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Have you always wanted a Hungarian comic in which nothing happens? In which Lidl cashiers are grumpy and the protagonists know all Netflix series by heart?
Then Weekdays, my first comic book, is for you! Nothing really happens in this story about three siblings. For one of them reality seems darker, gloomier, more unbearable, and the other two brothers try to help him in their own ways.
A catalog showcasing contemporary Hungarian comics came out in fall 2021, but I completely forgot to share the news here.
I was working on New Hungarian Comics and Graphic Novels: Speech Bubbles to Leave You Speechless in the spring, it was commissioned by the Petőfi Literary Fund. It was big work: I selected the artists and comics featured in this beautiful catalog, wrote the text about each of them, and selected the images, too. Many of the featured titles has won or has been nominated to the Hungarian comics award.
The catalog focuses on book length comics and series, and it targets publishers and distributors. It is available in print, or it can be downloaded from this link.
This is my press statement, originally published here.
“I divided the comics into five groups: in the “Some Heroes are Silent” group, the heroes pursue their goals in fantasy worlds which are conjured with distinctively unique visuals (Miklós Felvidéki: Noname, Attila Matz-Futaki: Ink, Zsolt Vidák: Pipien Molestus – Meditation Special). In the group under the heading “I Breathe Art,” I put the comics that deal with creation and our relationship to our artistic heritage (István Lakatos: Rag Girl, Ákos Dudich-Gergely Oravecz: the Scrolls of Faith No More, Áron Kálmán: Csontváry). The subchapter entitled “This Ain’t No Joyride” contains takes which are historical, post-apocalyptic, and social, as well as stories which explore questions of life both banal and big. While the aesthetics and genre traits of these works may differ, their creators all deal with questions of human existence and human endurance (Márton Hegedűs: Car Key Clan, Sinonimo-Levi: Kings and Crosses, Botond Lakatos: Revolt of the Worms, Petra Marjai: Eki & Coco). “Your Khaki Shirt Will Get Dirty” presents two adventure comics series, one evoking of the Indiana Jones stories, the other a steampunk reworking of historical characters and events (Roland Pilcz: YKX, György Somogyi-István Dobó-Szabolcs Tebeli: Kittenberger). Finally, under the heading “A Pinch of Magic,” I put together a selection of contemporary Hungarian children’s comics (András Tálosi-Gábor Molnár-Zoltán Koska: The Amazing Adventures of Courage and Porridge, Maria Surducan-Anna Júlia Benczédi: The Water Fairy).”
I am honored to be part of Frederick Luis Aldama aka Professor LatinX’s videocast series: Frederick invites comics scholars to talk about how they got interested in reading and researching comics, what they do, what are the most important questions that drive them.
In the video, I start with how I arrived at comics scholarship: at the end of my MA I was given the best advice ever, namely, that I should not start a PhD unless I am absolutely dedicated to my topic and to this path. So for a couple of years I did other things, I travelled, I worked as a teacher – and I found comics. (My MA was about John Keats, the Romantic poet and John Locke’s philosophy of language.) I also talk about the most important aspects of my book as well as some recent publications and briefly about Hungarian comics.
I recommend listening to other episodes of the series. I have learned a lot from them, and I think it is fascinating to learn about how many different aspects of comics people are researching. This videocast is also very personal, and it is nice to get to know scholars a bit.
My video was released some months ago but I forgot to write about it here.
I had the honor to open the Kids’n’Comics (Kölykök és képregények) exhibition at the Deák 17 Youth Art Gallery on 7 Sept 2018. The exhibition has been curated by Bianka Zsigó, and it features the works of contemporary Hungarian comics artists. Here are some pictures from the opening ceremony — you can still visit this rich and entertaining exhibition till 27 Oct 2018.
Exhibiting artists:
Baranyai András l Bernát Barbara l Cserkuti Dávid l Csordás Dániel l Felvidéki Miklós l Fritz Zoltán l Fritz-Majer Nóra l Ghyczy Csongor l Halter András l Kárpáti Tibor l Koska Zoltán l Kovács Viktória l Lanczinger Mátyás l Lakatos István l Oravecz Gergely l Pásztor Alexa l Sárdi Katalin l Stark Attila l Takács Anikó
The bilingual catalog on the history of Hungarian comics that I edited in June has been published! And it is beautiful! Thanks to Judit Vincze for the amazing design!
The catalog is based on the material of our Comics as Narrative exhibition in the National Széchényi Library (14 May – 28 July 2018), and it provides a richly illustrted survey on Hungarian comics on 84 pages. The book is divided into two major sections, one on the history, and another one on the current tendencies of Hungarian comics. The short supporting texts were written by the curators of the exhibition, Ágnes Anikó Patonai, Rita Szűts-Novák, and myself.
On the structure of the volume:
Our introduction reaches back to word and image relations in the baroque emblem, and we also show the beginnings of Hungarian comics in 19th century magazine culture.
Literary adaptation comics were a defining tendency in the history of our comics, and several subchapters are devoted to this characteristic tendency that started in the 1950s. I really like the subchapter when different versions are placed next to each other: adaptations of the same novels by different artists are in dialogue, and so are draft and printed versions of the same page. We also devote a section to one of the most celebrated original author behind these adaptations, Jenő Rejtő, and to the afterlife of adaptation comics in the 1980s and onwards.
Literature is an important inspiration for contemporary Hungarian comics, and so is the quality of self-expression, which is most often associated with poetry (at least in Hungary). The subsections focus on two significant topics in the contemporary scene, alternative realities as in dreams, nightmares and fantasy, and metacomics.
And, as I have said, everything is available in English, not only in Hungarian. 🙂
Thanks for the artists and colleagues who made this amazing catalog possible!
Eszter Szép 