2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Kayko and Kokosh series and on this occasion the Egmont publishing house has prepared the jubilee edition of Kayko and Kokosh, Golden Collection . The collection consists of six volumes, which contain all the comics Kayko and Kokosh – in chronological order and subject to color renovation. March 23 this year the third volume was published, which, apart from the story of Woje Mirmiła i Pasowanie , preceded by an introduction by the editor-in-chief of the Świat Komiksu Club, Tomasz Kołodziejczak, includes the legendary interview-river Janusz Christa – Written Confessions and a unique comic book Kalafit .
The third volume of the collection contains the long history of Woje Mirmila in the original newspaper version with episodes never before published in albums. Krzysztof Janicz, author of the afterword to all volumes of the Golden Collection , writes about Mirmiła’s Wojach :
With the first two stories about Kayko and Kokosh, Janusz Christa set the bar very high for himself. First in the “Golden Cup”, and then in “Szranki and competitions”, he served readers complex, epic plots, precisely outlined from the first to the last episode. In the third part, he went far from that standard. Behind the insignificant title of “Woje Mirmła” there is a series of episodes connected with a pretext intrigue, but with numerous allusions to TV and cinema news. It resembles older stories from “Coast Coast” that ran for years under the common banner of “Adventures of Kajtka-Majtka” (later Kajtka and Kok), in which Christa threw everything that came to his mind. However, this time this apparent lack of a plan was carefully planned by the author – yes,
And it actually happened. In the afterword to the third volume, Krzysztof Janicz talks about the backstage of Janusz Christa’s departure from the Coastal Evening .
During the transitional period, after leaving the Tri-City newspaper, the cartoonist continued to create, mainly black and white, stories. To fill a gap in his portfolio and impress future employers, he drew two short comics in color: Fitting ( Kayko and Kokosh in a slightly unusual version) and Kalafit (a single board with a peculiar Kalafit creature). Both can be admired in the third volume of the Golden Collection.
The latest volume of the collection is supplemented by the legendary interview on the river Janusz Christa – Confessions Written , which was conducted with the Master by Krzysztof Janicz and Kamil Śmiałkowski. The conversation was originally published in book form during the Comic Book Festival in Łódź in 2008, a few months before the death of Janusz Christa. For the purposes of the Golden Collection , the authors auditioned the interview tapes and transcriptions again, and refreshed their memories of meetings with a cartoonist from years ago. Thanks to this, they were able to supplement the conversation with a few statements that were not included in the book version of the interview.
The author of the preface to the third volume is Tomasz Kołodziejczak, Director of the comics and games department at Egmont , the publisher of Janusz Christa’s comics and a great fan of his work. In the afterword, he talks about his meetings with the Master over almost five decades – both professional and private. In the preface, Tomasz Kołodziejczak also shares with the readers the following reflection:
In the third decade of the third millennium, the most popular Polish comic book brand is a series that was created fifty years earlier, in a completely different political, social and … printing reality. It was created by an artist who learned to draw as a child, copying comics from children’s magazines published in the 1930s. The Polish 10-year-old from 2022 is, in a sense, in the world of imagination created for the 10-year-old from 1935. This is the continuity of generations, culture and memories!
Kayko and Kokosh appeared in the pages of the Tri-City afternoon book, The Coastal Evening in 1972 and became one of the most recognizable heroes of Polish pop culture. Janusz Christa’s series tells the story of two warriors – the brave and thoughtful Kajk and the voracious and somewhat selfish Kokosz, who defend Mirmiłów and experience lots of fun adventures.
The Golden Collection is a unique, jubilee edition on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the series. The collection consists of six volumes, which will include all the comics Kayko i Kokosh – in chronological order. Arkadiusz Salamoński is responsible for the color renovation of comic boards and original covers. An addition to each of the six albums of the Golden Collection is an extensive afterword by Krzysztof Janicz, containing a lot of valuable information and curiosities about the history of the series and Janusz Christa himself. Collection readers will also find numerous archival photos, covers, illustrations and sketches.
The first volume, which was published in October 2021, includes the history of the Golden Cup , in the second volume from December 2021, you can read Szranki and competitions . In 2022, three more volumes of the Golden Collection will be published . In the fourth volume there will be four stories: Flying School , The Great Tournament , On holiday and Assassination of Milusia . There will be seven of them in the fifth volume: Professor Daisy , Miluś’s Birthday , Bathhouse , Corporal’s Concert, Mirmila ‘s Treasures , Miraculous medicine , Witches Festival. The collection will close with the sixth volume containing comics: Day of Laughter , Silver denarius , In the land of borostworów and Mirmił w opałach .