Rolf Kauka (9 April 1917 in

Markranstädt Markranstädt () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 11 km southwest of the city of Leipzig and has close to 15,000 inhabitants. Geography Location Markranstädt is located about south-west of Leipzig ci ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

– 13 September 2000 in

Thomasville, Georgia Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany, Georgia, Albany. The city deems itself the "C ...

) was a

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

artist, most famous for the series ''

Fix and Foxi ''Fix und Foxi'' was a weekly German comics magazine created by Rolf Kauka, which ran uninterrupted from 1953 until 1994. Re-christened ''Fix & Foxi'', it was relaunched as a monthly magazine in 2000, 2005 and 2010 respectively. Since the end of 2 ...

''. In 1951, Rolf Kauka founded Kauka Publishing. Aside from Rolf Kauka's original comic characters, Kauka Publishing introduced to German audiences such international series as ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'' and ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and in ...

'' from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Some characters received Germanized names, for instance,''

Spirou & Fantasio ''Spirou & Fantasio'' (french: Spirou et Fantasio, wa, Spirou eyet Fantasio) is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European comics, European ...

'' / ''Pit & Pikkolo'', ''

Gaston Lagaffe ''Gaston'' is a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou''. The series focuses on the everyday life of Gaston Lagaffe (whose surname means "the blund ...

'' / ''Jojo'', etc. In 1973, Kauka sold his publishing house to the English publisher IPC and the Dutch publishing group VNU. He maintained his right of authority, but removed himself from the active publishing world. In 1975, he founded the Kauka Comic Academy in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where he concentrated on the training and continuing education of young writers and illustrators. At the end of the 1970s the publishing consortium was dissolved and Bauer/VPM began publishing ''Fix & Foxi''. Kauka characters/series outside the Fuxholzen (Fix und Foxi) universe: *''The Pichelsteiner'' - prehistoric adventure series *''

Dagobert Dagobert or Taginbert is a Germanic male given name, possibly from Old Frankish ''Dag'' "day" and ''beraht'' "bright". Alternatively, it has been identified as Gaulish ''dago'' "good" ''berxto'' "bright". Animals * Roi Dagobert (born 1964), t ...

'' - an early character by Rolf Kauka *''Diabolino'' - an imp character *'' Mischa'' - adventure series based in the future and in outer space. *''Tom and Biberherz'' - Old West adventure series. *''Peppercorn Family]'' - the last series created by Rolf Kauka. Rolf Kauka also directed the animated film '' Maria d'Oro und Bello Blue'', which contains characters created by him.

External links

* * Fedor Bochow
''Kauka, Rolf''.
In: Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde (Hrsg.): ''

Sächsische Biografie ''Sächsische Biografie'' (''SäBi)'' axon biographyis a biographical dictionary of noteworthy persons in the history of Saxony from the 10th century to the present. As of 2014 it contained entries for about 10,500 persons and about 1,250 biogra ...

''. December 9, 2008 * * 1917 births 2000 deaths People from Markranstädt People from the Kingdom of Saxony German comics artists German animated film producers German animated film directors Film directors from Saxony Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German publishers (people) German emigrants to the United States {{comics-artist-stub