KEEP IT UP!
To be able to explain why “Zeszyty Komiksowe” is such an important magazine devoted to comic strips, one has to put it in a broader context, which is the newest history of comics and of its market in Poland, as well as the specific character of the local environment of this genre. After the eclipse of the teenage magazines deriving from PRL and the appearance of many new companies publishing foreign comic books, and then, after a sudden crash of this segment of the market, comic strips in Poland have gone into decline. Of course, books with the American mainstream series (superheroes in tights) and magazines directed at children (Donald Duck) have appeared, however domestic authors did not have any opportunities to present their creativity. Making a full, feature album, when you have neither profits from it, nor perspectives of publishing it (do not forget about the huge labour input connected with this kind of enterprise) proved to be impossible in most of the cases in those days. Cartoon writers concentrated on creating short stories, which were published in independent, low budget, and often completely unofficial magazines. The environment of authors and enthusiasts was very narrow, therefore, expert commentaries appearing in periodicals were directed at a specialized recipient – as much an enthusiast as the comic writers themselves. It would be impossible to overestimate the contributions of such magazines as “Agg” and “KKK”, or later ones – “Produkt” and “Arena Komiks”, as well as underground fanzines such as “Ziniol” and “KGB”. The profiles and works of the authors now published in our market were initially presented there. Many young artists, appreciated nowadays both in Poland and abroad, were taking their first steps in such publications. However, when the Polish comics market started to revive and more and more companies began to publish full-length books, it turned out there was not enough space for magazines. Especially, for those focused on publicism. Simultaneously, the internet began to oust paper magazines offering practically the same content for free. Therefore, most of the titles have been discontinued and their publicists have moved to the net. Yet still, voices complaining about the lack of ‘paper writing’ focused on reliable, parascientific publicism were heard. In response to these voices “Zeszyty Komiksowe” has appeared.
The editor-in-chief of “Zeszyty Komiksowe” is Michał ‘Błażej’ Błażejczyk, a comics expert living in Canada. For several years he had cooperated with such on-line magazines as “Esensja” and “KZ”, and created his own website Lagafium (later converted into the official site of “Zeszyty” – www.zeszytykomikoswe.org), however, tired of ‘internet writing’, he decided to start a new project. That is how “Zeszyty” – a small-circulation, paper, journalistic magazine – came into being, offering its readers a blend of casual style, presented by on-line writers, and more academic content, characteristic for the authors known from the anthologies of reports from the Łódź comics symposia. It has to be pointed out that each issue has its leitmotiv. The first issue (March 2004) discussed the comic book villains. The second (October 2004) concentrated on (Polish) reality in (Polish) comic strips; the third, published in March 2005, was devoted to the subject of women in comics series. The fourth issue from January 2006, covered topics dealing with the history of Polish comics (theme: Comic Books Before The War). Number five (October 2006) was dedicated to Polish comicsology and to Polish researchers of the subject. The sixth issue, published in March 2007, was a monographic edition devoted to Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz. Number seven, from the end of 2007, coincided with the anniversaries of series such as: Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek by Henryk Jerzy Chmielewski (50 years since the debut in “Świat Młodych”), with a quarter century since the end of Kapitan Żbik, created, among others by: Jerzy Wróblewski (in “Zeszyty”, a long and interesting article was devoted to him) and half a century since the beginning of the magazine “Przygoda”, in which numerous comic strips have been published.
Obviously, apart from the articles connected to the main topic of any given issue, “Zeszyty” has also several regular columns, such as a reviews section and a master list of new Polish comic strips, prepared by Tomasz Kontny. What adds flavour to it, are the comic strips published in “Zeszyty”. In the magazine appear both stories created on a given main topic, reprints of archival works (in case of historical editions), and presentations of unpublished illustrations and comic strips (as was the case of the monographic issue about Gawronkiewicz).
The most recent, number seven (7/2007) is a solid chunk of work both on the part of the writers, as well as the editor-in-chief. Interesting and extremely valuable are such stories as for example: Tytus w prasie (Tytus In The Press), Bibliography with Leszek Kaczanowski’s commentary Rysuję więc jestem (I Draw Therefore I Am). Rzecz o Jerzym Wróblewskim (A Short Piece On Jerzy Wróblewski) by Macieja Jasiński, or Tor z przygodami (On The Road To Adventure). Adam Rusek’s 50 lat “Przygody” (50 Years Of “Adventure” ). Cross-sectional articles full of absorbing information, combined with the archival story boards, can offer an interesting journey into the past of the Polish comic strip art. The writers bring us closer to specific comics, their creators and editors, as well as to the realities of living in socialist Poland and to the problems the authors had to deal with continuously. Comic strips were treated as a genre of the lower order, yet gaining popularity. Younger readers will be probably surprised when they find out from “Zeszyty” how much trouble the making and publishing of comic strips took, when the authors were forced to adjust their stories to the party lines, fill them with propaganda and didactic content, and trust that it would pass through censorship. Nowadays, those problems seem abstract and absurd, even though they are not a thing of such a distant past.
I sincerely recommend all issues of “Zeszyty Komiksowe”, especially to those, who are more interested in the history and specific character of comic strips. The magazine is a repository of interesting and reliable articles on various topics, so everybody should find something for themselves. I wish the editors and contributors to the magazine zeal and grit in creating a periodical, which is simply very good. Keep it up!
Daniel Gizicki
Translated by Magdalena Sokolnicka