Édika is the pen name of Édouard Karali (born 17 December 1940 in Heliopolis,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

), a French

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 a ...

, who is renowned for his distinctively absurd style. A number of his comic strips have been translated into several European languages such as;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(published by '' Knockabout Comics''),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

(in the magazine ''Totem comic''),

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

(published by ''Alpha Comics''),

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

(published by ''Epix''),

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

(published by ''Runepress'') and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(in the magazines ''Babel'' and ''Para Pente'').

Biography

Initially working for the advertising industry in

, he moved to France where his works were published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazines ''

Pilote Cover of the first ''Pilote'' issue #0 ''Pilote'' () was a French comic magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major French or Belgian comics talents of its day the magazine introduced major series such as ''Astérix'', '' ...

'', ''

Charlie Mensuel ''Charlie Mensuel'' (or simply ''Charlie'', "mensuel" being a French term for a monthly periodical) was a French monthly comics magazine. Its publication began in February 1969, and ceased in February 1986. Tagged ''"The newspaper full of humour ...

'', and ''Psikopat'', the magazine of his brother Paul Carali. A major milestone in his career as a comics artist was his cooperation with

Gotlib Marcel Gottlieb (14 July 1934 – 4 December 2016), known professionally as Gotlib, was a French French comics, comics artist/writer and publisher. Through his own work and the magazines he co-founded, ''L'Écho des savanes'' and ''Fluide Glacial' ...

, becoming a main contributor to the comics magazine ''

Fluide Glacial ''Fluide Glacial'' () is a monthly Franco-Belgian comics magazine and a publishing house founded on 1 April 1975 by Gotlib, Alexis (comics), Alexis and . It's one of the most successful comics magazine in France, along with Métal Hurlant. Since ...

''.

Style

A typical Édika comics episode involves a plot structured in a complex and often inconsequential fashion, filled with verbose dialogues and a lot of

meta-reference Meta-reference is a special type of self-reference that can occur in all media or media artifacts, for instance literature, film, painting, TV series, comic strips, or video games. It includes all references to, or comments on, a specific medium, ...

s. Most of those episodes don't have an ending. Recurring characters are Bronski Proko and sometimes his family: wife Olga, kids Paganini (or just Nini) and Georges, and a non-speaking cat with an otherwise human behaviour, named Clarke Gaybeul (deliberately homophone to

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

References

Edika publications in ''Fluide Glacial''
an

– BDoubliées

– Bedetheque Footnotes

External links

on Lambiek Comiclopedia
Edika : fluide glacial sur la BD
1940 births French cartoonists French comics artists French comics writers French comics Living people French male writers Egyptian cartoonists Egyptian comics artists {{Europe-comics-creator-stub