For Comic Book Day: These are my favourite comics from my childhood
25/9/2023
Translation: machine translated
Reading is a magical experience. For me, comics are and have always been a good way to awaken a love of reading. In this article, I tell you which comics have sparked my fascination.
Lucky Luke, Asterix and Obelix, Clever and Smart or Donald Duck: while I now read a lot of novels, I could really lose myself in comics when I was young. For the sake of nostalgia, I'm sharing my favourite comic series from my youth with you today for Comics Day. And finally, here's a bonus for you.
Funny paperback
A classic: The "Funny Paperbacks" (LTB) about the inhabitants of Duckburg are and remain my absolute favourites. To this day, I read every new edition of the classic series, which now comprises 576 issues, as well as some of the special editions and side series.
My favourite characters are, of course, Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and his three nephews Tick, Trick and Track as well as his alter ego Phantomias. They are always having wild adventures, some of which are based on historical topics or current literary, film, music or sports themes. As a child, I always wanted to be part of their adventures. Nowadays, I just like to be entertained when Donald has another one of his freak-outs or Scrooge defeats his opponent Klaas Klever in a competition, for example.
Asterix and Obelix
The little one and the fat one. Oh yes, sorry, nobody here is fat (inside joke!). As a child, who hasn't always wanted to taste the magic potion that makes you extra strong and accompany the two Gauls Asterix and Obelix with their cute little dog Idefix on their travels? Whether against the Romans, with the British, in Egypt or wherever else they end up. And at the end, of course, Troubadix, the annoying Bade, is tied to a tree and gagged. Oh, marvellous. The combination of subtle, satirical humour with crude slapstick was simply too delicious. What am I writing? It's still the same combination today. I can recommend the stories without reservation, especially up to issue 29. Unfortunately, the stories after that were no longer able to convince me. Whether it's Obelix as a child, as a school leaver or with some disastrous crossovers of inappropriate superhero sci-fi characters. It just doesn't appeal to my taste
If you're brave, why don't you try the comics in the dialect edition? My maternal grandparents used to speak Low German with me, for example. Or I spent three years of my life in Vienna. So you could read the wild life of the G-g-ga-ga-gaaaalier (attention insiders!) in Plattdüütsch or Wiener Schmäh. And of course there is also a version in Swiss German.
Lucky Luke
The man who draws his gun faster than his own shadow: I've been fascinated by westerns since I was a child, and of course there's no getting round Lucky Luke. The restless, lonely hero who not only hunts down criminals like the Daltons with his trusty horse Jolly Jumper. No, he also always helped the poor and disadvantaged. At the same time, he was taciturn and very modest. He never celebrated his heroic deeds - preferring to donate bounties to charity or people in need.
But I also found his adversaries such as Billy the Kid and the four Dalton brothers, Joe, William, Jack and Averell, hilarious. The eternal quarrel between the short, mean and choleric Joe and the long, naive and stupid Averell was a particular highlight. I laughed myself silly every time. And I still read one of my old Lucky Luke magazines every now and then.
Not forgetting the character Rantanplan, who even got his own comic series. The loyal prison guard dog always manages to do the wrong thing. He confuses friend and foe, right and left, praise and blame.
Simpsons comics
Everyone probably knows The Simpsons. At some point, the adventures of the yellow family around my favourites Bart and Homer Simpson were no longer enough for me. So I also devoured the comics. The short issues consisted of around 25 to 27 pages and also contained letters to the editor. In the meantime, Panini Comics also published comic series on individual characters from the main series, such as Bart or Krusty, as well as on special events, such as the Simpsons/Futurama crossover crisis
The 248th and last issue in German-speaking countries was published in December 2018, although new anthologies, such as the Simpsons comic collection, are still published from time to time, in which old individual issues and stories from various series are reprinted.
Clever and Smart
Clever and Smart is, in my opinion, an outstanding and too rarely recognised comic series. The two eponymous main characters, Fred Clever and Jeff Smart, are agents of the T.I.A. (Trans-International Agent Ring). Their boss, Mister L, involves them in ever more hair-raising adventures. Other characters are Dr Bakterius and the T.I.A. secretaries Miss Ophelia and Miss Tussy. Doctor Bakterius, on the other hand, is a mad scientist who works for the Agency. However, his inventions, which are supposed to help the two main characters, usually backfire. As a special feature of the comic, the two heroes do not face off against a fixed, recurring villain.
The comic series is characterised above all by slapstick gags. If you're into that sort of thing, check it out. A little hint: especially in earlier works, you can recognise the contemporary and socially critical traits of the comic's inventor and author, Francisco Ibáñez. He personally experienced the Franco dictatorship in Spain. The first editions were published in 1958.
A sad news: Sadly, this icon passed away a few months ago, on 15 July, at the age of 87 in Barcelona, Spain. Since then, no further volume of the comic series has been published.
Fix and Foxi
I have a very special story to tell about Fix and Foxi: the comics actually gave me my first console. I took part in a competition with my mum about one of the comics at the paediatrician's and actually won a Super Nintendo back then.
The magazine about the two twin brothers in the yellow and blue dungarees was published intermittently from 1953 to 2010. The two main characters are portrayed by two foxes. They are open-minded, committed and socially minded. Other characters include the good-for-nothing and bon vivant Lupo, a wolf, as well as his cousin Lupinchen and Grandma Eusebia. They are joined by Fax, Fix and Foxi's uncle: a slightly choleric ex-military man with a penchant for exaggerated orderliness.
Creator Rolf Kauka has now been dead for over 23 years. His life was eventful. Not only did he receive criticism that his "Fix-and-Foxi universe was a twisted copy of Duckburg", as Thomas Lindemann writes. Last year, Bodo Hechelhammer, long-time chief historian of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), published "Fürst der Füchse. The Life of Rolf Kauka", the first biography about Kauka. In it, he discusses Kauka's National Socialist past, his political convictions as a cold warrior and his close contacts with the Federal Intelligence Service. You can read a summary of this at Spiegel Online.
In addition, Rolf Kauka was already considered controversial during his lifetime. In 1965/66, he Germanised the Gallic comic heroes Asterix and Obelix into Siggi and Babarras. He wrote ethnic tones into the speech bubbles. Many translations contained political allusions to the FRG and the GDR at the time. The Roman occupiers, speaking with an American accent, symbolised the Allied occupiers of the post-war period. After just a few editions, the French creators of the two Gauls, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, withdrew the licence rights from Kauka. You can read about this topic in more detail in an article from Br.
Finally, I would like to recommend a comic series that I only discovered and devoured as an adult.
Y - The Last Man
"Y - The Last Man" is a post-apocalyptic science fiction comic series. Yorick Brown and his capuchin monkey Ampersand are apparently the only male mammals to have survived a global androcide. Yorick is an absolute klutz: clumsy and naive. He often puts himself and the various female companions he meets on his journey in unnecessary danger. However, his intelligence does shine through from time to time: Above all, he can be very funny and quick-witted. Without spoiling too much here, Yorick embarks on a special journey in 60 issues. His goal is to find his girlfriend Beth Deville, who is on holiday in the Australian outback. However, like all the characters, he first has to find his way around this new world. The various women he meets on his odyssey have their own agendas. They are primarily interested in investigating the reasons for Yorick's survival as the last man standing in order to enable the recolonisation of Earth.
The streaming service Hulu broadcast a film adaptation of the comic book as a series in 2021. However, after a disappointing first season, the series was immediately cancelled. I can only advise you to avoid this series. In my opinion, it doesn't do justice to the comic book at all.
What does your comic collection look like? Let me know in the comments which comics you enjoyed reading as a child or which ones you still enjoy reading today.
Cover photo: Kim Muntinga
My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.
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