Great news for lovers of the ninth art!
Even though Association of Comic Strip Friends Strip Forum has made it clear that Zagreb is a city of comic strip lovers, and comics have been present in Croatia ever since the late 19th c., in addition to festivals and other events, there was no single place where comic book lovers could gather and spread their appreciation of the ninth art.
Fortunately, it looks like this is about to change and Zagreb should be getting its very own House of Comics.
The initiator of the project is Mr Mladen Novaković, secretary of Association of Comic Strip Friends Strip Forum, and Mayor Milan Bandić has accepted the idea wholeheartedly. House of Comics will function the same way as Oris House of Architecture, whose initiator was architect Andrija Rusan. Days of Oris, an annual architectural convention which brings together some of the most prominent architects and designers, takes place there every year, and this year’s edition will start on October 14 at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall.
As Strip Forum has a huge collection of Croatian comics, which is appreciated internationally as well and which has been on display around Europe, the need to establish a “home” for the collection has existed for quite some time now.
Galerija Klovićevi dvori was the first institution to exhibit this important part of Croatian cultural and artistic heritage, in 2005, housing an exhibition of works by Milan Trenc, and in 2007, showcasing works by Andrija Maurović.
The idea of creating the House of Comics came from the late Darko Glavan (who died in 2009) and Mr Mladen Novaković. Ten years after the exhibition at Klovićevi dvori, Mr Novaković presented the idea to Mayor Milan Bandić on October 5, 2017, who accepted the idea and assembled a team which will be working on developing the project.
With the closing of Algoritam bookstores, it hasn’t been an easy year for comics (and publishing in general) in Zagreb, so we truly hope that this will be a boost that the industry needs.
In addition to the Witch of Grič Museum that is set to open at St. Mark’s Square, this is one of the projects that we’re looking forward to the most in Zagreb’s future.
If you want to find out more about Croatian comics, visit www.stripforum.hr, and like Stip Forum on Facebook.
Another great way to help Croatian comic book publishers is by buying a graphic novel (or five) from Fibra publishing house, or you can visit Asteroid B612 at Gajeva 17, Strip Non Stop at Grahorova 9a, or Stripovi na kvadrat at Preradovićeva 34.
