Rodolphe Töpffer (1799–1846, Geneva) invented comics both practically and theoretically between . A teacher by profession plus boarding school principal, he wrote and drew on the side. Under the influence of French and English political cartoonists, Töpffer drew his very first story in 1827 entitled “Histoire de Monsieur Vieux Bois”. The first in a series of seven printed albums was then released in 1833 under the title “Monsieur Jabot”. Töpffer pioneered with his outrageously funny “Picture Novels” (“Histoires en estampes”) showing exactly what the later comics would produce: the combination of picture and text to form an explanatory whole.

Töpffer could almost be considered the original founding father of comics. In 1845 he formulated the outlines of pictures and texts with his “Essai de Physiognomonie” (Essay on Physiognomy). In doing so he also defined the new medium comic as theoretical. Töpffer wrote in his essay: “One can write stories in chapters, lines and words: that is literature in the real sense of the word. One can also write stories in a series of graphically depicted scenes: that is literature in pictures.”

Advertising figures with Comic-Success

Almost a whole century past before Globi hit the scene as the first original Swiss contribution to comics. Globi was created back in 1932 as an advertising figure to help celebrate Globus department stores’ 25-year anniversary. One year later the first ever Globi picture book was released. His immense popularity and success mainly amongst the children of the day was phenomenal. The Globi-concept was created by Globus advertising boss J.K. Schiele (1902- 1988). Robert Lips (1912- 1975) drew the unique birdman till 1966. A new Globi book has been released annually up till today, since 1935. The previously wordless stories then received rhyming verses from 1938 on. 1948 was the year in which Globi’s book sales hit the million mark! Globi has continued to change over the years. It’s not only the longest living Swiss comic of all time, but it also provides readers with an actual history of Switzerland’s mentality throughout the years.
Ringier Publishing brought “Ringgi and Zofi” to life in 1948. The first adventures were drawn by Hugo Laubi (1888- 1959) with rhyming texts written by Fridolin Tschudi (1912- 1966). This particular children’s comic also started out as an advertising idea, like many others, but never managed the sustainability that Globi enjoyed. “Papa Moll” was first released in 1955 due to inspiration by the Swiss youth foundation “Pro Juventute”. It portrayed an educational comic without text that should praise family values and deliver a positive attitude towards life. Edith Oppenheim-Jonas (1907-2001) drew the tragicomical experiences and slapstick situations experienced by Papa Moll and his average Swiss family. A new generation of artist was then called in to continue with “Papa Moll” after Edith Oppenheim- Jonas’ death.

Realistic Locations

Switzerland could barely boast one single comic production for more than two decades after the birth of Globi in the 30’s. Western-Swiss comic creators finally hit the French-speaking part of the Belgian market in the 60’s. The West-Swiss artist Derib (Claude de Ribaupierre, *1944) is the first Swiss comic-artist to have international success. Studying in Peyo’s (“Die Schlümpfe”) Belgian studios, Derib found his very own, realistically precise line. His work put the “Wild West” in the spotlight and tackled the themes, nature, landscapes and people. In the early seventies he created a new series for a small reading audience together with the writer Job (André Jobin, *1927), involving an Indian youth called Yakari. His drawings for the family-saga “Buddy Longway” (Series), describing the trapper’s own life were also extremely realistic. Derib’s trademarks would have to be his rather dynamic pages with which he magically combines his drawn scenes in a film-like way.

Derib’s student Cosey (Bernard Cosendai, *1950) follows his teacher with style in the way he uses each page as a whole, managing though to find his own personal expression. His “Jonathan” series from 1975 involves a trip, (that is mainly autobiographical) through far off Asia. Daniel Ceppi’s (*1951) Swiss figure named “Stéphane” also involves a series of travels in the Far East. The various scenes in his stories have all been investigated, (like Cosey), by the artist himself. Ceppi also relies heavily on documentation. The respective locations used in “Stéphane” allow both the writer and artist the chance to address current political and social subjects as comic-journalists. Magical motifs and exotic locations are trademarks of Ab’Aigre’s (Pascal Habegger, *1949) early comic-art. The paintbrush stroke in his stories is chilled, “fast”, spontaneous and powerful. It is an unnaturally abstract style, expressive and original. As a result of his style, Ab’Aigre can then be included in the traditional line of masters of expressive black and white comics. Véronik (Veronique Frossard, *1957) is one of the first of a small number of Swiss comic-women to work professionally. She put together “Lou Strass. Only You” back in 1988, one of the very first comics to ever tackle the Aids theme.

Gérald Poussin (*1946) feels quite at home in any of the following creative areas including; graphics, design, animation, theatre or painting. Poussin’s picture- universe is anarchic, extraordinary, wild and multicoloured. His comics with the “Buddy and Flappo” figures are unmistakeable expressions of unbridled-weird drawings, which are in someway related to the aesthetics of children’s elaborate naivety. Aloys (Yves-Aloys Robellaz, *1953) is another, (like his kindred spirit Poussin) who tried his hand at new forms of expression and tested various mediums out during the political and cultural awakening in the 70’s.

Comics in Newspapers & Magazines

René (René Lehner, Zürich *1955) is the very first professional comic-artist from the German speaking part of Switzerland. His first comics were published in the humour category in the late seventies. René created “Bill Body“ back in 1987. He was a strange character taken from the world of sports. The strip reached the million-reader mark through international sales. The comic world of “Zürich by Mike” came to life in 1997. Published weekly in the “Züritipp”, each individual page by Mike Van Audenhove (*1957, USA) comes together regularly to form albums making them the best selling Swiss-German comics in no time at all. His “Heroes” experience turbulent, sometimes contemplative everyday adventures that are always overdone and hilarious. Alex Macartney (*1963, GB) works as a comic-artist for newspapers and magazines and publishes his work as anthologies. He has been releasing his “Herr Hummel” strip involving a real anti-hero since 1995.

Felix Schaad (*1961, drawings) and Claude Jaermann (*1958, text) deliver the wicked everyday life satire involving the rather conservative, “typical” Swiss nobody, Herr Zwicky. Their masterpiece “EVA” received the biggest response, appearing daily in the Zürich newspaper the “Tages-Anzeiger” since 2001. It portrays the working life of Eva Grdjic, a supermarket checkout girl considered the “working poor”. This particular strip manages to bring the everyday madness (current social and political) straight to the point.
Christophe Bertschy *(1970) is a technical pioneer from western Switzerland. He creates his comics completely digital (since 2000) and has developed his own unique style as a result of his computer work. “Nelson” is the name of his strip-series in which a little orange-coloured devil of the same name gets up to no good on a daily basis, appearing in “Le Matin”. Buche (Eric Buchschacher, Geneva *1965) draws very realistically (since the 90’s) in his “Vincent Muraz” adventure series (Georges Pop, scenario). Buche maintains the “Funny-style” with success: The comic magazine “Tchô!” delivers the wayward adventures of “Franky Snow”- the errors and confusion in the fast and furious world of trend-sports.

On the International Market

Enrico Marini (*1969) is one of very few Swiss German artists to actually have made it at an international level. Marini drew numerous series from various authors’ scenarios and dived into a wide range of genres including; adventures, science fiction, westerns, fantasies. Marini is a master of elegant strokes. Using his cinematic eye the pages are constructed rather quickly like picture montages. Franz Zumstein (*1959) has been drawing and writing “Die Himmelsstürmer” series since 1998. It appears weekly in the “Coopzeitung”, gaining the Swiss German Zumstein the highest national circulation level, with over 1.6 million copies. Another of his works includes the official Swiss comic-add from 2002: “Im Land, das die Zukunft erfand”. This particular album was released worldwide in 13 languages. Daniel Koller (*1963) from Geneva drew the “Mayam” series in 2003 from scenarios by Stephen Desburg from Belgium. A science fiction story set at pace, including fantastic landscapes, dizzying perspectives and extraordinary architecture.

Home grown Material

Sambal Oelek (Andreas Müller, *1945) studied architecture, then dedicated his work in 1998, like Le Corbusier and the Sprayer from Zürich before him, to the life and work of Henri Dufour (1787-1875), General, cartographer and co-founder of the Red Cross. Oelek continuously works with sophisticatedly constructed double pages, on which single picture subjects fluently metamorphose into each other. .
Reto Gloor (*1962) presented two albums together with his writer Markus Kirchhofer (*1963) presenting king-escapee Bernhart Matter’s (1821-1854) biography. The two albums from 1992 and 1993 dealt not only with the “Swiss Robin Hood’s” life story, but also depicted a nice piece of social history from Switzerland.
Melk Thalmann (*1967) from Lucerne has been releasing humorous krimis since 1989. He interpreted an old saga newly into comic form, and adapted a historical episode from the 1653 Swiss peasant war. The comic project “Zwischenfall” (The Incident), is set in modern history times in Switzerland, in cold War times when the country felt threatened by nuclear war.
Matthias Gnehm (*1970) from Zürich works as both architect and comic-artist. His architectural background has creatively stimulated comic-works produced by himself or together with the writer, Francis Rivolta since the 90’s.

Zurich: “Strapazin”

1984 was the year of birth of the periodical “Strapazin“ (Zurich), that provides local comic-artists with a platform 4 times a year. “Strapazin” presents so-called idols and continues to inspire with it’s publishing of international comic representatives. Here there can be risks taken with experimental drawing or even new story-telling methods can be put to the test. The following names are in some way connected to “Strapazin”; Peter Bäder, Christophe Badoux, Hannes Binder, Frida Bünzli, Andrea Caprez, Chrigel Farner, Ursula Fürst, Thomas Ott, Andreas Geffe, Claudius Gentinetta, M.S. Bastian, Noyau, Anna Sommer, Pierre Thomé and Mike van Audenhove.

Geneva: Independent New Comics

The new West-Swiss comic centre is now located in Geneva (with an extra branch in Lausanne) and is made-up of a number of independent artists plus small to very small publishing houses. Those belonging to this new wave of comics include Alex Baladi, Ben (Benoît Marchesini), Christophe Bertschy, Albin Christen, Exem, Ibn Al Rabin (Mathieu Baillif), Joëlle Isoz, Jean-Philippe Kalonji, Andreas Kündig, Patrick Mallet, Mix & Remix (Philippe Becquelin), Frederik Peeters, Isabelle Pralong, Nadia Raviscioni, Helge Reumann, Nicolas Robel, Xavier Robel, José Roosevelt, Lawrence (Laurence Suhner), Tom Tirabosco and Wazem (Pierre Wasem). The artists’ own comic-creations are produced, (in extremely complicated ways sometimes) and then released in special magazine editions: “Bile Noire”, “Atrabile”, “Drozophile” and “B.ü.L.b” are the names of the publications and the publishers.

An absolute phenomenon and exception to the rule would have to be Zep (Philippe Chappuis, *1967) from Geneva. He hit the international best-seller list with his amusing “Titeuf” series which all began back in 1992 and has reached band 10 in 2004 with an initial print run of 2 million copies.

Two Festivals

Two large festivals promote the world of comics in Switzerland each year, both aimed at completely different public segments. The more commercial “Festival international de la BD Sierre” (www.bdsierre.ch) has been running since 1984 (–2004) and is at home on the French/ German language border in canton Valais. The Fumetto International Comix-Festival (www.fumetto.ch) has been taking place in Lucerne since 1992 and targets new/ experimental tendencies addressed by both national and international independent artists.

Text by Urs Hangartner (2005)

Bibliografie:

Roland Margueron: Der Comic in der Westschweiz. Eine klassische Erzähltradition; La bande dessinée en Suisse romande. Une tradition narrative classique; The Development of the French-Swiss comic-strip. A Classical Narrative Tradition – Cuno Affolter/Urs Hangartner: Kleine Deutschschweizer Comic-Geschichte; Petite histoire de la bande dessinée suisse-alémanique; The development of the German-Swiss comic-strip; in: Patrizia Crivelli (Hg./Ed.): comix. Nouvelle émergences de la bande dessinée suisse. Die neue Ära des Schweizer Comics. New Contributions to the Comic-Strip in Switzerland. Catalogue, Katalog. Office fédéral de la culture, Bern; Bundesamt für Kultur, Bern; Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Éditions Lars Müller; Verlag Lars Müller; Lars Müller Publishers, Baden 1996, ISBN 3-907044-23-1

Cuno Affolter, Pierre-Yves Ladore: Nouvelle(s) vague(s), in: Jeunes créateurs romands de BD et de films d’animations, Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains, mu.dac. Catalogue. Lausanne 2001, ISBN 2-88244-006-5

Ariel Herbez: Affiches BD. Vingt-cinq ans de création genevoise. Editions Slatkine, Genève 1996, ISBN 2-05-101482-5