YUGOSLAVIAN COMICS Comics production by local Serbian creators started way back in the ’30s, when a rich comics magazine tradition began in Belgrade. This tradition continued and was interrupted occasionally by turbulent historical circumstances, but during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, Serbian authors were trying—more or less successfully—to follow contemporary trends in comics. It's worth mentioning that Enki Bilal, one of the best known European comics authors, was born and spent his youth in Belgrade, which inspired a certain number of his works. A new generation of Serbian cartoonists emerged at the beginning of the ’90s during the crisis following the outbreak of war in former Yugoslavia. Aleksandar Zograf portrayed these dramatic events in a deeply personal way, fundamentally different from "pre-digested" newspaper reports and with an emphasis on describing his own dreams and visions. His work appeared in various American and European comics publications and Fantagraphics Books published his description of everyday life in Serbia during the economic embargo (Life Under Sanctions) and the Psychonaut series. The difficult economic situation in Serbia caused almost every comic magazine to fold. The young Serbian comics scene (in other words, the cartoonists who didn't emigrate) still made itself visible in a number of newly founded comics publications such as Patagonija, Striper, Lavirint etc., which, though published irregularly, presented much more challenging material than those magazines from the ’80s which published mostly adventure and science fiction material. In addition, literary magazines started to devote space to some interesting and innovative comics artists, including Wostok, whose macabre humor and unconventional way of creating a comics story were unique. Wostok, who has occasionally collaborated with Grabowski, presented his characters in a dark light, sometimes making fun at stereotypes created by the pro-government media in Serbia. He also used drawings by his daughter Lola, creating interesting comics by juxtaposing them with transcriptions of her explanations. Another very active group of cartoonists (Redza, Ivana Filipovic, Vladimir Stankovski, etc.) based their approach on the typically European detailed "baroque" drawing. The content of their work ranges from classical gag funnies to artistic experiments. Also, the increasing number of comic fanzines has encouraged many authors to self-publish their work, trading and distributing their comics through the mail. The "Momci" group with their booklets and fanzines like Krpelj or Tit-Bit are just a few of them. Thanks to interesting work, which are produced despite bad circumstances, most of the above-mentioned authors (and many others) have published their comics in various anthologies and catalogues in Europe, America and even in Japan. This demonstrates that the potential of this scene reaches far beyond the local boundaries. Obrad Obad back to contents