The influence of local and national press on the comic publishing industry in the Polish People’s Republic between 1956 and 1989

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the influence of the local and national press on the shape of the Polish comic publishing industry in the Polish People’s Republic (1947–1989). It discusses how the negative attitude of the authorities towards comics gradually changed, leading in the 1970s to the use of this medium both as propaganda and a didactic tool as well as an equivalent of Western popular culture, anchored in the policy of economic stabilisation in Edward Gierek’s era. We describe the main newspaper and magazine series of comics and their authors, examine the national and transnational patterns of visual narration, and show the links between ideology and entertainment. The essential part of our analyses is the political and economic factors that shaped the Polish publishing industry, especially between 1956 and 1989. The article also explores the first political and academic commentaries on comics in communist Poland and indicates the evolution of views on them – from an evil, capitalist medium to a useful (or even fashionable) mode of artistic expression. Finally, our research examines how comic books, their characters and authors from the 1970s and 1980s survived in free and democratic Polish culture. We also investigate some international careers of Polish authors.