#Croatia brings us Chess and Comics. Who knew that first one? #AtoZChallenge

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We’re in Croatia today. Was I surprised at what I found? You betcha. I had no idea the talent that and that I had actually seen and read the work of some of these men.

Andrija Maurović

Andrija Maurović, the father of Croatian comic books. A writer and artist born in the village of Muo, part of Kotor, in 1901. He attended the Academy of Arts in Zagreb. But as creatives are known to do, he wasn’t exactly a model student. Although there were conflicts, he was the best illustrator and his work appeared in media everywhere.

I chose the below as the one image to show of his illustrating talent. Do you even need to understand the language of the text to know the story? There is a reason some are called the classics and the father’s of something. A talent unappreciated these days. But I believe slowly coming back into fashion. A master storyteller.

His work was mostly based on classic book by authors such as Alex Tolstoy, Zane Grey, August Šenoa, Jack London, B. Traven, Max Brand, and H. G. Wells. But today I wanted to point to something that shows how influential a creative person in comics can be.

Perhaps Maurović’s greatest contribution was his Dubrovnik chess set commissioned by the 9th Chess Olympiad for the following years tournament. You may recognize it. The below is not an original, as they are difficult to find. Bobby Fischer’s original set was stolen. This is how the pieces look and this is how my set look. At least one of them. I have several. Even my son plays chess.

Maurović’s passed away in 1981 at the age of 80 in Zagreb and is buried in the Mirogoj cemetery one of the landmarks of Zagreb. A place established in 1876 that is the resting place of all faiths.

Edvin Biuković

Edvin Biuković was born in Zagreb in 1969. He was an artist who made his first appearance in the pages of the Croatian magazine Patak with his strip Dokaz. But what puts this man on the radar for me is his work on Grendel created by Matt Wagner for Dark Horse. You have to understand that Dark Horse in the comics industry is the place to go to write and create work that is pure and true to the vision of the creator. Dark Horse is who brought us Sin City and Hell Boy. Both turned into successful movie franchises.

To have worked on Grendel says a lot for Edvin’s talent. Grendel was one of the hottest selling books and cult favorites of it’s time. Not as in cult cult but as in pop culture cult. Edvin also worked on Star Wars comics for Dark Horse and Human Target for Vertigo. Sadly he passed away in 1999 only two weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Fellow Croatian artist Goran Sudžuka sites Edvin as an influence.

Edvin’s creative partner was Darko Macan.

Darko Macan

Darko Macan is a writer and artist born in Zagreb in 1966. He’s a man after my own hear with degrees in History and Archaeology. As mentioned above he gained fame in the American comics industry along with Edvin Biuković on Grendel created by Matt Wagner for Dark Horse. He also worked on Star Wars, Hellblazer, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Cable (Marvel Comics) Macan still lives in Zagreb where he has also received awards for children’s books. He’s the perfect example of it’s not what you do it’s that you love doing and just do it.

Stjepan Šejić

Stjepan Šejić is an artist born in Vinkovci in 1981. Oddly a man starting out to be a lawyer who turned found what he really wanted to do and what he loved. He chose great examples to be inspired by in Marc Silvestri and Michael Turner. Were we lucky he found a copy of Witchblade from Top Cow or what? Amazingly he ended up being the longest running artist on Witchblade, the very book that influenced his own art style.

The man can go big and powerful, small and quiet and then he can draw women that make men wish they were comic book characters as well. His style is not stagnant.

Another Top Cow book he is noted for is The Darkness. I mention it for two reasons, it has a relationship to Witchblade but I also wanted to share an image and see if you might wonder who Šejić might use as a model. Makes me wonder if they chose him for the fact he looks like the character.

To list this young man’s accomplishments would take way too long. Battlestar Galactica, Red Sonja, Terminator, X-Men, as well as work for the companies Image, Arcana, and Dynamite Comics.

That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed and be back tomorrow for D day. Check out my article on creators from Belgium by clicking the B image below.

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Mi smo danas u Hrvatskoj. Bio sam iznenađen što sam našao? Vi betcha. Nisam imao pojma da je talent da i da sam zapravo vidio i pročitao rad neke od tih ljudi.