Comic journalism in Eastern Europe: history and features of functioning

Abstract

This paper focuses on the topic of documentary comics in Eastern Europe. The object of the study is the history and features of the functioning of comic journalism in Eastern Europe. The subject is an example of documentary comics created in these regions. To understand how promising comic journalism and documentary comics are for the development of modern journalism, it is necessary to study its history, as well as the features of its formation and diversity. We examine the thematic diversity of documentary comics in Eastern Europe, as well as track which formats are typical for different countries. We correlate the features of the existence of the phenomenon of comic journalism in one form or another with historical realities. So, for example, for some countries, the actual forms of functioning of documentary comics are those that can be correlated with autobiographies and historical essays. Such are the Czech Republic, Belarus. And for other countries, a more relevant form is those that can be correlated with reporting. These are Ukraine and Russia. In addition to different formats, we study thematic diversity. As a rule, it also directly depends on the historical features of the formation of a state, as well as on its current geopolitical position. So, for example, in Ukraine in recent years the military theme has certainly dominated, and judicial comics are popular in the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, it is known that the topic of judicial arbitrariness in recent years has become widely discussed in this country. Note that having studied the features of the formation and functioning of the phenomenon of documentary comics in different countries, we come to the conclusion that comics is a universal mean of mass communication that allows you to transfer information to different audiences.