Abstract
One of the basic genre and content directions of development and creation of the ninth art on Macedonian soil is the historical comic. After centuries of enslavement, the main reason for the flying start of the Macedonian historical comics is seen in the aspiration of the Macedonian people to express their uniqueness. As members of a small country located in the corner of the world that throughout history has proven to be not the best neighborhood, historical comics become a tool for the Macedonian to show his uniqueness, history and legitimacy of existence, or in other words to show what he is – a Macedonian.
Unlike the avant-garde currents of comics in the Land where the sun shines eternaly, which are temporarily located in the eighties, or the underground comics whose flare we record in the nineties, the Macedonian historical comics has no strict time limit. Their existence in the chronology recorded by the Macedonian historiography is spread almost as much as the children’s comic. With the exception of the first two decades since the birth of comics on Macedonian soil, in which, although they exist, the Macedonian historical comics is almost completely overlaping with the existence of the Macedonian comics in general.
Confirming that all things go in two directions, embedding itself in the still completely unexplored history of comics in Macedonia, the Macedonian historical comics secure an important place in it. One of the first comics by authors who are Macedonians, that of Pande Jarevski, is on (from today’s point of view) a historical topic. There is a possibility that this comic is also the first (unpublished) comic in Macedonian language. The first comic books published in Macedonia, “Tzar Samuil” about the eponymous medieval Macedonian emperor, authored by Dragan Tashkovski and Mile Topuz, are on a historical theme taken from the rich Macedonian treasury of events.
The first unpublished macedonian luxury comic album is on a historical topic – the exceptional “Vara: The Stone of Love” which, although drawn and printed, does not go on sale, ie as a publication. The first luxury comic book album released in Macedonia (and in Macedonian language), “Miss Stone” by Zoran Tanev, is on a historical theme from the period of the revolutionary struggle for freedom. The appearance of the comic book show “Makstrip” in 1989, both in name and content, announces the upocoming Macedonian independence. And, continuing the trend started in the sixties, Macedonian historical comics continue to appear today.
