Czech Comics

Czech Comics

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 šípy, written by Jaroslav Foglar 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 and Ondřej Sekora.

Comics in Czechoslovakia 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, some of the comic creators were allowed to publish during that time.

Čtyřlístek, 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 Central and Eastern Europe, including Thorgal and Funky Koval (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 of almost all the magazines. By 2007, however, the Czech comics market had rebounded, with several full-time publication houses, amongst them BBart, Netopejr and Crew.