I suspect that a large part of our readers are people born in the 80s and 90s, so we decide to meet you and go back to the times when life was “better”, colorful and without the Internet. There will be something interesting in every decade, but I think that the 90s were the most crazy. Immediately after the communion we had the opportunity to open up to the world and the market in Poland tried what it could to interest a potential recipient with Western trends in pop culture. Of course, it started with children.
Warner crushes the market
I started my adventure with comics with Donald Duck , but nevertheless right next to him was the Bugs Bunny magazine . The constant lack of animations with these characters on TV and the initially English-language Cartoon Network made me eagerly reach for this monthly. Well, it was originally a bimonthly. The magazine was mostly dominated by pages filled with comics with Looney Tunes or Tiny Toons characters, and rarely there was a mini-occasional article or some puzzles, and at the end of publishing this magazine, we could also receive some symbolic gadgets. All available comics were previously released in the US under the DC Comics license. In 1998, a slightly more ambitious journal, OK , began to be publishedwith the heroes of Looney Tunes. In addition to comics, there is also a place for corners about geography, history, magic and learning English.
In the 1990s and almost until 2002, the first magazine with Tom and Jerry was also published. Initially, these were notebooks containing only comics, the main creator of which was Oscar Martin, and the entire edition was printed on rather unpleasant to the touch gray paper. Over time, some surprises also began to be added to the monthly release. In November 1999, the biweekly Cartoon Network was released , allowing young viewers to take a break from the TV for a moment and meet their favorite characters, such as Johnny Bravo, the Flintstones and the Yoga Bear, in comic book stills.
Disney is always relentless
Disney is a real river theme. It is worth noting that the boom with comic books telling the stories of characters from the Mickey Mouse label dates back to 1990, when you could get Mickey Mouse in Pewexes and kiosks . Initially, it was a monthly published in parallel with the Donald Duck magazine . Both titles were a prototype of today’s Donald Duck , which was born first by the fusion of these two magazines and then the transformation of one title into a biweekly magazine. Perhaps most interestingly, these were the first titles published by Egmont on the Polish market, and the translation of some characters completely differed from the modern ones (eg Scrooge McKwacz was a Sknera Mac Kwak).
And so we come to probably the most recognizable title, celebrating its 28th birthday this year, namely Donald Duck , the first issue of which was published on April 28, 1994, then as a biweekly, to go through the evolution of the weekly, return again as a biweekly and even become a bimonthly. . Mickey Mouse has changed its name on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Donald Duck. On the first page, together with the table of contents, there were Donald Duck’s Shortest Comics – stories by Al Taliaferro, four-frame stories. And at the end was Always Funny, which is a one-page comic on the penultimate page of the magazine. The first big comic was almost always a story by Carl Barks. Initially, the biweekly was published on Thursdays, and at the turn of 1996 and 1997, it appeared on Fridays, and finally came to kiosks every Wednesday from 1997. The issues were mainly played with cardboard games, and in 1999 they were changed into slightly more durable plastics and rubbers. According to many sources, it was in the same year that the magazine (in the 1999/10 issue) also recorded the highest sales in history, amounting to 289,000 copies.
In addition to the popular thin notebooks, thicker volumes filled only with comics began to be published. At first it was Donald & Co. with 96 pages, then the Comic Gigant with 256 pages, which was transformed into a Giant Recommends to avoid a price increase due to VAT on magazines introduced in 2001. Then, at the turn of the century, another Giant was printed , a sticker with a new title was affixed to the logo of the series, thus covering the old barcode and legally changing the form of the publication to a book.
Other honorable titles
As in the case of previous titles, television also played an important role in publishing other publications. On the wave of popularity of the TVP program entitled Ciuchcia began to be published in 1994, a magazine referring to the adventures of Monika’s frog and a certain carrier Kulfon. Interestingly, the comic has always been an indispensable part of the magazine, and the magazine itself survived the program and was released 10 years after the end of its broadcast on television.
Another interesting title is Wally Explore the World . Educational title from 1998, which, in addition to information about geography, history and culture, contained the adventures of crazy Wally, his dog Szczek, evil Lewus and all the rest of his striped friends, as well as a TV series broadcast on some channels in Poland.
Other interesting titles are the Moomins and the Pink Panther and Inspector Clouseau , previously also known as the Pink Panther and Commissioner Zero , and Garfield . All the titles were directly related to what could be seen on TV and mainly focused on comics that complemented the adventures of TV heroes.
We should not forget about the Świat Komiksu, addressed to slightly older children and adults , which appeared in the years 1998–2005, which, apart from articles on comics, contained reprints of Francophone and English titles, such as Iznogud or Kid Paddle .
Most of the journals I have mentioned were published by TM-Semic or Egmont . In fact, if it were not for these two publications, the foreign comic book might never have developed when it comes to the Polish market.
Finally, I would like to add that each article is of course written through the prism of memories, and is not a thorough analysis of what has happened. However, we hope you enjoy our new series and you will join us on future journeys!