When I was
thinking about how to introduce the Armenian comics scene,
the first problem was how to classify it. If we assume
that the criterion is a phenomenon of creation of comics
by local artists, then it started after the collapse of
the Soviet Union. In the early 90s the first comics were
made and some of them were published.
If the
criterion is the formation of a comics community, then the
history splits into two periods: the pre-historical, when
some individuals were sporadically working on comics, and
the modern which started in 2008, when the French comics
enthusiasts formed the Association pour la Promotion de la
BD en Arménie, APBDA – an organization whose
objective was to develop the genre in Armenia. Since then
they have organized annual festivals and master classes in
Yerevan taught by French comic artists. They encouraged
Armenian comics artists to visit the Angoulême
Comics Festival and benefit from getting acquainted with
the international community (Tigran Mangasaryan, one of
the artists and the author of the graphic novel Silence about the
genocide received critical acclaim and currently works in
Angoulême). During the last festival the APBDA
organized an exhibition of the Armenian authors’ works.
If the
criterion is the existence of the market for comics – it
hasn’t existed up until now. Some periodicals published
1-2 comics per issue; even these magazines have a short
lifespan. No magazines published any adult comics. Those
very few comic books published during the last 20 years
were isolated projects without any significant market
success.
The most
convincing explanation of the reasons for the current
state of the scene is given by the on-line art review
arteria.am :
There is no tradition of comics in Armenia,
there is no Armenian school of comics, and if someone is
busy with comics he/she is doing that as an amateur,
from time to time. The perception of comics in Armenia
is of something childish and American and this is the
impression left over from the Soviet years. In Soviet
times, comics were considered as a tool for the
stupefaction of the youth, although we can’t say that
comics didn’t exist at all. The Soviet Union was
publishing comic strips: for example the Nauka I Zhizn
magazine was publishing Pif, Detective Ludwig and other
heroes, re-printing them from the newspaper of French
communists L’Humanité. Summarizing, we can say
that in Armenia comics play not even a secondary, but a
tertiary role. Comics is a not serious occupation, too
primitive to be valued by art criteria, and this
stereotype is often true.*
This
paragraph smoothly directs to the inventory of what we
have. There are artists with the capacity to make comics,
but due to the lack of a market and limited opportunities
they create and publish comics only occasionally.
There is the
organization APBDA and the affiliated Three Fishes, a non
formal group that are involved in development of comics.
Their activities are tied to the Armenian Government,
involving very harsh censorship by the latter, which stems
from totalitarian times, hence devaluating the APBDA’s
efforts.
There is an
Actual Art NGO’s arteria.am with a web
page arteria.am/hy/badabada devoted to
comics and related art which are interested in
socially-oriented comics and provide a platform for new
ideas and approaches. In 2011, in the frames of visual art
competition devoted to the problems of earthquake zones,
comics artistsfrom
Denmark were invited to hold master classes in two cities.
Still, they’re facing the problem of involving authors and
the lack of recognition of comics by a larger audience.
There are a
couple of magazines which have comic strips for children
in their content, but there is not a single adult comics
periodical.
I realized
that these notes have become too serious, and boring as if
prepared for the Scientific American magazine.
But in spite of the issues raised, there is a lot of fun
in our life that is related to comics. We enjoy drawing a
30 meter-long jumbo strip together, or learning that
Tigran Mangasaryan signed a contract to work in
Angoulême, or seeing that a new issue of LOLO
children’s’ youth magazine has been published.
We view the
comics related problems and threats as challenges and
incentives for further development. And the opportunity
for international collaboration and joint activities is
another joyful part of the world of comics. (Levon
Gyulkhasyan, 2012)
*Jaloyan Vardan.Visual Art Genres As
Activist Research and As Art Experience. arteria.am
Dec 25, 2011