any of Duplancic's stuff been translated into any other languages? What about the other Croatian comics you've posted here? Apologies if I or someone else here has already asked this and been answered.
Unfortunately, I have to answer 'nope' to both questions. Duplancic in particular considers himself an amateur (like I said, he seems to think being a theoretical physicist is somehow more important that making comics. Sheesh, guy needs to get his priorities straight...  ). As far as I know, this is his first work to get published in a physical book. Up until now, his work has mainly appeared online. As for other creators, none of their original work done here in Croatia has been translated, either. There's just not a market for it outside of the wider region. Honestly, there's hardly a market for it even locally - that's why that new anthology series, Stop (which I've posted about a few times here) is basically a samizdat project, with Darko Macan personally mailing out copies after people pay him for it directly. |
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). As far as I know, this is his first work to get published in a physical book. Up until now, his work has mainly appeared online.