Octobriana

Octobriana
Octobriana

Octobriana is a comic superheroine originated from literary hoax made up by Czech artist Petr Sadecký.^[1] According to the 1971 book Octobriana and the Russian Underground by Peter Sadecký, Octobriana was created in the 1960s by a group of dissident Russian artists calling themselves Progressive Political Pornography (PPP). Actually the story given by Sadecký was untrue and Octobriana was, in fact, his own invention.^[2]

Octobriana and the Russian Underground

In Octobriana and the Russian Underground, Sadecký describes the PPP, as a loose group of cells, not only in Russia, but throughout the Soviet Union. This group, Sadecký wrote, started around 1957, after the Twentieth Congress in 1956. At first they called themselves Progressivnaya Politika (Progressive Politics) and tried to go back to the pure principles of The White Russian people and their Scandinavian roots; the Swedish Rus' Vikings. Later they put together samizdat comics about the superheroine Octobriana. One of the stories was: "The living sphinx of the Kamchatka radioactive volcano 1934" in which she swims into a radioactive volcano and kills a giant walrus with her kris. Afterwards she brings the tribesmen of the Koryaks home with a giant flying ball. Another story was titled: "Octobriana and the Atomic Suns"

Hoax

Octobriana was actually Sadecký's own creation.^[1][2] Petr Sadecký, while still in Prague, enlisted the help of two Czech artists, Bohumil Konečný and Zdeněk Burian,^[3] in creating a comic centering around the character of "Amazona." ^[4] Sadecký told the two that he had a buyer interested in the comic, and they worked together on writing and illustrating the Amazona comic. However, Sadecký betrayed his friends by stealing all the artwork and escaping to the West, where, in his efforts to market the Amazona comic, he changed the dialog, drew a red star on the character's forehead, and was successful only after turning Amazona into a fake political statement, "Octobriana: the spirit of the October Revolution." ^[5] Major inconsistencies in his story, and a frame in his book where Octobriana is referred to as "Amazona" (p. 83), lend credence to this story. In addition, Burian and Konečný sued Sadecký in a West German court, winning the case but never recovering all their stolen artwork. Since Octobriana is still widely thought to be the product of dissident cells within the U.S.S.R., she is not copyrighted, and has appeared in a variety of artistic incarnations.

Other appearances

Comics

Octobriana in Brian Talbot's The Adventures of Luther Arkwright

Octobriana in Poseur Ink's Octobriana

Appearances in other comics include:

• The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
• The Octobriana limited series from Revolution Comics 6 issues written by John A. Short and Stuart Taylor and published in the UK and USA in 1996 and 1997.
• Octobriana Filling in the Blanks mini-series from Artful Salamander in 1999 2 issue comic series written by Stuart Taylor
• The Octobriana Special from Alchemy Text in 2001 - one-shot comic (with features) written by John A. Short
• Nikolai Dante: "The Octobriana Seduction", written by Robbie Morrison, drawn by Andy Clarke and published in 2000 AD^[6]
• Cherry's Jubilee #2 - an adult comic also starring Cherry Poptart (includes a two-page text recapping Sadecky's book).
• She also made an appearance in the Dutch comic strip series Agent 327 by Martin Lodewijk in the album "Cacoïne and Commando's" (2000), where a character that resembles Octobriana is introduced. In the comic strip the character is called "Novembriana", but a reference is made to the samizdat album in which she first appeared.
• In 2010, the comic book company Poseur Ink has announced a new title based on Octobriana, written by Steve Orlando and illustrated by Chaz Truog (DC Comics, Marvel Comics). In early 2010 the company started a Kickstarter fundraiser to start early pre-orders for the upcoming project.^[7]
• The noted underground/erotic cartoonist John Linton Roberson has announced that Octobriana, along with a number of other public domain comics characters including Projunior, will be co-starring in his upcoming VLADRUSHKA series in 2011, and will be revealed to be the title character's long-lost sister.^[8]

In other media

Other appearances include:

• As a tattoo on Billy Idol's arm ^[9]
• The short Finnish film Octobriana and the Finger of Lenin (2003) ^[10]
• A film to star Amanda Lear and to be produced by David Bowie was announced in 1974 but was never made.^[11]

Awards

• 1997: Won "Best New Comic (British)" National Comics Award, from the 1996 mini-series from Revolution Comics^[12]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Pospiszyl, Tomáš. "Octobriana a ruský underground, part 1. [Octobriana and the Russian Underground]". Umelec international. http://www.divus.cz/umelec/article_page.php?item=700. Retrieved 2010-01-27. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Alena (2008-03-25). "Octobriana a ruský underground - neuvěřitelný příběh Petra Sadeckého [Octobriana and the Russian Underground: The incredible story of Petr Sadecký]" (in Czech). Komiks.cz. http://www.komiks.cz/clanek.php?id=945. Retrieved 2010-01-27. 
3. ^ Walica, Rostislav (2005-02-17). "Zdeněk Burian" (in Czech). Reflex Magazine. http://www.reflex.cz/Clanek18703.html. Retrieved 2010-01-27. 
4. ^ Čepelák, Vojtěch (9 October 2008). "Bohumil "Bimba" Konečný - ilustrátor Foglara, Batličky a... Octobriany! [Bohumil "Bimba" Konečný - an illustrator of Jaroslav Foglar, Otakar Batlička and ...Octobriana!]" (in Czech). Hospodářské noviny. http://kultura.ihned.cz/c1-28925250-bohumil-bimba-konecny-ilustrator-foglara-batlicky-a-octobriany. Retrieved 2010-01-27. 
5. ^ Pospiszyl, Tomáš. "Octobriana a ruský underground, part 2. [Octobriana and the Russian Underground, part 2]". Umelec international. http://www.divus.cz/umelec/article_page.php?item=699. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
6. ^ 2000 AD #1113-1116
7. ^ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1306135649/octobriana
8. ^ Announcement of VLADRUSHKA series at I DIDN'T WRITE THAT!.
9. ^ picture and article
10. ^ info youtube trailer
11. ^ "The Ziggy Stardust Companion". http://www.5years.com/After.htm. 
12. ^ 1997 National Comics Awards

References

• Octobriana at the Comic Book DB

External links

• Umelec
• Octobriana.org
• Artful Salamander's Octobriana page
• Octobriana beginner's guide
• Octobriana at Alchemy Texts
• Octobriana at Harlequin Comics Page
• Octobriana at ComicVine Page
• Webcomic Beacon #111 podcast discussion of the character and history.