Schmidt Comics (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Schmidt
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: German cartoonist Erich Schmidt was born on March 11, 1924, in Berlin, Germany. At the age of just three, he showed the genius of a future master of comics. Once, when young Schmidt drew a horse with chalk on the floor, his uncle Gustav was amazed and exclaimed, "Wonderful, the horse is even smiling!" This was Schmidt's first successful work. Schmidt's father was a diligent and competent post office employee who greatly admired his son's talent and wanted to raise him as a musician. One time, he bought an old mandolin to teach his son to play, and the clever young Schmidt quickly mastered the instrument. However, he had little interest in music and often placed old novels on open sheet music while playing the mandolin, idly strumming with his fingers and reading the books, sometimes even drawing various animal faces on the staff when he was happy. As a result, Schmidt was often scolded by his father, but over time, his reluctant father gave up on the idea of raising him as a musician.
Young Schmidt had an extraordinary imagination and was particularly interested in drawing classes during his studies, as freehand drawing allowed his imagination to soar and brought him great joy. However, still life painting was a different matter for him. Every time he faced the still-life assignments given by his teacher, he felt as if he were tied by an invisible rope, unable to overcome an insurmountable barrier, making his still-life paintings lack vitality.
Schmidt was quite skilled in boxing in his youth. Despite his short stature, his movements and steps were agile and flexible. He participated in several public boxing matches and won enthusiastic cheers, but one match left him defeated, with his left eye swollen and bruised, looking disheveled. Misfortune followed one after another. At this time, Schmidt had just started dating a girl, but lacking experience in relationships, he timidly tried to approach her, only to have his other eye also bruised by her. The scarred Schmidt infuriated his father, who opposed him from boxing again and strictly forbade him from associating with the blonde girl.
Schmidt's family was not very wealthy, so to make a living, he worked as a supporting actor in a theater troupe. In the final scene of The Wanderer at the Goethe Theater, according to the plot, the actress Elizabeth passionately embraced and kissed the warrior played by Schmidt. To his surprise, Schmidt, who had never kissed a woman before, was extremely flustered, dropped his wooden gun, and quickly fled backstage. The director behind the scenes flew into a rage, pointing a trembling finger at the exit and ordering him out! As a result, the grand performance ended in chaos.
During the turbulent days of World War II, unemployment and hunger threatened everyone. Schmidt wandered about until he finally found a job making iron stoves at an iron factory. Once, Schmidt made three iron stoves and earned 40 marks, but to his dismay, the greedy factory owner sold them for six times the price. The moneyed owner, laughing triumphantly while, deeply wounded Schmidt with the feeling of being exploited, leaving a lifelong impression.
In the turbulent years of war, Schmidt's girlfriend Niksi endured great hardship to find him. Having suffered the pain of separation, Schmidt, fearing he would lose the beloved woman, quickly took her to register for marriage. In 1947, Schmidt finally returned to his beloved hometown of Berlin. Faced with the ruins of the war, the young couple struggled to find a suitable place to live and had to move from rented accommodation. To make a living, Schmidt continued working as a fitter, and in his spare time, he constantly drew cartoons. He submitted his works to democratic publications, which were warmly welcomed. Since 1947, the popular youth magazine Start began to publish his cartoons, marking a major turning point in Schmidt's life. The following year, he appeared as a cartoonist in the Berlin Daily. Like the great cartoonists B?ll, Pi?t, and Gullbrandson, Schmidt also built an immortal legacy through newspapers.
Since 1948, The Berlin Daily published Schmidt's works every day. For decades, readers of The Berlin Daily would open the two pages featuring Schmidt's cartoons before breakfast each morning to see what humorous take he had on world events. His works gained worldwide acclaim. In 1957, the German Journalists' Association awarded him a medal named after a famous writer in recognition of his contributions. Later, he was successively honored with the Fatherland Medal (1965), the Labor Banner Medal (1969), and the Goethe Medal of Berlin (1971).
Schmidt was an extremely hardworking cartoonist. In addition to the numerous political cartoons in The Berlin Daily, he published a collection of cartoons titled Humor based on his life experiences, as well as a series of beloved humorous life cartoons titled Funny People, among others. A decade ago, our publishing house published two collections of Schmidt's cartoons (one was the third volume of The World Series of Comic Classics and the other was the comic section of The Complete Works of Schmidt), both of which were beloved by Chinese readers and were reprinted multiple times. After many years of effort, we have finally obtained the exclusive rights to publish the Chinese edition of Schmidt's Comics. This collection includes Schmidt's comic strips, editorial cartoons, and science cartoons, providing a comprehensive reflection of the artistic style of this world humor master. The German materials in this book were translated by Hu Suping and others.