Sunday, January 24, 2010

EARLIEST KNOWN CONTINUITY COMICS PUBLISHED IN TURKEY (1925-26)


Currently available research so far indicates that the earliest continuity comics published in Turkey had appeared in a periodical titled Resimli Mecmua in 1925-26. Hülya Eraslan, in her article 'Resimli Tefrika: Acar'ın Sergüzeştleri ve Abbas Yolcu' published in the now-defunct (but much missed!) comics research journal Serüven [2nd series], no. 1 (Winter 2006), pp. 46-49, had covered the comics published in Resimli Mecmua at length. All the info and the scans in this post come from that article:
The first six issues of Resimli Mecmua serialized 'Acar'ın Sergüzeştleri [The Adventures of Acar]', chronicling the globe-trotting adventures of a Turkish character named Acar. The first four installements credit the script to Abdullah Ziya, a famous Turkish writer of popular fiction, better known in the later decades as Abdullah Ziya Kozanoğlu, who would create the trend-setting Turkish swashbuckling comics hero Kaan (later re-named as Karaoğlan) in the 1950s. In these four episodes, Acar is a mischievous kid who is sent by his father to work in a ship. There, he befriends a Chinese and a black kid ad together they go to the poles.
The art and the content drastically change in the fifth and the sixth installements where Acar is now a youngster who solves a murder mystery in Paris.

'Abbas Yolcu [Abbas On the Road]' starts at no. 26 and continues for 18 issues. It starts with the house of a rich guy named Abbas being flooded and the character washed over to the sea in his bed where he is picked up by a ship:

Abbas' adventures take him first to a deserted island, then to the poles. Eventually, he becomes a film star on the strength of his newly gained fame as a globe-trotting adventurer. The saga ends in Paris, where he had already bought a house before embarking on his journey.
If anyone recognizes the original source of this comics, please let us know.

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