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Africa · Country

42 artists 26 comics

Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Comics

Democratic Republic of the Congo

1948

In short

Congolese comics grew from colonial newspaper strips into the largest comics scene in Africa, and Africultures says more than half of the continent's comics authors come from the country.

Mukwapamba (1958) was the first comic made entirely by Africans, and the magazine Gento Oye, founded in 1965 and later called Jeunes pour jeunes, launched the first generation of artists. Mongo Sisé became the first Congolese published in Europe, and after 2002 many artists, including Barly Baruti and Pat Masioni, built careers abroad with French, Belgian and American publishers.

Democratic Republic of the Congo in numbers · 01 • 04

42

26

1948

2000s

Artists

Artists from Democratic Republic of the Congo in the archive.

Comics from Democratic Republic of the Congo in the archive.

Les Aventures de Mbumbulu, the earliest comic from Democratic Republic of the Congo in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Democratic Republic of the Congo began.

bande dessinée

bande dessinée · Comics from Democratic Republic of the Congo

History

Democratic Republic of the Congo in 4 chapters

  1. 1920

    to 1959

    Chapter 01

    Colonial newspaper strips

    From the 1920s newspapers such as L'Avenir (1920) and L'Essor du Congo (1928) printed small strips, probably by Europeans. In 1948 the bulletin Nos images ran Les Aventures de Mbumbulu, drawn by Masta, who was probably Belgian. In 1958 the magazine Antilope published Mukwapamba, written by Albert Mongita and drawn by Lotuli, the first comic made entirely by Africans.

  2. 1960

    to 1979

    Chapter 02

    Gento Oye and Mongo Sisé

    Gento Oye was founded in 1965 by Achille Ngoie and Freddy Mulongo and is described as the first comics magazine in Africa. It became Jeunes pour jeunes in 1968 and Kake in 1971, and it launched Denis Boyau Loyongo, Lepa Mabila Saye, Bernard Mayo and Sima Lukombo before it faded at the end of the 1970s. Mongo Sisé drew Mata Mata et Pili Pili in Zaïre Hebdo from 1972 to 1975 and in 1978 published the first non-religious comic album in the country.

  3. 1980

    to 1999

    Chapter 03

    Church comics, popular albums and AfroBD

    The Catholic publisher Saint Paul Afrique printed about fifty comics between 1974 and 1992, and Zamenga Batukezanga's house Zabat issued nine albums from 1987 to 2001. Barly Baruti made educational albums from 1982, launched the magazine AfroBD in 1990 and helped found ACRIA, which ran a Kinshasa comics fair five times between 1991 and 2005. Few artists could live from comics, and many left the country or turned to painting or press work.

  4. 2000

    to today

    Chapter 04

    Exile and a new generation

    A large wave of artists left in 2002, after which Albin Michel, Joker, Glénat and the American label Vertigo published Congolese authors such as Pat Masioni, Thembo Kash and Barly Baruti. At home, Dan Bomboko founded the comics publisher Éditions Elondja in 2004, and the Kin Label collective around Asimba Bathy brought local artists together. Younger artists in the east, such as Patrick Kaluta in Uvira and Guhanika Landen in Bukavu, now publish educational and collective comics.

Essentials

The comics to know

Essentials

The people to know

Artists

More artists from Democratic Republic of the Congo

All 42 artists
Comics

More comics from Democratic Republic of the Congo

All 26 comics