The king of Slavic comics, Ivan Shenshin

After the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Russians found themselves in exile around the world, with the largest colony settling in Yugoslavia. The Russians made a significant contribution to the development of the new state: lawyers helped organize the legislation, architects designed important buildings, musicians created opera troupes, and artists drew comics. Among such talents was Ivan Shenshin.

Since 1920, Shenshin worked in Belgrade as a minor clerk, and in his free time, he engaged in drawing caricatures and scenes from everyday life. His friends persuaded him to show his works to the magazine "Evening Thursday," and soon he became a staff artist. "He began creating short stories, the predecessors of comics," notes Serbian art historian Irina Anastasievich. Shenshin easily invented plots, combining Russian, Serbian, and American heroes, without thinking about copyright, which hardly concerned anyone at the time. In one of his comics, a Swedish oddball named Adamson lived with a cat named Fliks and Mickey Mouse, renamed to Miki Mouse. This character became so beloved by children that even in post-war Yugoslavia, despite Disney's claims, Miki Mouse remained popular until the 1970s.

Before World War II, Shenshin began working on three interesting novels: "The Wizard Khotabych," "Princess Nina Dzhavakha," and "Marko Kraljevic" based on Serbian songs. He wrote the texts himself and proved to be a talented screenwriter. Russian folklore was also popular in pre-war Yugoslavia, so Shenshin created the comic "Volga, Volga" about the adventures of Stepan Razin, as well as illustrated "Prince Mikhail Sitsky" and "Gazavat" about the conquest of the Caucasus.

The artist called himself "a cheerful man with an uncheerful fate." His life ended tragically: on November 16, 1944, Ivan Ivanovich was shot for "collaboration with the occupiers," which consisted of creating illustrations for the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales for a German publishing house.