Edika
Encyclopedia
Édika is the nom de plume of Édouard Karali, a French
comics artist, born December 17, 1940 in Heliopolis
, Egypt
, who is renowned for his distinctively absurd style. A number of his comic strips have been translated into English
(published by Knockabout Comics
), Spanish
, Italian
(in the magazine Totem comic), German
(published by Alpha Comics), Swedish
(published by Epix) and Greek
(in the magazine Babel).
, he moved to France where his works were published in the comics magazines
Pilote
, Charlie Mensuel
and Psikopat, the magazine of his brother Paul Carali. A major milestone in his career as a comics artist was his cooperation with Gotlib, becoming a main contributor to the comics magazine Fluide Glacial
.
s. Most of those episodes don't have an ending.
Recurring characters are Bronski Proko and sometimes his family: wife Olga, kids Paganini (or just Nini) and Georges, and a non-speaking cat with an otherwise human behaviour, named Clarke Gaybeul (deliberately homophone to Clark Gable
).
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
comics artist, born December 17, 1940 in Heliopolis
Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb)
Modern Heliopolis is a district in Cairo, Egypt. The city was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company, headed by the Belgian industrialist Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, as well as Boghos Nubar, son of the Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar Pasha.-History:The Baron Empain, a well known...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, who is renowned for his distinctively absurd style. A number of his comic strips have been translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
(published by Knockabout Comics
Knockabout Comics
Knockabout Comics is a UK publisher and distributor of underground and alternative comic books.-History:It was formed by Tony Bennett and Carol Bennett in the 1980s to distribute Gilbert Shelton's Freak Brothers titles as well as British work from creators such as Hunt Emerson and Bryan...
), Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(in the magazine Totem comic), German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(published by Alpha Comics), Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
(published by Epix) and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
(in the magazine Babel).
Biography
Initially working for the advertising industry in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, he moved to France where his works were published in the comics magazines
Franco-Belgian comics magazines
Belgium and France have a long tradition in comics. They have a common history for comics and magazines.In the early years of its history, magazines had a large place on the comics market and were often the only place where comics were published. Most of them were kids-targeted.In the 1970s,...
Pilote
Pilote
thumb|Cover of the first Pilote teaser issue, #0.Pilote was a French comics periodical published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major French or Belgian comics talents of its day the magazine introduced major series such as Astérix le Gaulois, Blueberry, Achille Talon, and Valérian et...
, Charlie Mensuel
Charlie Mensuel
Charlie Mensuel was a French monthly comics magazine. Its publication began in February 1969, and ceased in February 1986.-History:...
and Psikopat, the magazine of his brother Paul Carali. A major milestone in his career as a comics artist was his cooperation with Gotlib, becoming a main contributor to the comics magazine Fluide Glacial
Fluide Glacial
Fluide Glacial is a monthly French comics magazine and a publishing house founded on April 1, 1975 by Marcel Gotlib and Jacques Diament. During its years of publication it has featured the work of French and international authors and graphic artists such as Jacques Lob, Édika, Claire Bretécher,...
.
Style
A typical Edika comics episode involves a plot structured in a complex and often inconsequential fashion, filled with verbose dialogues and a lot of meta-referenceMeta-reference
Metareference, a metafiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. Sometimes it may even just be a form of editing or film-making technique that comments on the...
s. Most of those episodes don't have an ending.
Recurring characters are Bronski Proko and sometimes his family: wife Olga, kids Paganini (or just Nini) and Georges, and a non-speaking cat with an otherwise human behaviour, named Clarke Gaybeul (deliberately homophone to Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
).
External links
- Edika biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
- Edika : fluide glacial sur la BD