• Publisher: *cf.
• 320 pages
• Author: Iztok Sitar
• Original title: Kako je Jaka Racman postal fašist: eseji o družbeni kritiki in politični (ne)korektnosti v stripu

Iztok Sitar is interested in social criticism and political anomalies that appear in young adult and humour comics and in graphic novels for adults. The book brings forty-one richly illustrated short essays or portraits, revisions, and reviews of Slovenian and international comic books that were published in Slovenia, from those for children such as Zvitorepec or Tintin to Tomaž Lavrič’s engaged comics Europe and Bosnian Fables. In short chapters, Sitar dissects the imperialism in Disney comics, chauvinism in Asterix, and racism in Tintin; at the same time, he provides a unique analysis of the world and Slovenian comics, from the American macho adventure comics of the 1930s to the underground and sexual revolution in the 1960s when the first feminist comics appear, and in the 1990s comics with gay protagonists. An interesting detail about Slovenian comics art is that socially critical comics appeared simultaneously with humour and adventure comics, which is a unique phenomenon in Europe and in the world, and the reason why, compared to other countries, Slovenia has so many socially engaged works.

About the author

Iztok Sitar

Iztok Sitar (1962) is a comic artist, illustrator, cartoonist, writer and comic art theorist, and curator. He has published fifteen comic albums of different genres, from the erotic graphic novella Sperm and Blood (1990) to the collection of love stories Freaks Love Differently (2014). His books hold a mirror to Slovenian politics, church, and society in general: fascism, neo-Nazism, chauvinism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia are the topics Sitar has problematised throughout his career. He is one of Slovenian’s most lucid comic art historians and theorists. In 2007, he published the fundamental monograph The History of Slovenian Comics (1927–2007).