Source: AFP
Titeuf, the comic-strip prankster who has amused both youngsters and adults in France for over a decade, is now available in English thanks to a Serbian-born cartoon enthusiast based in South Africa.
“I started the printing business four years ago and I always wanted to publish something and I found out that Titeuf has been translated in about 15 languages, even Chinese, but not in English ever,” says publisher Miodrag Pepic, who moved from his native Serbia to South Africa 15 years ago.
“The only European comics you can easily find here are Tintin and Asterix which are about 50-years-old!”
First published in France in 1993, the tales of the schoolboy Titeuf and his attempts to feel his way towards impending adolescence have chalked up worldwide sales of some 20 million in around 20 different countries.
But if Astrerix and Tintin belong to a more innocent age of straight-forward heroes and villains, Titeuf warms the hearts as readers associate with his struggle to absorb everything from girls to his first cigarette and wet shave.
Given some of the more risque themes covered in the books, the United States or Britain might appear the more obvious place to first publish in English but Pepic’s pure love of the character means South Africa has been the lauchpad.
With some financial help from the French embassy, Pepic last year knocked out 1,000 copies of “Love, not so decent” on his computer in the Johannesburg suburb of Randberg and has printed a similar-sized run of the tome “To Impress The Girls…”.
“I do it on my own, on my computer from the beginning to the end. It’s so unprofitable that I would feel bad to put somebody from the company on it,” says Pepic.
“We are selling the new lot at 50 rand (around five euros). I just cover the costs.
“I don’t do it for money. I am doing it because I can. The response I got from these 1,000 people who bought the first one was overwhelming with people coming and asking me when I am going to do the second one. It’s a true reward.”
Pepic says the real secret to Titeuf’s popularity is how creator Zep appears instinctively attuned to the language of the schoolyard.
“My son who is 11 years old and I caught him talking the same way as Titeuf talks. I don’t how this guy got all these dialogues that kids do have, but it’s a true delight. I personally love his books.”
Not all adults however appear enamoured with the Titeuf books, as Pepic’s son discovered.
“My son brought the book to his school teacher as a present and she was offended, she told him that he must not bring the book to school anymore. And it’s a highly progressive school for this country!”
Pepic’s enthusiasm for comics is also evident in his championing of local cartoonists such as Mdu Ntuli.
The 25-year-old Ntuli, who was brought up in a township in the rural northern province of Mpumalanga, is making a name for himself after Pepic published his comic book “Kruger Park”.
The book revolves around two sons — Sol and Saul — of rangers in South Africa’s world famous Kruger National Park, one of whom is obsessed with making a quick buck while the other is equally focused on protecting the environment.
Ntuli admits he has never actually ventured inside the Kruger nor attended art classes.
“I get my inspiration just looking at people, at the way they live in the townships,” explains Ntuli.
“It’s inspiring to have people from the township who react to it, don’t even think of this comic as a local thing, they think it comes from overseas. They ask me ‘Where did you buy it?’ and when I say actually I make this stuff, they don’t expect it.”
“It’s a brilliant, very creative book,” is Pepic’s verdict on “Kruger Park”.
“There are a lot of local talents. That just don’t have the time to develop something because they have to work on a daily job, try to make ends meet.
“I want to show people that something is happening in this country, that we are not at the end of the world as a lot of people thinks.”
