Branislav "Bane" Kerac (born September 7, 1952,

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

creator, known best for his series '' Cat Claw''. In the US he also published under his

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

H.M. Baker. Credits in American comics include '' The Black Pearl'' and ''

Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

'' for

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

. He was a drummer for the heavy metal band

GeroMetal {{Infobox musical artist , name = GeroMetal , image = , caption = , image_size = 250 , origin = Novi Sad, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia , genre = Hard rock, heavy metal, comedy rock , years_activ ...

Professional career

Kerac fell in love with comics reading ''

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Re ...

'', ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

'' and ''

Chlorophylle Chlorophylle was a Belgian comics series and Raymond Macherot's best known work, alongside '' Sibylline''. It is a fantasy comic about anthropomorphic forest animals, including the title character Chlorophylle, who is a dormouse. Description C ...

'' in the Yugoslav ''Kekec'' magazine, but what inspired him to pursue a professional career was the first appearance of

Romita Romita is a Mexican city (and Municipalities of Guanajuato, municipality) located in the Southwest region of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 442.10 square kilometres (1.46% of the surface of the state) and is bordered to ...

’s ''Daredevil'' in ''Zenit''. Kerac debuted in 1975 with ''Lieutenant Tara'', a WW2 comic he co-created with his childhood friend,

comic book writer A script is a document describing the narrative and dialogue of a comic book in detail. It is the comic book equivalent of a television program teleplay or a film screenplay. In comics, a script may be preceded by a plot outline, and is almost ...

Svetozar Obradović Svetozar Obradović Toza (12 November 1950 – 15 August 2020) was a Serbian writer, best known for his comic books. He also wrote articles, essays, stories, books and radio dramas. Professional career Obradović debuted with ''Lieutenant Tara ...

. The duo went on to produce '' Kobra'', the most popular Yugoslav title of the 1980s. Kerac’s super-heroine Cat Claw reached even greater success abroad. In addition, he spearheaded teams of writers and artists that worked on the licensed ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'' and ''Blek'' comics. Kerac was also involved in the production of ''

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

'' and '' Lun, kralj ponoći'' comics, titles based on the Yugoslav

pulp novels Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

. In between professional assignments, Kerac worked on his labor of love, Billy the Spit. Finally, he created or co-created a number of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, war, fantasy, noir and humorous shorts, published in various

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

. In the 1990s the local comic book industry collapsed with the breakup of Yugoslavia. Kerac turned to music and

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

, doing occasional

work-for-hire A work made for hire (work for hire or WFH), in copyright law in the United States, is a work that is subject to copyright and is created by employees as part of their job or some limited types of works for which all parties agree in writing to the ...

for foreign publishers. After the local scene experienced a revival in the 2000s, he returned to drawing, mostly working for publishers in France and Italy. Kerac was a member of the editorial board of revamped '' Stripoteka'' from 1999 to 2015. In 2005 Kerac was awarded Special Award to General Contribution to Serbian Comics, a lifetime achievement award at the International Comics Festival in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. Kerac’s influences include Silver Age

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

comics as well as

bandes dessinées Bandes may refer to: * BANDES, The Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank * Susan Bandes, American lawyer * Efim Samuilovich Bandes (1866–1927), Russian-Jewish political activist, known in the United States as Louis Miller {{dis ...

, but also

and action movies. His comics often feature a number of cameos of his friends and celebrities, humorous self-portraits, references to heavy metal music, and other

Easter eggs Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...

. The character of Cameron Hill in ''Cat Claw'' was modeled after the artist. Kerac played him in a

TV short A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

titled ''City Cat'' in 1992.

Personal life

Kerac’s surname is

toponymic Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a p ...

and denotes a person from Ker (presently the village of

Zmajevo Zmajevo (; hu, Ókér) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Vrbas municipality, in the South Bačka District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 4,361 people (2002 census). It has lak ...

in Serbia). Kerac lives with his family in Novi Sad. He studied

stomatology An oral medicine or stomatology doctor (or stomatologist) has received additional specialized training and experience in the diagnosis and management of oral mucosal abnormalities (growths, ulcers, infection, allergies, immune-mediated and autoim ...

but dropped out because he decided it was “better to become a good artist than a bad dentist.” He met his wife Ljiljana when she was hired as a

letterer A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comi ...

. She also featured as minor characters in a few of his comics. Their son Tara was named after Kerac’s character Lt Tara. The boy in a Tarzan episode called “The Boy from Stars” was modeled after him. Both the father and the son play music. From 1992 to 2000 Kerac was a drummer for GeroMetal, who released two

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

albums - ''Der rauch am waßer'' in 1993 and ''Cat Claw'' in 1996. He has also done

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

for a number of other bands. His other son, Nebojša, was named after Daredevil and is also a musician and graphic designer.

Bibliography

*''Lieutenant Tara'', written by Svetozar Obradović *''Kobra'', written by Svetozar Obradović *''Cat Claw'', written by Svetozar Obradović, Slavko Draginčić and Branislav Kerac *''Blek'', written by Branislav Kerac et al. *''Tarzan'', written by Branislav Kerac et al. *''Billy the Spit'', written by Branislav Kerac et al. *''Balkan Express'', with

Branko Plavšić Branko Plavšić (1949 – 2011) was a Serbian comic book artist, best known for his work on ''Tarzan'' and '' Blek''. Professional career Still a student, Plavšić published his early drawings in ''Male novine'' (Oslobođenje, Sarajevo). Ins ...

, written by

Gordan Mihić Gordan Mihić ( sr-Cyrl, Гордан Михић; 19 September 1938 – 11 August 2019) was a Serbian playwright best known for his work on movie scripts for ''Black Cat, White Cat'', ''Time of the Gypsies'', '' Balkan Express'' and for the TV s ...

*''Ghost'', written by various *''The Black Pearl'', written by Eric Johnson and

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards f ...

*'' Zagor'', written by Moreno Burattini *''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...

,'' written by Steve Shepherd

Sources

External links

Brief Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerac, Bane Serbian cartoonists 1952 births Living people Artists from Novi Sad Serbian comics artists Serbian comics writers Serbian illustrators Serbian rock drummers Serbian heavy metal musicians Musicians from Novi Sad