Hungarian comics

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Hungarian comics are comics made in Hungary and by the Hungarian diaspora of the surrounding countries. When dealing with Hungarian comics, one cannot separate comics made by Hungarians from translated foreign matter, since in some eras most of the publications come from the latter group and influence comics fandom and the general picture about comics in the country.

Contents 1 Vocabulary 2 History 2.1 From the 19th century until World War I 2.1.1 Most notable artists of the era 2.2 Between the two wars 2.2.1 Notable artists of the era 2.2.2 Main publications of the era 2.3 Communist era 2.3.1 Notable artists of the era 2.3.2 Main publications of the era 2.4 The last decade of communist Hungary 2.4.1 Notable artists of the era 2.4.2 Main publications of the era 2.5 The childhood of democratic Hungary (1989-2003) 2.6 Recent revival of comics (2004-) 3 Recent Hungarian creations 3.1 The Vicious circle of present day Hungarian comics 3.2 List of Hungarian comics with alternative distribution 3.2.1 Fanzines, minicomics 3.3 List of Hungarian comics distributed in bookstores 4 Current scene 4.1 Regular events 4.2 Shops 4.3 Organizations 5 Well known or important comic book artists, publishers, editors with Hungarian roots 6 References

[edit] Vocabulary

The Hungarian word for comics is képregény, a combined word from kép (picture) and regény (novel).^{[citation needed]} The word came in use after 1948, before that, képes történet (pictorial story) and other similar expressions described the medium.^{[citation needed]} The words comics (referring to American comics), manga (referring to mainly Japanese comics), bd / bande dessinée (referring to Franco-Belgian comics) are sometimes used in Hungarian context, but are not general except for the case of manga.

[edit] History

The history of Hungarian comics is best divided along political eras, because of the great influence politics made on comics.

[edit] From the 19th century until World War I

During the late 19th century Hungary, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, kept pace with the European trends, pointing in the direction of what later became to be known as modern comics. Rodolphe Töpffer and especially Wilhelm Busch (Max und Moritz) were popular and had great effect on Hungarian journalism,^[1] and soon the Hungarian equivalents were born. One of the most important writers of the time, Mór Jókai founded (1858 August 21) and edited a magazine called Üstökös (comet) based on the Fliegende Blätter. (During the Monarchy German language Fliegende Blätter was a popular magazine in Hungary, with several thousand subsribers in the country.^[2]). Pages were filled with caricatures and "pictorial stories" (képtörténetek, képes történetek), the European predecessor of modern comics. A short story was told in few sequential pictures, and the text (many times in rhyming poetic form) was placed beneath the images.^[3] Many similar journals existed besides Üstökös. Hungary had a flourishing caricature culture at the time, and many of the greatest artists also drew these early types of comics.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Most notable artists of the era

• János Jankó
• Károly Mühlbeck, who created a unique form of the comic strip, that headlined newspapers.
• Ákos Garay
• Miltiádesz Mannó
• Antal Gáspár
• Lajos Linek^[4]

[edit] Between the two wars

The comic strip boom of the USA had a growing effect on Hungarian newspaper publishing until the late thirties. American comics flooded all kinds of newspapers, magazines. Hári János (see image) (1936-1937^[5]), a magazine for children is considered to be the first Hungarian comic book magazine,^{[citation needed]} with comic strips on every page. Walt Disney strips, Secret Agent X-9, Little Nemo in Slumberland (Kis Némó Álomországban), George McManus strips and many others marked this period.

Not as many Hungarian comics were made in this period, while – for example – Yugoslavia, the southern neighbor, claims this period to be their Golden Age.^[6]

During this period the truncated Hungary was an ally of Germany. In 1937 the Minister of Justice began restricting the great amount of pulp literature and yellow press. In 1938 a decree ordered the whole press under the control of the Government. In the same year the "First Jewish Law" was issued.^[7] Among others the goal of these two were to “clean” Hungary’s cultural life, to eliminate pulp literature. As the Újság, a Hungarian extremist newspaper, commented in 1938: "These are not at all capable to nurture Hungarian self-knowledge, Hungarian honesty, Hungarian heroism, consequentially to nurture the Hungarian folk, national and racial self-knowledge."^[8] Since most of the comics were published in the mostly Jewish owned yellow press, comics vanished after the law took effect.^{[citation needed]} The situation became even worse after the German troops marched into Hungary: all leftist and liberal media was banned.^{[citation needed]} The only comics of the time were antisemitic ones from magazines as the militant Harc ("Combat") or anticommunist ones from newspapers as Egyedül vagyunk ("We are alone"). ^[9][10]

[edit] Notable artists of the era

• Antal Gáspár
• Károly Mühlbeck
• Kata Benedek
• Jenő Jeney

[edit] Main publications of the era

• Áller Képes Családi lapja
• Hári János
• Tündérvásár
• A Kis Lap
• Hasznos Mulattató
• Vasárnap from Pesti Hírlap
• Vasárnap from Friss újság

[edit] Communist era

In the post-war period, Hungary’s cultural-politics were heavily influenced by the Soviet Union. In the first few years comics returned to the newspapers and other magazines: first humorous children comics in 1945^[11], then communist propaganda strips in 1948. The Hungarian term for comics – képregény – became widespread during this short period.^[11] In 1950 – according to a famous anecdote – during a visit to Budapest, Finogenov, an influential aesthete from Moscow, called comic books an “imperialist vestige”. Within a few days Hungarian prime minister, Mátyás Rákosi withdrew all the “western cultural trash” from the press.^[10]

Furthermore Dr. Frederick Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent attracted some attention on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain. His anti-comics accusations echoed in Hungarian newspaper articles. Some of these were written by Hungarian journalists, but some were translations of American articles (at least signed by American names).^{[10] [12]} During these years even caricatures ridiculed comics for its aggressive nature and pairing it with western trash.^[13]

In 1954 Ernő Zórád, one of Hungary’s all-time greatest comic book artists, dared to bring back comics with his adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev’s Plutonia (Az Északi-sarkról a Föld belsejébe – From the North Pole to the Center of the Earth in English).^[11] This was published in Pajtás, a magazine for the Pioneer movement (the communist co-ed equivalent for scouting). 1955 was a milestone in Hungarian comic book history, since this was the year when graphic illustrator Sándor Gugi convinced Tibor Horváth (Later Tibor Cs. Horváth) to create some comics together. It was also Gugi’s idea to produce comics that adapt classic literature.^[11] No one could call adaptations of famous and recognized literary works “decadent western trash”, so comics received a green light at the time. Gugi presumably got the idea of adaptational comics from Classics Illustrated.^[14] Adaptational comics, what started out as a trick, became dominant for decades. Sándor Gugi left the field relatively early, but Tibor Cs. Horváth produced a vast of comics scripts for some very talented artists such as Imre Sebők, Pál Korcsmáros and Ernő Zórád. These three had their own easily recognizable style and are considered the greatest comic artists of Hungary.^[11][15]

At the time comics were not published in separate comic books, but sequentially in newspapers (e.g. Népszava), magazines (e.g. Képes Újság, Pajtás), and the crossword puzzle magazine Füles. Füles later became the flagship of Hungarian comic publishing.^{[citation needed]} In December 1956, a few weeks after the soviet tanks ended the Revolution of 1956, György Gál and some journalists started conceiving a new, entertaining weekly magazine based on previous magazines such as Pesti Izé and Füles Bagoly. The magazine based on crossword puzzles, articles and comics became a large success.^{[citation needed]} Some say the magazine had a role in healing the wounds.^[16] Some attempts were made to create pure comic magazines. One of these was Tábortűz (1957-1965), another magazine for Pioneers, based on the French Camera 34 and full of fresh ideas. Although it did not meet the Pioneer Association's concept and ordered the editorial to drastically reduce the number of comic pages in the magazine.^[17]

Adaptational comics are still the source of controversies and debates. Although in most cases the art was beautiful, the panels were heavily packed with narrative texts – a trademark of Tibor Cs.^{[citation needed]} Horváth. By the early sixties this comics type fell into a trap from which it couldn’t escape until recent times. On one hand intellectuals criticized these works for the lack of originality, novelty and artistry,^[18] while another major accusation was that comics in general brake reading habits.^[19] However, adaptational comics provided a safe relationship with the cultural-political leadership, and were still popular, comic book import was close to zero, so nothing forced comic artists to move on further.

Still, this compromise made the production of comics possible. In many other countries of the Ex-Eastern Bloc (e.g. Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Romania) the situation was even worse with almost no comics of their own. However, it should be noted that some other Eastern Bloc countries at that time had substantial comic book culture, like Yugoslavia and Poland. (Yugoslavia was not influenced directly by the Soviet Union.) For further readings on Ex-Eastern bloc comics culture: Serbian comics, Polish comics, Czech comics

Ernő Zórád ended his professional relationship with Tibor Cs. Horváth and wrote his own comic scripts.^{[citation needed]} Luckily Zórád was not just a great artist, but also a talented storyteller: these comics came much closer to the medium’s own language.^{[citation needed]} He also made experimental collage comics in the early seventies attracting international attention.^{[citation needed]} He was invited to the Salone Internazionale del Comics festival in 1970 but his portfolio – due to Hungarian bureaucracy – has arrived late. Furthermore the works has been stolen from the festival.^{[citation needed]} By the late seventies the classic trio of Hungarian comics creators disappeared: Korcsmáros died in 1975, Sebők died in 1980 and Zórád retired temporarily. Since young talents were not introduced during the preceding three decades (except for Attila Fazekas), many mark these years the end of Hungarian comics’ golden age.^[11]

At the time very few foreign comics were allowed to be published for the Hungarian market.^{[citation needed]} The exceptions were mainly comics from the Eastern bloc or comics with socialist/communist background. The exceptions:

• Mozaik: The East German Mosaik was first published in 1971 and ran as a monthly comic book series from 1973 until 1990. Outside East-Germany Mosaik was the most popular in Hungary, and still has many hardcore fans. The issues were edited in Hungary, published and printed in GDR together with the original German version, than distributed by the Hungarian Postal Service.^[20]

The title returned to the newsstands in 2001 and is still published alongside of many special issues for collectors.

• Pif and Vaillant: These were imported from France and sold at newspaper stands. This was allowed because the biweekly magazine belonged to the communist L'Humanité newspaper group.^[21]
• In the seventies some French (mainly from Vaillant) and Italian (mainly western from Bonelli) comics were published in Füles, Pajtás, etc.^[22]
• Danish and Finnish editions of American superhero comics were printed in Hungary’s Kossuth nyomda. A large number of these forbidden fruits were sold/traded on flee markets.^[23]

In an environment much more liberal, the Hungarian minorities of Yugoslavia published many comics. The most important publisher of the time was Forum Marketprint, which presented Buksi magazine in the sixties. This was the Hungarian language print of the Serbo-Croatian Kekec magazine, also published by Forum-Marketprint.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notable artists of the era

• Sándor Gugi^[24]
• Ernő Zórád ^[25]
• Pál Korcsmáros
• Imre Sebők ^[26]
• Attila Dargay
• György Szitás
• Róbert Szenes
• Marcell Jankovics
• István Endrődi

[edit] Main publications of the era

• Füles^[22]
• Népszava
• Buksi (Yugoslavia)
• Pajtás^[27]

[edit] The last decade of communist Hungary

The less harsh tone of the eighties (thanks to Glasnost) brought some changes in the field of comics. Some foreign comics were allowed to be published in Hungarian, not just comics from the Eastern Bloc (e.g. Mozaik) or communist French comics (Vaillant, Pif Gadget), but some politically 'harmless' series as Asterix and Lucky Luke (as Wilám Will) in Alfa^[28], Tom and Jerry (as Tom és Jerry since 1987)^[29], Mickey Mouse (as Miki egér from 1988)^[30] and Swedish Bobo and Góliát (both from 1986)^[31][32], Tumak, Pink Panther, Nils Holgerson, etc. One of the most important magazines of the era was Kockás, that selected stories from Pif and its predecessor Vaillant.^[33]

Again, comics published for the Hungarian minorities in Yugoslavia ranged on a much larger scale: Hagar, larger selection of Asterix and Lucky Luke, Prince Valiant, Biblical comics etc. These were popular on both sides of the border, imported both legally and illegally to Hungary.^[34][35].

Most importantly this was the period when the individual comic book and European album formats came into use. This was the case for both Hungarian creations and translations. The two basic formats of the time:^{[citation needed]}

• Small (cca. 15 x 21.5 cm), cheap, black and white comic books. These were usually reissues of stories that ran in 4 page installments in Füles. Even the size was the same. Later Attila Fazekas made comics that were published originally in this format. Most notable of these reissues was the Rejtő sorozat sequel, that collected then already classic adaptations of Jenő Rejtő’s novels. Despite the fact that these were drastically reedited by Tibor Cs. Horváth they were very popular, bringing these stories close to another young generation. Among these comic books, most loved were Pál Korcsmáros’ art, that captured Rejtő’s absurd and grotesque humor.
• Large colored albums. These were mainly Ernő Zórád’s comics. In some cases they were also reissues, but redesigned, colored by the artist himself. They were published in two unanimous series.

Other important, but short comics were published in the sci-fi anthology, Galaktika. Some of today’s artists made their first works here (Marabu, Mihály Vass, István Fujkin). The anthology also published foreign comics as Conan, The Adventures of Funky Koval (Funky Koval kalandjai by polish Maciej Parowski, J. Rodek, B. Polch), Rail tracks leading to darkness (Sötétbe vezető sínpár by Czech Kája Saudek).^[36][37]

In the 1970s and ‘80s famous cartoonists (Attila Dargay, Marcell Jankovics) made ventures in the comics medium. Both of them were talented comic book creators, but both of them rather considered animation as their main field. Jankovics even went as far as publicly despising comics.^[38][11]

During this era comics also infiltrated the underground scene (concert posters, fanzines, samizdat press), a field publicly still unrevealed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notable artists of the era

• Ernő Zórád^[25]
• Attila Dargay
• Attila Fazekas^[39]
• Lívia Rusz^[40]

[edit] Main publications of the era

Important periodicals publishing comics:

• Füles^[22]
• Jó Pajtás (Yugoslavia)
• Pajtás^[27]
• Galaktika^[36]

Important comic books or comic series:

• Kockás^[33]
• Rejtő sorozat
• AZ sorozat - Asterix and Lucky Luke (Yugoslavia)
• Nem minden arany ami fénylik; Miskati közbelép
• Csillagok háborúja
• Bucó Szeti Tacsi

[edit] The childhood of democratic Hungary (1989-2003)

The early nineties were a very chaotic, but exciting and optimistic, era in terms of comics. Because no one was being told what is and is not to be published, many saw great opportunities in releasing comics. In these years a large variety of comics came into the country (not as direct import, but in the form of translations): all kinds of European, American comics.^{[citation needed]} Unfortunately these companies were more enthusiastic, than rich in capital, and had no experience of capitalism.^{[citation needed]} In the meantime, the whole newspaper and magazine distribution system went through major changes, leaving magazines in a worse situation.^{[citation needed]} Magazine print numbers dropped by 1 or 2 decimal points. Therefore most of them disappeared after a few months or years.^[41] By 1992 such great series as Menő Manó (Italian comics for teenage readers), Krampusz (Italian comics for adult readers), Hepiend Magazin (Conan, Punisher), Vampi (European and American horror, fantasy, erotic comics) vanished. Besides the inexperience of the small publishing companies, the comics-reading audience might not have been ready for these type of comics. In many cases their true value was only discovered in recent years.^[42]

This was not the case for superhero comics. In the last days of the People’s Republic of Hungary American superhero comics finally were allowed.^{[citation needed]} The first superhero story was published in 1989, in a special issue of Alfa magazine. This was the Revenge of the Living Monolith (A monolit bosszúja), a Marvel team-up story. Also in 1989, after a few years of publishing foreign children comics (Bobo, Góliát, Pink Panther, Tumak, Pejkó, etc.) Interprint plunged into superhero comics. First The Phantom, than Spider-Man. (In 1991 Interprint joined the Swedish Semic group, which resulted in Semic-Interprint.) The company started releasing Batman in January 1990 and Superman later in the same year. DC comics were not as popular as Marvel superheroes, so the titles merged and were made bimonthly in 1992 as Superman és Batman.^{[citation needed]} X-Men started in June 1992 and Marvel Extra (a compilation of all sorts of Marvel superhero stories) in February 1993.

Hungarian comic book artists found themselves in a very new and alien situation: while comics were having their heyday, young readers’ interest drifted from Hungarian comics to the much more modern and spectacular superhero comics. Attila Fazekas, whose Star Wars adaptations were printed in 300,000 copies a decade earlier^[43], now tries every way to remain on the surface. He produced and published his own magazine, Botond. These comic books comprised all kinds of stories, from historical to action. Every issue had a story of Botond, a character based on Hungarian legends and Asterix. He also tried out erotic (or rather porno) comics – with surprisingly small success.^{[citation needed]}

With no major outlet, Hungarian comics started to fade. To this day many directly accuse Semic Interprint and its monthly dump of superhero comics for this phenomenon.^{[citation needed]} As the country’s leading comic book publisher, Semic Interprint never published a Hungarian comic book in these fragile years (cf. after WWII France - and many other West European countries - had an anti-American self-protective law, a foundation of their flourishing comics culture). Others protect it on the basis of free market.^[44]

In March 1994 Semic Interprint launched the bimonthly Kretén (Cretin). This absurd and satirical humor magazine is somewhat like Mad or Fluide Glacial. In this magazine many talented artists introduced themselves to a larger audience (Zsolt H. Garisa, Zoltán “Zerge” Varga, Imre “Feki” Fekete, Csete, Gergely Göndöcs, etc.). It can be considered the most important and prestigious outlet for Hungarian comics at the time.^[45]

Füles and new crossword puzzle magazines are still popular in Hungary, but comics readers' attention has drifted away from these, leaving the collecting of the comics published in these to hardcore, and mostly veteran fans.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996 Marvel went bankrupt and drastically raised the royalties collected upon translations^[46], therefore Hungarian Marvel titles were canceled in December 1996 (Marvel Extra) and January 1997 (X-Men, Transformer). However the most popular title, Csodálatos Pókember (Amazing Spider-Man), managed to survive. In the same year Semic Interprint started publishing Spawn as a bimonthly with two stories in each issue. In 1999, after its tenth year, 120th issue the company doubled the magazine’s number of pages (from 32 to 76) and price too. Every issue contained three complete Spider-Man stories (The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker Spider-Man, Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man – all starting out from #1). The stories did not fulfill the Hungarian needs and the price seemed to be too high, resulting in the canceling of the title at the end of the year, along with Spawn.^{[citation needed]} The bimonthly, not so popular Superman és Batman managed to continue until December 2001, as the only superhero title published in Hungarian.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001 Csodálatos Pókember was relaunched, but instead of continuing with Spider-Man continuity, it served a younger audience with the translations of Ultimate Spider-Man. Leaving Kretén and the bimonthly Star Wars out of account, Semic Interprint shifted to the children’s audience with other flagship titles such as Dragon Ball (cancelled soon after), Garfield, and Dörmögő Dömötör. Children's comics were the main profile of major publishers like Egmont (Tom és Jerry, Donald Kacsa magazin) and smaller companies such as Abrafaxe Kft. (Mozaik, later continued by N-Press, than Ratius).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Recent revival of comics (2004-)

By 2003 a generation reached their adolescence with no substantial comic book intake, and the generation that once grew up on superhero comics was left with hardly any comics since the late nineties. Remaining hardcore fans began to organize into web communities on forums and a new scene developed on the basis of scanlations. In English speaking countries scanlations usually refer to manga, but in Hungary the process of fan translations and lettering started with Marvel superhero-type comics, and then moved on to other types.^{[citation needed]} Different websites specialized in different genres, types (European, superhero, independent, manga, underground, etc.). The most notable achievement of the Hungarian scanlating scene was that it brought together the fans, forming a base of comics fandom. Kepregeny.net started out as a scanlating and scanning website, and a center for all kinds of comics fans. Its forum provided a platform for fans and professionals (artists, ex editors, retailers etc.) to meet and discuss all kinds of issues. Many projects were eventually launched from there, and to this day is a place for fan talk and professional debate. Throughout the years the forum, news section and the later added article section (a database collecting every comics related article published in the press) made the website grow out its original semi-legal content and in 2007 it finally became fully legal with pulling off downloadable comics. Most professionals agree on that the Internet-scene, and most notably Kepregeny.net can be regarded as one of the most important factors in recent revival of comics.^[47]

2004 can be regarded as the breakthrough year in comics publishing. In February the Complete Maus was released by Ulpius-ház, a larger publishing house. (The first book of Maus has already been published in the early nineties.) Besides the release of the graphic novel, Ulpius organized an exhibition which exposed pages from Maus in Budapest’s subway carts, seen by one million passengers a day. The project became successful, and attracted large media attention.^[48] This project was timed for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the German occupation in March 1944, resulting in the deportation of 800,000 Hungarian Jews and other minorities. (This also is revealed in the graphic novel.)

Another milestone of the year was the publication of the Belgian album series, XIII. This, along with Largo Winch has already been introduced to the Hungarian audience in 1995 as part of the X-07 black and white series in American comic book format.^{[citation needed]}

That year also brought some changes in Hungarian comics:

• Endre Sarlós’ Szigetvár ostroma (a historical album about the Turkish siege of Szigetvár in 1556) was published and sold at newspaper stands. Unfortunately the pages originally composed in landscape format, were reorganized to portrait A4 format and were paired with weak lettering.^{[citation needed]}
• Attila Fazekas’ Botond revived after an 11 year hiatus.^{[citation needed]}
• After a long time the first underground comic book anthology, PTSD antológia appeared.^{[citation needed]}
• A group of graphic artists joined forces as Magyar Képregény Akadémia (Hungarian Comics Academy – a rather self-ironic name).^{[citation needed]}
• Képes Kiadó, the publishing company of Pál Korcsmáros’ son and grandson started into a series in which the original Korcsmáros and Rejtő classic comics were rearranged into European styled colored albums. The texts were rewritten, the drawings supplemented and corrected where needed, and colored by the team of Zsolt H. Garisa and Zoltán “Zerge” Varga. This series has started in 2003, but 2004 brought larger recognition.^{[citation needed]}

Since than many smaller publishers, usually based around one or a few fans themselves, made ventures in releasing comics. These companies provide a very broad variety of comics, some specializing on smaller territories (manga, American mainstream), others representing a larger scale. In 2005 most of these companies forged into the Magyar Képregénykiadók Szövetsége (Hungarian Comic Publishers’ Association), based more on mutual interests and friendship, rather than strict rules and codes. Organizing festivals and fairs can be considered as the organization’s biggest success.^[47]

Publishers soon realized that in most cases the newspaper market is far from ideal for comics, however it might be feasible on the book market. This however is a phenomenon seen in many other comic cultures. In the last few years only three companies made efforts on the newspaper market: Panini Comics Italy (four, later two Marvel titles) and Képes Kiadó (a black and white budget magazine called Eduárd fapados képregényújság) both failed at it, however Pesti könyv still sends its Lucky Lukes to the newspaper stands.^{[citation needed]} Bookstores have a constantly growing variety on graphic novels, trade paperbacks, albums, etc.^{[citation needed]} This phenomenon is still new for many Hungarians, since they were used to searching for comics at the newspaper stands/shops, tobacconists, etc.

In a country with a population around 10 million, these 'books' are published in 2 to 5000 copies, which is extremely low, causing relatively high prices. Despite the low number of copies, comics and the theme of its revival has been a frequent topic of the media.^{[citation needed]} In spite of this, prejudice concerning comics fades very slowly.^{[citation needed]}

Also during this period, comics’ own offline printed media has been born in the form of semi fanzine-semi professional papers as Panel, Buborékhámozó (Bubble-peeler).^{[citation needed]}

The first significant amount of manga were published in the last quarter of 2006 and by the end of 2007, it flooded the comics market, being the most popular among them.^{[citation needed]} Unlike the second most popular type of comics – superheroes – manga fans have their own fan groups, conventions, and are less interested in other type of comics.

[edit] Recent Hungarian creations

[edit] The Vicious circle of present day Hungarian comics

• A: Hungarian comics are much less popular than translations of American (superhero) comics and manga. (In a country, where the most popular titles are published in 2-5000 copies.)^{[citation needed]}
• B: Royalties for foreign comics are cheaper, than the sum of writing, penciling, inking, coloring, lettering etc. a new comic book.^{[citation needed]}
• C: Devoted publishers can only afford very short stories from professional artists.^{[citation needed]}
• D: Publishers can only afford cheaper workforce.^{[citation needed]}
• E: Professional artists drift towards advertisement graphics, animation and other territories.^{[citation needed]}
• F: Professional artists do not become professional comics artists.^{[citation needed]}
• G: If artists manage to create comics in their free time, it's either "experimental" or has its faults resulting from lack of experience in the field.^{[citation needed]}
• H: Fans are not fulfilled by short, experimental, mediocre comics, and turn their attention to other directions as Hungarian comics.^[49]

However some editors and journalists^[50] believe, in Hungary Hungarian comics have the potential of recruiting more comics fans and reaching a cult status. Editor, Antal Bayer speculates in a forum comment: "At the same time, I'm convinced that a really 'up-to-date' Hungarian comic could reach the cult status, then maintain massive popularity. We've seen how Napirajz moved the people, but we need something more than that for breakthrough. I can hardly wait for the Hungarian comic book, that's received with such enthusiasm as the latest Rejtő/Korcsmáros reissue."^[51]

[edit] List of Hungarian comics with alternative distribution

Because of Hungarian comics being not as popular as translations, many of these books are printed in 300-1000 copies and have marginal distribution, outside the chains of newsstands and bookstores. Some of the following would fit into the term minicomic, although not all, despite the similarity in the number of copies.

• Pinkhell (since 2005)
• PTSD antológia (2004-2005)
• Botond (since 1988, relaunched in 2004)
• Sushi-Strip (2005-2006)
• Panel különszám (only comics special issue, 2007)
• Fáraó Háreme (2007)
• Eduárd bemutatja (Eduárd presents)series (since 2007)

[edit] Fanzines, minicomics

As mentioned before, Hungarian alternative and underground comics reach back to the 1970s, 1980s. By the end of the '90s these works vanished. In 2007 a larger boom happened in the field, many young artists chose to publish their own comic books in 30-300 copies. These comics lack the continuity with previous Hungarian underground or alternative comics, their predecessors or catalysts can be found in recent self published materials (PTSD antológia, Sushi Strip, Panel) or international works.^{[citation needed]} As in the case of other scenes, these works range from alternative to mainstream-like comics. Manga fans are also active in this field. Larger events - especially the annual festival in spring - usually give space to these artists to sell their comics.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] List of Hungarian comics distributed in bookstores

• Rejtő/Korcsmáros classic comics remakes (5 albums since 2003)
• Szigetvár ostroma (2004)
• Kalyber Joe kalandjai (3 graphic novels since 2005)
• Rév (2005)
• Gróf Balázs képregények (2005)
• Tűzvihar (2006)
• Hé, Dodó (2006)
• Napirajz (2007)
• Keresők (2007)
• Gemini jelentés (2007)
• Spirál (2008)
• Nocturne - Az éjszakai látogató (2008)

Note: most Hungarian comics are published in anthologies, magazines, etc. not in individual comic books or graphic novels.

[edit] Current scene

[edit] Regular events

• Magyar Képregény Fesztivál - Hungarian Comics Festival. Annual event every spring, organized by the Hungarian Comic Publishers' Association. The event's main focus is on the programs (debates, meeting artists, presentations, movies, etc).^{[citation needed]}

• Képregény Börze – Comics Exchange Market. (In some European countries they're translated to ComiCons, although US Cons are somewhat different) Twice a year (spring and fall). The first was held in 2001. The most fan oriented event.^{[citation needed]}

• Hungarocomix. A fair showcasing the publishers’ yearly work. Usually a few weeks before Christmas. The most publisher oriented event.^{[citation needed]}

• Képregény Kedvelők Klubja (KKK in short) – Comics Fans’ Club. Every last Thursday of the month. They are usually held in kArton galéria. (During late-spring or summer the event has usually been held on the terrace of Kultiplex until it's closing down, in 2008 the summer scene moved to Szimpla kert.) Every month a theme is discussed and special guests, hosts are invited. The "club" is open to all people, but usually most of the audience consists of veteran fans and professionals.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Shops

Comics are likely to be found in book stores.^[47] There's a large variety of children comics in newspaper shops. Comic book stores are rare, but some exist in the capitol. Hungarian creations are usually printed in small numbers and sold in a loose alternative network.

• Trillian (Specializing in current American and Manga titles)
• Comicsinvest (Webshop specializing in American and Manga back issues)
• Eduárd (Specializing in Hungarian titles and back issues)
• King Comics (closed in 2007)

[edit] Organizations

• MKSz - Magyar Képregénykiadók Szövetsége / Hungarian Comics Publishers' Association | official website
• MKA - Magyar Képregény Akadémia / Hungarian Comics Academy | official website
• kArton galéria / kArton Galery | official website

[edit] Well known or important comic book artists, publishers, editors with Hungarian roots

Note: the following list contains people, who have/had Hungarian heritage, although were not involved directly in the Hungarian comics scene. This list is to be regarded as trivia.

• Joseph Pulitzer Hungarian immigrant, born in Makó.
• Alex Toth Son of Hungarian immigrants. Many interviews and colleague's memoirs reflect, that he remained intact with his (parent's) cultural background.^[52][53][54]
• Paul Gulacy
• Paul Winkler Born in Budapest. He was the first to establish Disney comics in France, which happened to be the start of French comic books.^[55]
• Marcel Gotlib
• Endre Lukács Born in Budapest. Drew Donald Duck comics and covers in the Netherlands for 30 years. According to Lambiek, his significance for the Dutch Donald Duck can be likened to that of Carl Barks in the States. Walt Disney complimented him as one of the greatest Disney artists.^[56]
• Miriam Katin Born in Budapest, emigrated in 1957.
• Rick Magyar American Comic Book artist.
• Alex Blum

[edit] References

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