A hundred years or more? – history of Polish comics

And everything took place in … the nineteenth century?

Although many historians familiar with the subject of pictorial stories believe that Polish comic books were born in the twentieth century, they could not be further from the truth. As early as 1859, the first picture story in Poland was published in Tygodnik Ilustrowany on October 15th. The story of an only child in 32 pictures, by Franciszek Kostrzewski and Leon Kunicki, won the hearts of readers and became the first picture series. Its dimension was supposed to be slightly didactic, because the content presented stigmatized the upbringing of the son of wealthy landowners. However, is this the first Polish pictorial story from Poland? Jerzy Szyłak believes that yes – this is what we can call this work. Nevertheless, it should be noted that at that time Poland was not on the map of Europe, because – as we know – our statehood did not return until 1918. For this reason, some historians do not want to consider this date as the beginning of Polish comics, because Poland did not exist then …

The pre-war period changes everything

Only after regaining independence, a multi-part pictorial work appears in the press about a brave patriot soldier defending Poland against the attempts of his neighbors. With fire and sword, or the adventures of crazy Grześ , published in the Lviv “Szczutek” on February 9, 1919, by Kamil Mackiewicz and Stanisław Wasylewski, it became a pioneering comic book of Polish origin. A year later, this series was released as an album and became the first official comic book in Poland.

Before the war, it is worth noting three important dates. In May 1932, the longest pre-war series, Adventures of the Unemployed Fronck , begins to be published, and in November, 120 Adventures of Koziołek Matołek – a comic book without speech bubbles – are released to bookstores . The story is modeled on the style and conventions of Disney heroes, plus the lyrics in verse were extremely successful. Until September 1, 1939, as many as 3 volumes of the adventures of the unruly goat had been published. It is also worth noting that at the turn of 1938 and 1939, the first Disney-licensed magazine with picture stories from overseas began to be published. The magazine itself was published only until May 1939, but it was a milestone in the enrichment of the Polish market.

Post-war steps

As you know, the war period stopped the development of Polish art. Fortunately, three years after this terrible conflict, on February 1, 1948, on the last page of the Przekrój magazine, comic strips with the adventures of Professor Filutek – the most famous hero of the second half of the 20th century, who experienced many unusual situations on several frames, began to appear. The 1950s and 1960s brought something completely unexpected. In the magazine Świat Młodych, published since 1949, Henryk Jerzy Chmielewski published his original title about the adventures of the humanized chimpanzee Tytus. Well, at the very beginning there was only Romek and A’Tomek, but that was about to change soon.

Of course, until the 1960s, the Polish comic book scene developed quite slowly due to too “close relations” with the USSR, which up to a point considered the art of short picture stories to be an American problem. Fortunately, as early as 1968, such an understanding of this branch of artistry was abandoned, and the first strictly Polish comic book about the adventures of a policeman – Kapitan Żbik – was released . Despite the propaganda background, many fans appreciated the modern formula. As early as 1972, Poles received their Asterix and Obelix, namely Kajko and Kokosz – Mirmiła’s brave warriors, an idea by Janusz Christ – debuted in “Wieczor Wybrzeza”.

However, the best was yet to come. Four years later, the first issue of “Relax” – a comic book magazine – appeared on the Polish People’s Republic market. It was not without the help of the first secretary, Edward Gierek, who was well aware of the importance of this medium in Western Europe. In 1982, in the second issue of Fantastyka, Polish readers were presented with Funky Koval , a science-fiction novel by Maciej Parowski, Janusz Rodek and Bogusław Polch. It was an unusual title that presented the adventures of a futuristic detective with strong allusions to the existing reality.

This magical period of the Polish People’s Republic certainly ends with the publication of the first compact para-scientific publication about the comic book. Comic Art in 1985 by Krzysztof Toeplitz .

The new face of Polish comics, or Quo vadis as a picture art?

In 1989, there was a new time for Poland. Most of our readers know this period very well, as she grew up at that time. Nevertheless, I would like to present some of the most important moments from this most important story in the form of a short calendar:

• April 11, 1990 – censorship was symbolically abolished, which opened the gates for new comic book creators;
• 1991- the National Comic Book Creators Convention was organized in Kielce, which later moved to Łódź and changed its name to the International Festival of Comics and Games;
• January 1993 – the TM-Semic publishing house introduces the Marvelian superhero, the Spider-Man, to the Polish market;
• November 1993 – the beginning of the comic fan movement in Krakow, the first popular science session of Komiks in Krakow;
• April 25, 1994 – the first issue of “Donald Duck” – the most influential and most popular Disney magazine with comics in Poland, which in October 2019 reached its thousandth issue;
• 1996- Japonica Polonica Fantastica is created – the first Polish manga publishing house, its first title, sold in the country of Mieszko I, is Up to Heaven;
• 2005 – the Świat Komiksu Club is established on the basis of the published magazine “Świat Komiksu”, which is subordinated to the Egmont publishing house, whose aim is to distribute both domestic and foreign titles on the Vistula River;
• 2012 – after a few years of crisis, superheroes return to favor thanks to the Great Marvel Comic Collection , it gives rise to other comic book collections in Poland, and although it seems that we have a comic book overload at the moment, the position of, for example, armwrestlers is definitely stronger than two decades ago;
• 2014 – presentation of the first Golden Chickens – awards for authors and publishers of an independent comic;
• September 2016 – a center for comic book initiatives in the country is established in Poznań, namely NOVA – THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF COMICS AND NEWSPAPERS;
• 2017 – the first Marvel comic, co-created by Polish artist – Katarzyna Niemczyk, receives a nomination for the comic Oscar – the Eisner Award.

Of course, the selection made by me is subjective and shows only a certain fragment of the history of Polish comics. I hope, however, that it will inspire you to continue your search for information about Polish pictorial stories.