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19 artists 17 comics

Bangladesh.

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কমিকস

Bangladesh

1978

কমিকসcomics

In short

Bangladeshi comics grew out of cartooning: Kazi Abul Kashem, whose first cartoon appeared in 1930 and who drew for the 1952 Language Movement, is counted as the first Bangladeshi cartoonist.

In 1978 Rafiqun Nabi created the street-boy character Tokai and the satire magazine Unmad was founded, and Unmad became the school for most later cartoonists. Since 2013 publishers such as Dhaka Comics and Cartoon People have built a market for local comic books, while political cartoonists such as Arifur Rahman and Ahmed Kabir Kishore have been jailed for their work.

Bangladesh in numbers · 01 • 04

19

17

1978

1970s

Artists

Artists from Bangladesh in the archive.

Comics from Bangladesh in the archive.

Tokai, the earliest comic from Bangladesh in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Bangladesh began.

কমিকস

comics · Comics from Bangladesh

History

Bangladesh in 4 chapters

  1. 1930

    to 1970

    Chapter 01

    First cartoonists

    Kazi Abul Kashem published his first cartoon in the monthly Saogat in 1930 and, under the pen name Dopeyaja, drew cartoons for the 1952 Language Movement, remembered above all for Horof Khedao. Rafiqun Nabi began as a professional cartoonist in 1963 at the Weekly Purbodesh and drew for several periodicals in the 1960s.

  2. 1971

    to 1999

    Chapter 02

    Liberation war, Tokai and Unmad

    During the 1971 Liberation War a cartoon by Quamrul Hassan, 'Ei janowarder hotta korte hobe' (These beasts must be killed), deeply influenced freedom fighters. In 1978 Rafiqun Nabi's Tokai began in the weekly Bichitra and Ishtiaq Hossain and Kazi Khaleed Ashraf founded Unmad, a satire magazine modelled on MAD, which went monthly in 1991 and was later edited by Ahsan Habib. Editorial cartoons spread through newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s, with Shishir Bhattacharjee among the leading political cartoonists.

  3. 2000

    to 2012

    Chapter 03

    Humour supplements and a cartoonists' association

    After 2000 many young cartoonists appeared, publishing in newspaper humour supplements such as Bicchu of the Daily Jugantor and Alpin of Prothom Alo. In 2007 a cartoon by Arifur Rahman in Alpin led to his arrest and the permanent closure of the supplement, and the Bangladesh Cartoonist Association was founded in January 2011.

  4. 2013

    to today

    Chapter 04

    Comic book publishers

    Mehedi Haque founded Dhaka Comics in 2013 with four titles at the Ekushey Book Fair, followed by series such as Durjoy, Nihilin Club and Lungiman. The Centre for Research and Information began the Mujib children's comic series in 2015, Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy co-founded Cartoon People in 2016, and Ahmed Kabir Kishore was detained for ten months from 2020 over cartoons including his Life in the Time of Corona series.

Essentials

The comics to know

Essentials

The people to know

Artists

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All 19 artists
Comics

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