Central African Republic.
Central African Republic
1983
Central African comics grew from youth magazines and aid-funded educational albums rather than from a commercial market.
Tatara (1983) and Balao Jeunesse (1985) were the first widely read titles, and press cartoons arrived only in late 1989. Didier Kassaï, a cartoonist at the paper Le Perroquet from 1997, became the one author known abroad, with Gipépé le Pygmée and Tempête sur Bangui.
17
15
1983
2000s
Artists from Central African Republic in the archive.
Comics from Central African Republic in the archive.
Tatara, the earliest comic from Central African Republic in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Central African Republic began.
bande dessinée
Central African Republic in 4 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Central African Republic.
4 chapters
Chapter 1
1960
to 1982
First strips and school cartoons
1960
to 1982
Chapter 01
First strips and school cartoons
The first black and white comics, Les aventures de Tamako, appeared in the 1960s. Under President Bokassa cartoons were unthinkable and the press mostly printed photographs. The first harmless cartoons came in 1978 in Tambola, the school paper of the Lycée Boganda in Bangui.
1983
to 1994
Chapter 02
Tatara, Balao and the first political cartoons
Tatara, a 16-page all-comics magazine, began in 1983 with art by Côme Mbringa and scripts by Eloi Ngalou and Olivier Bakouta-Batakpa. Balao Jeunesse followed in 1985 with Josué Daïkou drawing and Clothaire Mbao Ben Seba writing, and it sold 8,000 to 10,000 copies an issue at its height. Press cartoons began in late 1989 in the government paper Ele Songo, and La Tortue déchaînée became the first satirical weekly in 1992.
1995
to 2005
Chapter 03
Workshops, educational albums and Sanza BD
After a quiet period, Kassaï and Ben Seba went to the first African comics fair in Libreville in 1998. From 2000 donors paid for educational albums on health, the environment and disarmament, and a group of Bangui artists ran the magazine Sanza BD for seven issues from 2003 to 2005. In 2005 the EDUCA 2000 project funded Aventures en Centrafrique and the Gipépé le Pygmée children's albums by Kassaï and Olivier Bombasaro.
2006
to today
Chapter 04
Kassaï abroad and a small local publishing scene
In 2006 Kassaï won the Vues d'Afrique contest linked to the Angoulême festival and an Africa e Mediterraneo prize, which made him the only Central African comics author known abroad. La Boîte à bulles then published his reportage comic Tempête sur Bangui in 2015. The publisher Les Éditions Oubangui, founded in Bangui in 2017, announced a Centrafrique BD 2025 call for comics projects by Central African authors.
The comics to know
- Tatara1983 · comics magazineCôme Mbringa, Eloi Ngalou and Olivier Bakouta-Batakpa. All-comics youth magazine whose lazy, drunken hero Tekoué served as a bad example.
- Balao Jeunesse1985 · comics magazineClothaire Mbao Ben Seba and Josué Daïkou. Youth magazine with educational comic pages, published until 1994.
- Les aventures de Tamakocomic book seriesNot named in the source. Black and white comics of the 1960s, the earliest known in the country.
- Sanza BD2003 · comics magazineA collective of Bangui cartoonists. Bimonthly comics magazine that ran for seven issues until 2005.
- Gipépé le Pygmée2005 · comic book seriesDidier Kassaï and Olivier Bombasaro. Children's albums made for the EDUCA 2000 project; eight were out by 2006.
- Tempête sur Bangui2015 · graphic novelDidier Kassaï. Autobiographical comics about the 2012 to 2013 war, published by La Boîte à bulles.
- L'Odyssée de Mongou2008 · graphic novelDidier Kassaï. Comics adaptation of a novel by Pierre Sammy Mackfoy, issued by Les Rapides in Bangui.
The people to know
- Didier KassaïBorn 1974Born 1974; the best-known Central African comics author, a press cartoonist from 1997.
- Côme MbringaArtist of Tatara and later a press cartoonist.
- Josué DaïkouDied 2005Artist of Balao Jeunesse; died in June 2005.
- Guy Mayé ElieArtist who emerged in the early 1990s and made Wan-to, une aventure de Bafio.
- Ernest WeangaïPress cartoonist from 1989 and self-publisher of L'homme du parc.
- Jean-Noël MokopéLeading press cartoonist of La Tortue déchaînée, Le Citoyen and Agbangba.
- Clothaire Mbao Ben SebaScriptwriter and editor of Balao Jeunesse.
- Olivier BombasaroWriter of the Gipépé le Pygmée albums with Kassaï.
More artists from Central African Republic
More comics from Central African Republic
- Aventures en Centrafrique2005 · graphic novel
- Wandara2003 · comics magazine
- Maison sans fenêtres2018 · graphic novel
- La chaîne et l'anneau1990 · graphic novel
- Wan-to, une aventure de Bafio1993 · graphic novel
- Les Exclusgraphic novel
- L'homme du parc1990 · graphic novel
- Formule nationale Biyé Na Sembé2002 to 2003 · comics magazine