The comic about a confused secret agent became cult only in the country in which it was created, Italy, but also in the former Yugoslavia. If the cartoonists from Milan who used the pseudonyms Max Bunker and Magnus were the reason for their popularity in Italy, one of the reasons for their success in Yugoslavia was called Nenad Brixi, the great translator of "Alan Ford".
At a time when comics were full of superheroes who defeat evil and save the world with superpowers, a comic was born that was not intended for children. Alan Ford is a serious critique of society, history, political arrangements told in a witty way.
The main characters, selfish, greedy, cynical and, above all, poor secret agents, became favorites throughout the SFRY in the 1980s.
It was the underground in the world of comics and was read by those who don't like comics.
And in France, Brazil and Denmark, only a few issues came out. Anti-heroes who always somehow defeat the bad guys, were actually the image and opportunity of the then Yugoslav society. It was easy to identify with them. Robert Coban, owner and director of the publishing house "Color Press Group", which publishes Alan Ford in Serbia, says that in those years SFRY had a new wave in cinematography, literature and music, and on a global level a superbly refined sense of humor and aesthetics.
Alan Ford fit in perfectly.
These forbidden thoughts were spoken by intelligent rags, victims of all social injustice.
Nenad Brixi, a Croatian journalist, writer, comedian, translating the comic into Serbo-Croatian, devised a new language spoken only by the TNT group.
That language was so successful that many phrases from comics entered everyday life throughout the fragile SFRY.
The action of the comic takes place in New York, and it is actually a critique of the Italian society at the time. And not just him.
It is a critique of history written by the victors, a critique of the military leadership in which the highest officers pay dearly for services to amateurs who solve the most serious state affairs, corrupt city authorities who keep an incompetent policeman at the head of the police, just because it suits them.
There are also sarcastic comments, incredibly intelligent poor people, as well as mockery of racism, capitalism and Nazism.
Read between the clouds
The plot of the comic was layered. It was read by those who were looking for fun and those who knew how to read between the lines. More precisely - between the clouds.
Both of them could have read Alan Ford, only they didn't read the same things
Just as ‘Metallica’ is a band for people who don’t like heavy metal so is this one. At the time, comics were populist entertainment without overly great intellectual ambitions. Alan Ford put it all upside down. He was a witty, clever social intellectual commentary. "
Many fans of the events in the super-secret Florist will tell you that Alan Ford was not the same when Brixi stopped translating it.
However, Alan Ford has been coming out in Serbia for a long time. And it’s a best-selling comic.
"We decided on ekavica because I think you can never enter the same water twice. If Brixi's translation and the whole environment corresponded to that time, generations changed and I didn't want to do nostalgia. I didn't want to fake the atmosphere and the period from the eighties, because that was impossible ", explains Robert Čoban.
"A kid who is 20 or 25 years old today would have a completely different relationship if he was served a Brix translation. No matter how witty and ingenious he was, the circumstances simply changed and that might move Alan Ford's sense in another direction ", concludes Choban.
Even if you’ve never read a comic, it’s clear to you why those who grew up with Magnus and Bunker (cartoonists Alan Ford) still sometimes speak Brix’s language today.
Finally, a few quotes from Alan Ford:
"One swallow doesn't make spring, let alone two." (Grunf)
"If you intend to win, you must not lose." (Number 1)
"Better a living coward than a dead hero!" (Grunf)
"He who loses his gain loses." (Grunf)
"Better to live a hundred years as a millionaire than seven days in misery!" (Bob Rok)
"He who sleeps is not awake." (Alan Ford)
"Better to publish a book than a friend!" (Grunf)
"Buy flowers for your beloved woman, but don't forget your own." (inscription on the flower shop)
"Alan, let's run, there are two of them, and we're alone!" (Bob Rok)
"Everything hurts and more." (Jeremiah)
"One for all, all for one." (Number 1 shares salary)
Ticket: $ 1, Crippled: $ ½, Deaf: 30 cents, Blind: 20 cents, Blind and Deaf: 50 cents. ” (at the entrance to the theater play)
Comics of my childhood ...