Georgi Chepilev: Formation of the Bulgarian Comics Genres in the Period 1890-1980 III

Първа част: 28 май 2022

Втора част: 13 юни 2022

After thinking about my own collection, what was seen and heard by eyewitnesses, I suggested a genre system of Bulgarian comics that comes from functional attributes:

1.Religion and mythology; 2. Patriotism (including military heroics); 3. Tragedies and touching stories; 4. Self-sacrificing love; 5. Funny, satirical, topical and sentimental jokes, including adventure and fantasy; 6. Stories of kings and voivodes; 7. Moral learning events; 8. Modern types; 9. Great personalities; 10. Morals and customs (including love adventures).

10. Funny childrens comic "Ludoriite na pisana" (“The mischiefs of the cat”) in "Chuden svyat"(“Wonderful world”) issue 95, drawings by Stoyan Venev, text by Jordan Stubel (editor of "Chuden svyat")

In short, these comic book genres are described in Lambiek. There, all the classic samples and data about them are from the collection of Stiliana Chepileva, secretary of the Plovdiv comics association "Diaskop" (author of several comic books in textbooks, pages about “Virtues and Vices” in the comic book "Creating the Universe", Sofia, 2014 and the comic “The Chronicle of the Bulgarian Literature”, Plovdiv, 2019).

In my other 1987 article – “Comics, Comics”, I focus on the fact that the genus of comics is divided into three main types according to the following more important criteria: according to the technique of realization, according to the conceptual approach and according to the purpose. Each of these major types has its own varieties and contributions in the language of the comic. Due to the fact that the socialist system used comics only for propaganda and ideological education, after 1989, as they appeared in the early 1980s, they suddenly disappeared, despite the great enthusiasm among fans and authors.

The economic environment in Bulgaria after 1989

The economic environment in Bulgaria after 1989 was: lack of government support, bureaucracy, problems with payments, pressure from corrupt structures, non-guaranteed distribution, high fees for printing and paper, unregulated copyright and pricing criteria, and many more. When selling products and collecting money from customers, the money were blocked for a long time and a high selling price was required to compensate. That is why all the noble initiatives for Bulgarian comics development have undergone a complete fiasco over the last 30 years.

For this reason, the most appropriate for understanding the history of Bulgarian comics is the mixed method of cyclical and chronological theories, which follows a spiral line.

Classification of the Bulgarian Comic Book

Since the struggle against comics is explained by social reasons and mostly prohibited: for fun, spiritual views, some historical ideologies, geographical regions, it is most successful to classify Bulgarian comics into three main sections: Spiritual - cultural, Historical and Entertaining.

The birth of the modern Bulgarian comic book is in the period of the Bulgarian Renaissance, when the connection between the funny and the plastic can not be done, because it still has a religious attitude towards painting.

Historical facts show that in Bulgaria the first meeting of poetic and plastic satire was with the famous poet Hristo Botev. The caricatures were drawn on the idea of ​​Botev by the Polish emigrant Dembicki and printed in the “Tupan” newspaper. These are related in a series of caricatures, which means that they are relevant to time in the visual arts. It is supposed that there were conceptual sketches at the hand of the poet. Botev's satirical cycle focuses on betrayal, self-love, ignorance and gives a solution to deliverance - enlightenment, freedom, progress.

Bulgarian comics have their origin, unlike the western ones, not by contrasting the two categories - "comical" and "serious" (high and low). There are definitions in Bulgaria of "non-portrait portrait", "iconic portrait" and "portrait icon". That is why until the Bulgarian Renaissance, the rarely expressive reached a peculiar grotesque, characteristic for the later stages.

Georgi Danchov and the first Bulgarian comic book

11. The first contemporary Bulgarian comic book “Shestte chuvstva na gladniya” (“The Six Feelings of the Hungry man”) in the “Talasum”(“Ghoul”) newspaper by Georgi Danchov, Plovdiv, 1890.

Humorous newspapers started using caricatures only after 1890, when Georgi Danchov (icon painter, photographer, lithographer and painter) began publishing his humorous newspaper “Talasum” (“Ghoul”) in Plovdiv. In it it was the first Bulgarian comic strip to be printed in modern form, - “The Six Feelings of the Hungry man”.

Georgi Danchov makes an attempt to continue the reprimanding pre-liberation tradition and with great courage exposes the discomforts of society to universal ridicule. Because of such a characterization of a close associate of Minister Stambolov, the publication is closed.

With the termination of Georgi Danchov's activity as a satirist, the existence of the Bulgarian satirical graphics ceased for a long time.

As of 1896-97

in Sofia, besides the political party newspapers, informational newspapers also began to be published. During that time the political party ones do not use caricatures, but the information newspapers search for and place caricatures.

Then the drawings of Alexander Bozhinov appear, which is the next stage in the period of the history of Bulgarian comics.

12. Metamorphoses by Aleksandur Bozhinov for an exhibition in Plovdiv, 1906.

The classic Bulgarian comic books are unfamiliar with big genres such as a satirical novel or short story. A satirical tale is also rare. Most often, small comedy forms from everyday life are published.

Alexander Bozhinov

Initially, Alexander Bozhinov worked in the spirit of Simplicissimus. He studied French cartoons and magazine Punch's cartoons. For many years he worked without finding the Bulgarian type of vitality. That happens only when he illustrates the cheerful verses in peasantry dialect - Pizzo and Pendo by writer Elin Pelin. But the favorite types of all Bulgarians of that time were a discovery of the artist.

Pizzo and Pendo are cheerful characters in Sofia's everyday life who tell the truth about ministers. The urban population learns the truth from the illiterate peasants. That's why Bozhinov is considered the father of Bulgarian cartoons.

But the whole Bulgarian satire has the predecessor writer Aleko Konstantinov. His feuilletons, especially for Bai Ganyu, are the first satirical generalizations. There is a common Bulgarian spirit in them and these are traditions related to the anecdote about Hitur Peter, Stanju the Connoisseur and Nastradin Hodja. They are also the characters of many Bulgarian comics.

Let's look at how many different manifestations of laughter there are: Pointless laughter; Humorous laughter; Blaming laughter; Pessimistic; Absurd, etc. There is one attitude towards an act.

© Диаскоп Комикс - Diaskop Comics

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