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ARTS ENTERTAINMENTSUNDAY, APKJL 11, VM* THE GAZETTEEJKICIJTHE COMICS FANrAfi■ 1,111 iFor Serbian cartoonist, comics speak a universal languageSerbian cartoonist Sasa Rakez-ic believes “you cun find something humorous in just about every human situation But. liiai belief Is being stretched lo the limit these day.s.Rakczic, who lives with hiswife in Pance-vo, across the Danube River from Belgrade, the Serbian capital, lias been caught in the waves of NATO air-strikes on Yugoslavia. In a scries of C-JTlflllS to COM1CON. COM, a sort of online comic-book convention, he has offered an everyman view of the crisis in his homeland While expressing sympathy for the plight of the Albanians in Kosovo — “1 can see no justification for the suffering of those people! — he also makes clear the nightmare of being caught in Hie middle of a global conflict.“As far as 1 can see,' he wrote in one e-mail, the common people on all sides am being hurt, and they are ail bleeding, they areArtists were brave enough to come to this crazy land even though the Kosovo crisis was reaching its peak.”Saaa RakezJcconfused nnd bewildered.-Rakezle publishes his work under the name Aleksandar Zograf. Tliat work has been published in Ihe United States by rantegraphics Books, King llell Press arid Kitchen Sink Press. In fin e-mail interview with The Gazette, be talked about Ids work and what he sees as the universal language of comics.I started W read comics very earlyhe says, “simply because iny mother adored reading comics.... She bsed to buy almost every comic published in Yugoslavia back then. 1 still think I learned most things about art by reading comics and watching old American animated cartoons when I was acliild. Lfiler, wlien 1 went to art. school, I was pretty much disgusted by the ‘official* art education.Rakczic, now 33, began publishing his work in the mid- 1980s invarious Yugoslav magfiztnes. But when war erupted in the early ’!Ks, most of the Yugoslav publications went out of business.“I had to try to publish my comics elsewhere or stop creating comics at all. So I created self published mini-comics in English ... and sent them to many people abroad- Those comics were mostly dealing with my description of everyday liTe in my couuuy during that horrible crisis.” One such comic, “Alas!' No. 1. was published by a Cliica-go magazine, and Rakezic's career in America — a country he lias never visited — was launched. His latest hook, “Fuychouaut No. 3, is scheduled to bo published soon by Monstor-pants, a small California publisher.Ills work looks at the continuing crisis In Yugoslavia white also delving into lus own dreams; 'Ipay much attention to dreams in my comics, and I try to reflect on the experiences in different dream slates, in hope to explore that spectacular mine of wonders which is hidden inside ourselves.Rakpzic loves the work of “quite a few American cartoonists, including Robert. Crumb, Jim Wooclrlng and Rick Veitcli. He has seen interest in comics growing in his homeland in recent yeare, lit says. SeveralComics exhibitions have been in Puncevo in the past few years, including one in February, a month before the NATO bombings began. Artists were brave enough to come to this crazy land even though the Kosovo crisis was reaching its peak.His success abroad, he says, “is an example of how ideas (can! Circtdate no matter of boundaries and geographical distance. in Serbia, “there are many of us who are into comics, rock musicor any other contemporary culture, so we are speaking che same language just as other people all around Hie world with similar interests I hope that my comics speak to people all over the world.This column appears every Sunday. Contact The Comics Fnn via e-mfill at comics#ga7ette.com or by fax at 636-020?, or write Bit Radford at P.O. Box 1779. Colorado Springs 80901. nr call 630279.
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Sun, Apr 11, 1999
Page 111
Full Page
Clipped by
Sasa R.
NA, 10 Aug 2020
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