Stripburger 45

Nenavadno visoka zastopanost domačih avtorjev v tokratni cifri ni naključje. Delno je to odgovor na obtožbe, ki vztrajno prihajajo iz nekaterih virov, da namreč Stripburger nezadovoljivo vrši svoje poslanstvo glavne referenčne točke slovenskega stripa, ker v njem ravno slednjega primanjkuje. Delno pa je za to invazijo Slovencev odgovoren tokratni blok, v katerem se predstavlja nihče drug kot naše uredništvo – vsaj tisti del njega, ki je tudi aktivno udeležen v stripovski produkciji. Ta večno spreminjajoča se gmota, ki je srce Stripburgerja, je namreč ravno v času med to in prejšnjo cifro preživela še eno mutacijo. Omenjeni blok vas bo, drago bralstvo, seznanil prav s tem, kdo so ti ljudje, ki vam neumorno, leto za letom, servirajo tole revijo, kakšne misli se jim pletejo po njihovih glavah in koliko se pravzaprav spoznajo na posel, s katerim se ukvarjajo, strip namreč.

Ne želim posebej poudarjati, koga več ni na Burgerjevi uredniški listi, bi rad opozoril na oba novodošleka. No, prvi to niti ni, pa saj ni važno. Med nas se vrača izgubljeni sin Stripburgerja – ali pa bi bilo nemara treba reči izgubljeni oče, praded, ali karkoli že - Jakob Klemenčič, nekoč znan tudi kot Obscurator. V svojem prispevku se predvidljivo loteva zanj značilnih tem, pri čemer je, lenuh, ki se mu ne ljubi risati, kar precej povedal tudi z besedo (in bo potem govoričil o "drugačni, ne-klasično-stripovski povezavi besede in slike"). Druga nova sila v Burgerjevem timu pa je Tea Hvala. Tea, katere kreativni output sicer nikakor ni zanemarljiv, se v tokratni cifri še ne predstavlja samostojno, vendar držimo pesti, da se enkrat še bo – se splača! Tokrat sta združila moči s kolegom sourednikom Davidom Krančanom, rezultat tega pa je strip Confidence per person. Ob tej priliki še majhna opomba - strip je v angleščini, kar je na prvi pogled kontradiktorno najinemu prejšnjemu hvalisanju o dvigu slovenščine v reviji. Vendar gre v tem primeru za nujno zlo v dobro umetniškega učinka; strip je namreč jezikovno občutljiv in zares deluje samo v angleškem jeziku. Kot protiutež temu mini ekscesu je tu strip Italijana Gipija, ki je preveden v slovenščino, za povrh pa še sedemstranski strip našega bivšega uredniškega sotrudnika Koc(=k)(ot)a. A ostanimo še za stavek ali dva pri bloku. Humor in najstniško energijo v revijo prinaša Matej de Cecco s stripom Kelvinov problem, narisanim v zanj značilnem, prikupno naivnem risankastem slogu in zabeljenim z zanj značilno prijazno zlobo. In končno je tu še ena čudna, 19-stranska pošast od stripa, ki samo sebe kliče Pot v vesolje in s katero Gašper Rus nadaljuje vivisekcijo svojega vsakdanjika (ne, ni kozmonavt!). Ampak dovolj o tem - če ste prišli do sem, ste blok najbrž itak že prebavili.

Da pa bo mera polna in da bo prva cifra v novem letu res v vseh ozirih nekaj posebnega, sva se odločila, da bova tudi v profilu povlekla enega od naših adutov. Če ste videli naslovnico, že veste, kam pes svojo bolh polno taco moli. Malin Biller je celotnemu našemu uredništvu zelo ljuba avtorica iz Švedske in prepričani o nespornosti njene kvalitete si kar nekako ne moremo predstavljati, da ne bi tudi naši bralci delili tega navdušenja. Zato sva se odločila, da mora tokrat Malin zasijati v vsej svoji veličini, kar omenjena naslovka skoraj dobesedno uresničuje. Poleg tega je tu še njen strip My friends, pripadajoči intervju pa kuka še v ozadje njenega stripovskega ustvarjanja in življenja nasploh.

Če imate radi intervjuje, za vas materiala še ne bo konec. V krajšem prispevku je predstavljen tudi že omenejeni italijanski stripar Gipi. Za realizacijo tega prispevka je poskrbela Stripburgerjeva stalna sodelavka, Paola Bristot.

Mogoče ste že opazili, da se na vas naslavljava v dvojini (če uvodnik berete v angleščini, pa boste morali verjeti na besedo). Drži. V Burgerjevi pilotski kabini sva tokrat G.R. in J.K., kar je le del eksperimenta, ki se mu pravi novi koncept revije. V želji po poživitvi njenega nekoliko okostenelega principa delovanja smo namreč sklenili uvesti vrsto sprememb. Če bo ideja zaživela, bo odslej vsaka nova številka plod dela enega ali dveh posameznikov iz uredniškega tima - pilotske kombinezone naslednje cifre si že natikata Matej DeCecco in David Krančan. Željeni rezultat je seveda ta, da bi bile cifre med seboj čim bolj raznolike, oziroma da bi se pri vsaki od njih poznala drugačna vizija. V doglednem času bi morala prizadevanja po nečem novem dobiti tudi bolj otipljivo, že na zunaj vidno obliko, in sicer v spremenjenem formatu, novih grafičnih in barvnih eksperimentih ter v zrahljanju prevlade strogo stripovskih prispevkov. Preveč pa zaenkrat ne bi naštevala, da se ne bova slučajno zarekla.

An unusually high percentage of Slovenian artists in this issue is no coincidence: it is a partial response to accusations coming from some sources saying that Stripburger insufficiently fulfills its function as the main reference point of Slovenian comics, because it supposedly lacks domestic contributions. The Slovene invasion may partially be credited to this issue's block, in which none other than our editorial board is represented (at least those who actively produce comics). This ever changing group that is the heart of Stripburger, went through yet another mutation since the last issue. The aforementioned block will introduce to you, dearest readership, the people who year after year serve you issue after issue, their thoughts and how much they really know about the business they're into. Comics, namely.

At this point, I won't get into telling you who is gone, but I'd like to introduce two new members. Well, one of them is not that new, but nevertheless... Our ranks are being fulfilled by the return of the lost son (or better yet: lost father, or even grandfather) of Stripburger, Jakob Klemenčič AKA Obscurator. In his contribution he predictably deals with his trademark topics, using (lazy as he is) words to tell a considerable part of the story (and will later waste breath to tell us about the »different, unorthodox, non-comic connection between the text and the image«). The other new force in the Stripburger team is Tea Hvala. Her creative output is definitely not small; in this issue she is represented in a collaboration, but we eagerly expect her to publish her own material as well – it will surely be worth the wait! She joined forces with the co-editor David Krančan in the short story Confidence per Person. Here I'd like to note that the comic is written in English, which contradicts our earlier bragging about lifting the percentage of Slovene comics. But in this case, it is the necessary evil in the benefit of artistic effect; the comic is linguistically sensitive and develops a full effect in English only. As a counter-measure we included a comic by the Italian Gipi, translated into Slovene. In addition to that, we also serve the latest comic, a seven pager by our ex co-editor Koco. But let us tell you more about the editorial block. Humor and teenage energy come in contribution by Matej de Cecco in a comic Kelvinov problem (Kelvin's Problem), drawn in his trademark, cutely naive cartoonish style, spiced with a kind of cute malice. Finally, there is a weird, 19-pager, a monster of a comic entitled Pot v vesolje (A Space Journey) in which Gašper Rus continues to vivisect his everyday life (he is not an astronaut!). But enough already. If you made it through here, you probably digested our block already.

So, to make the most out of this, we decided to make this year's first issue something special, in every way. We decided to play the trump card, which is an artist's profile. If you inspected the cover of this issue carefully, you probably know which way the (smelly) wind blows. Malin Biller is the favorite of our entire editorial board. This Swedish artist boasts a quality that deserves to be experienced by our readers. That is why we decided to let Malin shine in all her glory; we think her cover does the job well. The issue also features her comic My friends and the interview that tags along provides an insight into her comic-creating and personal life.

And if you like interviews, you're in for some more treat. In a brief article we present the Italian artist Gipi. The author of this contribution is Paola Bristot, our long time co-worker.

You might have noticed that we address you in dual (if you're reading this in English, you'll just have to trust us, I assume). You are correct. Stripburger's cockpit is currently inhabited by G. R. and J. K. This is a part of an experiment and the new magazine concept at the same time. Because of its rigid system of functioning, we wanted to pour new life into it by introducing a series of changes. If the idea lives, every issue will be produced by one or two members of the editorial board – the pilot's gloves are already being handed to Matej de Cecco and David Krančan. This way we want to make the issues as diverse as possible, or to give them the taste of a unique vision. Soon this striving for something new should become more obvious. The magazine expects to see a new format, new graphic and color experiments and the introduction of new, non-comic materials. But enough for now; we don't want to make promises we may be having troubles keeping.