Andrija Maurovic

Andrija Maurovic is considered the founder of Yugoslav comics. Born in Kotor, Montenegro, he spent his childhood in Cracow, Poland and Dubrovnik. He broke off his studies at the university of Zagreb to become an independant illustrator. For several years, he made caricatures for the satirical magazine Koprive. He created his first comic in May 1935, 'Vjerenica Maca', which was published in Novesti, a Zagreb newspaper.

That same year Maurovic colaunched Oko, the first Yugoslav comics magazine. Until 1968, he created nearly 150 stories for the magazine, including 'Stari Macak', 'Podzemma Carica' and 'Ljubavnica's Marsa'. Inspired by big literary works, Maurovic adapted several works by Jack London, Henryk Sienkiewicz and H.G. Wells to comics. He was specialized in historical comics, for which he didn't use any documentation, just his large imagination.