Politikin Zabavnik Totally Explained

Everything about Politikin Zabavnik totally explained

Politikin Zabavnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Политикин Забавник) is one of the most popular magazines in Serbia. The first issue came out on 28 February 1939. In the beginning it was printed in the form of newspaper, and issued biweekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Nowadays it comes out weekly on Fridays. One third of the magazine are comics, while the other two contains articles about science, nature, history, music, interesting events, written to appeal to the broadest audiences. The magazine's famous slogan labels it as For everyone from 7 to 107 (Za sve od 7 do 107). The slogan once said "For everyone from 7 to 77", but was changed, after the editor received a letter from a reader, saying how he recently turned 78 and asking if he was still fit to read it.

History

Pre-war years (1939 – 1941)

First editorship consisted of journalists from Politika, headed by Vladislav Ribnikar, Dušan Duda Timotijević and Živojin Bata Vukadinović. They were among the enthusiasts who were gathering Serbian intellectual left wing during the late 1930s. They had the idea about making an amusing newspaper containing novels, stories and comic strips. On 31 December 1938 newspapers Politika came out with an open competition for the name of new edition. Between 34,998 coupons that arrived, one fifth voted for the name "Politikin Zabavnik" (Politika's Entertainer) among other suggestions. The magazine's first issue was published on 28 February 1939. It was issued in the form of Berliner newspaper (31×47 cm). It had 12 pages printed in black and white. Four of them were printed with addition of red color and its undertones. The concept of Politikin Zabavnik was ballanced relation between comics and texts, such as novels, stories and interesting facts. As comics editor Duda Timotijević was in charge for translation of American comic strips and Sunday strips, he became the "godfather" of many Disney's characters, giving them Serbian names to reflect their characteristics. Beside Disney's comic strips Politikin Zabavnik published comics such as: Jungle Jim, Ming Foo, Little Annie Rooney, The Lone Ranger, Red Ryder, Thimble Theater, Curley Harper, Brick Bradford, and King of the Royal Mounted. Domestic comic authors also had significant space: Đorđe Lobačev (comics related to Serbian folklore – Baš Čelik and Čardak ni na nebu ni na zemlji), Moma Marković (Rista sportista – adventures of Belgrade boys), Konstantin Kuznjecov (adaptation of Pushkin's novels – The Golden Cockerel and The Tale of Tsar Saltan), and Sergej Solovjev (adptation of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island). The main difference between Politikin Zabavnik and concurrent comic publishers, such as Mika Miš and Mikijevo carstvo, was textual parts containing crosswords, novels, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, reportings from science to sport, and numerous short, interesting and edifying texts. Beside, it had exclusive rights on, in that time in Serbia extremely popular, Walt Disney comics. Editor of textual parts was Bata Vukadinović. Politikin zabavnik featured novels of Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, H. G. Wells and many other famous writers. Average magazine circulation came to 41,000 per issue, which was at the time a great number. But, the bombardment of Belgrade in World War II stopped the publishing of the magazine. The last of the pre-war editions (No 220) came out on 4 April 1941.

After-war years (1952 – 1967)

Soon after the war was over, new communist regime was intolerable about comics and baned them. The explanation was that commics are a product of capitalism. However, after the end of soviet influence in Tito's Yugoslavia, and especially after the conflict with Stalin and Informbiro period, cultural bondages started to loose. First it started with caricatures and animated movies, and later some comics acquiescently started to be published in different editions. Seven years after World War II Vladislav Ribnikar decided to re-establish the magazine. The first after-war issue came out on 5 January 1952. Editor in chief was Kosta Stepanović, and his first assistant Bogdan Popović,(he later also became editor). According to the legend, which authenticity is today hard to verify, it was prearranged by a visit of Athens' representative of Walt Disney Company. He suggested to Tito to re-establish comic publishing in Yugoslavia. "Why not, I like Donald Duck", was Tito's reputed answer. The fact is that Disney's characters had significant space in Politikin Zabavnik.

Modern age (1968 – 1990)

The first day of 1968 was a historical date for the magazine. Nikola Lekić, chief editor in that time, changed its form from newspaper to magazine format (25×33 cm). Also, it was now published in color. Another significant addition was a comic in the middle of the magazine. Before that Politikin Zabavnik published only comic strips. The magasine now contained a complete episode of a comic separated on 2-3 sequels. Starting from 1971, Politikin Zabavnik was also printed in latin and Slovenian, and ib its peak it reached a number of 330,000 copies per issue (1975). During the middle of the 1980s it changes the format again, becoming a little smaller (21×30 cm).

Sections

Every issue consists of constant and periodical sections, and other texts related to magazine content. Constant Sections:

Ripley's Believe It or Not! (Веровали или не!)
Have you already heard that... (Јесте ли већ чули да...) — Interesting facts
Hägar the Horrible (Хогар Страшни) — Comic strip
You don't say (Ма шта кажеш) — Funny stories that few people have ever heard about
Life writes dramas (Живот пише драме) — Sad, heartbreaking stories from real life
Zabavnik's logical riddles (Забавникове логичке загонетке) — Logical and mathematical problems
Comic — 12-15 pages of one comic, usually separated on 2-4 sequels
Enigmatic (Енигматика)
Zabavnik's ZOO (Забавников ЗОО) — Texts about animals.
Inventions, discoveries, achievements (Изуми, открића, достигнућа) — Technology in service of science
High Tech — Articles about new technological gadgets
I ♥ PTT (Ја ♥ ПТТ) — Pages for letters of readers, and answers on their questions about miscellaneous topics
They said about... (Рекли су) — Edifying or funny sentences of known and unknown people
The Far Side (Чудесни свет Герија Ларсона) — Comic strip
Garfield (Гарфилд) — Comic strip

Periodical Sections:

Why do we say... (Зашто се каже...) — Linguistical texts about roots and meaning of specific words

For reading and enjoyment (За читање и уживање) — Short stories of famous writers

Zabavnik's historical Zabavnik (Забавников историјски Забавник) — Funny stories from history

Stories about songs (Приче о песмама) — Texts related to music, edited by Dejan Cukić

Fantastic (Фантастика) — Fantastic, SF or fantasy stories, edited by Zoran Živković

Comics

During the years Politikin Zabavnik has published numerous comics and strips. Mostly American, French, Belgian and those of domestic authors. Some of the famous comics often published in Politikin Zabavnik are:

Asterix

Batman

He-Man

Jeremiah

Mandrake the Magician

Popeye

Rahan

Tin-Tin

XIII

Politikin Zabavnik Literature Awards

Politikin Zabavnik Literature Award (Књижевна награда Политикиног забавника) is an award given every year for the best book for the young readers, published in the previous calendar year. It was established in 1980 (for year 1979). The awards ceremony takes place every year on the foundation day of Politika - 25 January. Every youth book in Serbian or a language of national minorities in Serbia. has the right to participate in the contest.
Among the writers awarded are: Grozdana Olujić, Enes Kišević, Milovan Vitezović, Gradimir Stojković, Pavao Pavličić, Vladimir Stojšin, Branko V. Radičević, Slobodan Stanišić, Mirjana Stefanović, Milenko Maticki, Svetlana Velmar Janković, Vesna Aleksić, Vladimir Andrić...

Further Information

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