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képregény

64 artists 34 comics

Hungary.

World
Comics

Hungary

1858

In short

Hungarian comics began with the picture stories of 19th century humour magazines such as Mór Jókai's Üstökös (1858) and Borsszem Jankó, drawn by artists like János Jankó. After a postwar ban, comics adaptations of classic literature, many scripted by Tibor Cs.

Horváth and serialised in the puzzle weekly Füles from 1957, made Ernő Zórád, Imre Sebők and Pál Korcsmáros the masters of a golden age that lasted into the 1970s. After 1989 translated superhero comics dominated, with the humour magazine Kretén (1994) as the main home for Hungarian artists, and since about 2004 a new wave of graphic novels, webcomics such as Napirajz and the Alfabéta Prize has revived local creation.

Hungary in numbers

01 • 04

Hungary in numbers · 01 • 04

1858

2000s

Artists

Artists from Hungary in the archive.

Comics from Hungary in the archive.

Az Üstökös, the earliest comic from Hungary in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Hungary began.

Artists from Hungary in the archive.

Comics from Hungary in the archive.

Az Üstökös, the earliest comic from Hungary in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Hungary began.

képregény

képregény · Comics from Hungary

History

Hungary in 5 chapters

A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.

World Comics Heritage

Hungary.

5 chapters

Turn the page

Chapter 1

1858

to 1918

Picture stories in the humour press

Mór Jókai founded Üstökös in 1858 on the model of Fliegende Blätter, and János Jankó, seen as the first Hungarian cartoonist to work consciously in the form, drew picture stories for it. Borsszem Jankó (1868 to 1938) and other humour weeklies carried sequential cartoons by Ákos Garay, Dezső Bér, Miltiadész Mannó and Károly Mühlbeck, and Nándor Honti drew newspaper comics such as Séta Álomországban (1911 to 1913).

1858 to 1918

Chapter 2

1919

to 1944

Interwar strips

American strips filled Hungarian papers until the late 1930s, and the children's magazine Hári János (from 1936) is considered the first Hungarian comic book magazine. Kata Benedek's Lekvár Peti kalandjai ran in Tündérvásár from 1927 to 1947, but the press decree and the first anti-Jewish law of 1938 drove most comics out of the press.

1919 to 1944

Chapter 3

1945

to 1979

Adaptations and the golden age

Comics were pulled from the press as western trash around 1950, until Ernő Zórád's adaptation of Obruchev's Plutonia appeared in Pajtás in 1954. From 1955 Sándor Gugi and Tibor Cs. Horváth made adaptations of classic literature the dominant genre, carried by Füles from its first issue in 1957, and Zórád, Imre Sebők and Pál Korcsmáros led a golden age that faded after Korcsmáros died in 1975 and Sebők in 1980.

1945 to 1979

Chapter 4

1980

to 2003

Albums, Kretén and superheroes

In the 1980s Hungarian comics moved from magazines into albums and cheap comic books such as the Rejtő series, and Attila Fazekas became the leading artist. After 1989 translated superhero comics took over the market; the humour magazine Kretén, launched in March 1994, became the main outlet for new artists such as Zsolt H. Garisa, Zoltán Varga (Zerge) and Imre Fekete.

1980 to 2003

Chapter 5

2004

to today

The new wave

From 2004 fan sites, small publishers and the artists' group Magyar Képregény Akadémia, with its magazine Pinkhell, rebuilt the scene, and the Alfabéta Prize for Hungarian comics followed in 2006. Dániel Merényi's webcomic Napirajz (from 2005), Róbert Odegnál's A hívó (2005), Roland Pilcz's Kalyber Joe and Attila Futaki's Spirál are among its best-known works.

2004 to today

Keep reading

The comics to know Comics from Hungary

World Comics Heritage

Cover

1858
to 1918
Chapter 01
Picture stories in the humour press
Mór Jókai founded Üstökös in 1858 on the model of Fliegende Blätter, and János Jankó, seen as the first Hungarian cartoonist to work consciously in the form, drew picture stories for it. Borsszem Jankó (1868 to 1938) and other humour weeklies carried sequential cartoons by Ákos Garay, Dezső Bér, Miltiadész Mannó and Károly Mühlbeck, and Nándor Honti drew newspaper comics such as Séta Álomországban (1911 to 1913).
1919
to 1944
Chapter 02
Interwar strips
American strips filled Hungarian papers until the late 1930s, and the children's magazine Hári János (from 1936) is considered the first Hungarian comic book magazine. Kata Benedek's Lekvár Peti kalandjai ran in Tündérvásár from 1927 to 1947, but the press decree and the first anti-Jewish law of 1938 drove most comics out of the press.
1945
to 1979
Chapter 03
Adaptations and the golden age
Comics were pulled from the press as western trash around 1950, until Ernő Zórád's adaptation of Obruchev's Plutonia appeared in Pajtás in 1954. From 1955 Sándor Gugi and Tibor Cs. Horváth made adaptations of classic literature the dominant genre, carried by Füles from its first issue in 1957, and Zórád, Imre Sebők and Pál Korcsmáros led a golden age that faded after Korcsmáros died in 1975 and Sebők in 1980.
1980
to 2003
Chapter 04
Albums, Kretén and superheroes
In the 1980s Hungarian comics moved from magazines into albums and cheap comic books such as the Rejtő series, and Attila Fazekas became the leading artist. After 1989 translated superhero comics took over the market; the humour magazine Kretén, launched in March 1994, became the main outlet for new artists such as Zsolt H. Garisa, Zoltán Varga (Zerge) and Imre Fekete.
2004
to today
Chapter 05
The new wave
From 2004 fan sites, small publishers and the artists' group Magyar Képregény Akadémia, with its magazine Pinkhell, rebuilt the scene, and the Alfabéta Prize for Hungarian comics followed in 2006. Dániel Merényi's webcomic Napirajz (from 2005), Róbert Odegnál's A hívó (2005), Roland Pilcz's Kalyber Joe and Attila Futaki's Spirál are among its best-known works.

Essentials

The comics to know

Essentials

The people to know

Artists

More artists from Hungary

All 64 artists

Comics

More comics from Hungary

All 34 comics