Eks almanah #3
Eks almanah #3 is among the earliest issues of Yugoslavia's most important comics anthology, a series that became the primary vehicle through which DC and Marvel superhero comics—alongside British adventure strips and domestic Yugoslav creations—reached readers across all six republics of a country of 22 million people. Published by Dečje novine of Gornji Milanovac, the series it belongs to ran for over 530 issues between 1975 and 1989 and directly seeded several successor publications, making its opening issues foundational artifacts of the Yugoslav comics boom. As one of only the third installments of a magazine that would go on to reprint some of the most significant Marvel and DC stories of the era in a black-and-white newsprint format, issue #3 occupies a place in the very origin story of organized Anglo-American comics distribution behind the Iron Curtain.
In this 1975 issue of Eks almanah, Daredevil lies wounded in the hospital after a bullet from Man-Bull’s henchman, while the Black Widow steps in to face the threat alone. When a contaminated water supply begins turning people into man-bulls, Daredevil rallies despite his injuries to confront the beast himself. Written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Gene Colan with inks by Ernie Chua, the cover by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer captures the tension of a city under siege.
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Dečje novine was founded in 1956 by Srećko Jovanović as a school newspaper in Gornji Milanovac and grew into what is recognized as the largest comics publisher in former Yugoslavia, eventually holding near-exclusive rights to distribute Walt Disney, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics material in the country. Eks almanah launched on October 25, 1975, with editor Brana Nikolić overseeing the debut issue, which opened with Frank Hampson's British science-fiction serial Dan Dare ('The Red Moon Mystery') and the Yugoslav detective-parody Herlock Sholmes by Julije Radilović, alongside a back-cover gag strip called 'Tarzika' also by Nikolić. Issue #3 would have appeared in late 1975, only weeks into the run, at a time when the editorial identity of the anthology—mixing prestige British reprints, Yugoslav originals, and eventually American superhero material—was still being established.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Eks almanah is an anthology comic magazine published by Dečje novine (NIRO 'Dečje novine') of Gornji Milanovac, Serbia, launched on October 25, 1975.
- Issue #3 is among the first handful of issues of a run that extended to approximately 534–538 issues, concluding in January 1989.
- The confirmed founding editor of the series was Brana Nikolić, who also contributed the back-cover humor strip 'Tarzika' to the launch issue; later issues are edited by others, including Slobodan Lukić at the series' end.
- The magazine printed on newsprint in black-and-white interior pages with a color cover, in A4 format—a production format it maintained throughout its run.
- Eks almanah was the primary Yugoslav venue for DC Comics superhero reprints; its sister publication Biblioteka Lale was the first to reprint Marvel Comics in Yugoslavia, though Eks almanah later carried both publishers.
- The series is classified as an anthology, mixing British adventure strips (including Dan Dare), Yugoslav original strips (such as Herlock Sholmes by Julije Radilović), and eventually American superhero material from Marvel and DC.
- From the Eks almanah platform, Dečje novine spun off several successor publications including Yu strip magazin, Giant, and Pearl comics.
- No specific table-of-contents data for issue #3 is indexed in the Grand Comics Database or any English-language key-issue database consulted; the GCD's earliest indexed issues for this series with full content data are from significantly later in the run.
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↩ Reprints Daredevil #96 (1973)
Key issues in Eks almanah
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