Yaroslav Horak (12 June 1927 – 24 November 2020) was an Australian illustrator and

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

, of ethnic Czech-Russian origin, best known for his work on the newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

''.

Biography

Horak was born on 12 June 1927 in

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

, China, the son of a Czech father and Russian mother. In 1939 his family migrated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He began his career as a portrait painter but switched to illustration for the larger Australian magazine publishers. In 1948 Horak's first accepted comic strips were for ''Rick Davis'' (a detective adventure) and ''The Skyman'' (a mysterious costumed flyer) in 1948. He then moved to

Syd Nicholls Sydney 'Syd' Wentworth Nicholls (20 December 18963 June 1977) was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist, best known for the long-running comic strip ''Fatty Finn''. Biography Syd Nicholls was born in Frederick Henry Bay, Tasmania on 2 ...

' Publications where he worked on ''Ray Thorpe'' (an adventure series) and ''Ripon – the Man from Outer Space'' (sci-fi). Horak also did comic strips for a number of other Sydney publishers, before he moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

where he drew ''

Brenda Starr ''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' (often referred to simply as ''Brenda Starr'') is a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. History Although set in Chicago, ''B ...

'' for

Atlas Publications Atlas Publications was an Australian publishing company which operated from 1948 until 1958 and was based in Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne. It published magazines and popular fiction, and the genre for which it was best known, adventure ...

. In 1954 he created ''The Mask – The Man of Many Faces'' and an adaptation of the popular children's TV program '' Captain Fortune'' for Fairfax publications ''

The Sun-Herald ''The Sun-Herald'' is an Australian newspaper published in tabloid or compact format on Sundays in Sydney by Nine Publishing. It is the Sunday counterpart of ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. In the 6 months to September 2005, ''The Sun-Herald' ...

'' between 1957–1962 and ''Mike Steele – Desert Rider'' for ''

Woman’s Day ''Woman's Day'' is an American women's monthly magazine that covers such topics as homemaking, food, nutrition, physical fitness, physical attractiveness, and fashion. The print edition is one of the Seven Sisters magazines. The magazine was ...

'' magazine. Horak then moved to England in 1962, where he also drew adventure stories for D.C. Thomson of Scotland, the scripts being supplied by others. He was the second artist, taking over from

John McLusky John McLusky (20 January 1923 – 5 September 2006) was a comics artist best known as the original artist of the comic strip featuring Ian Fleming's ''James Bond''. Biography Hector John Dewhirst McLusky was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He eventua ...

, for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' strip ''James Bond'' from 1966 to 1977, then for the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' and the '' Daily Star'' from 1977 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1984. In total Horak worked on 33 ''James Bond'' comic strips sequences. Horak also created the comic series ''Jet Fury'', in addition to working on other comic strips such as ''Andrea'', ''

Cop Shop ''Cop Shop'' is a long-running Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions that ran for seven seasons between 28 November 1977 and 23 July 1984. It comprised 582 one-hour episodes. The show The show revolved ar ...

'' and ''Sergeant Pat of the Radio Patrol''. Horak also achieved a degree of popularity during the 1960s when he was employed by

Fleetway Publications Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...

(later IPC Magazines) to contribute art for 11 of their comic books in the

War Picture Library ''War Picture Library'' was a British 64-page "pocket library" war comic magazine title published by Amalgamated Press/Fleetway (now owned by IPC Magazines) for 2103 issues. Each issue featured a complete story, beginning on 1 September 1958 wi ...

and Battle Picture Library series. Horak died on 24 November 2020 in Sydney, Australia, after a decade-long struggle with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

War Picture Library

* WPL 214 Rough Justice 1963 * WPL 303 Death Or Dishonour 1965 * WPL 304 Battle Drill 1965 * WPL 315 Cross For Courage 1965 * WPL 323 Passage Of Arms 1966 * WPL 648 The Curse 1971 * BPL 156 The Savage Sands 1964 * BPL 173 The Stronghold 1964 * BPL 190 Killers Code 1965 * BPL 197 Gun Crazy 1965 * BPL 231 Victory Cry 1965

''James Bond'' strips

References

External links

Horak biography
on Lambiek Comiclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Horak, Yaroslav 1927 births 2020 deaths Artists from Harbin Australian illustrators Australian comics artists Chinese emigrants to Australia Australian people of Czech descent Australian people of Russian descent Australian expatriates in England