Kinderland (comic)
| Comic | |
|---|---|
| title | Kinderland |
| author | Mawil |
| publishing company | Reproduced |
| First publication | May 2014 |
Kinderland is a comic by the German draftsman Mawil , which deals with the life of children and young people in the GDR in Berlin in 1989 . The almost 300-page work was published by Reprodukt in 2014 .
action
Mirco Watzke is in the seventh grade of the POS " Tamara Bunke ". He is hard working at school, just not very good at sports. However, he likes to play table tennis and does better than most of the others. Mirco tries hard to fulfill his duties as a young pioneer , as an altar boy and as the brother of his little sister. After betraying Dominik Boltenhagen, an older student who burned a table tennis ball, to the pioneer director of the class, Mirco is afraid of the older students' revenge and that the others will consider him to be a scared man and an informant.
When a new student, Torsten Maslowski, is transferred to Mirco's parallel class, the two become friends. But Mirco is not sure what to think of his new friend, who was transferred to another school for his behavior. Other students are suspicious because Torsten is the only one not to be a young pioneer. Torsten himself is bitter - his mother has raised him alone since his father fled to West Berlin . However, Mirco also admires that Torsten can show strength and assert himself over others. Torsten incites him to do some nonsense, but Mirco can get him excited about table tennis and thus integrate him into the group of friends. After another confrontation, there is a table tennis game between Mirco and Torsten and Dominik and his friend in the schoolyard. The game continues to grow and culminates in a brawl that is ended by the teachers. Like the others, Mirco gets a 4 in behavior in his exercise book. To help him, Torsten forged the signature of Mirco's parents underneath.
For the birthday of the pioneering organization, Mirco's class wants to host a table tennis tournament. Against the resistance of the pioneer leader it finally succeeds that Mirco is allowed to organize the tournament. But when Mirco's parents find out that the signature under the amount note is forged, he gets house arrest and is not allowed to go to the tournament. On the day of the tournament, however, he decides to just stay at school and be there. Then suddenly his parents appear, because the border has been opened, and take him to visit West Berlin. There he buys a table tennis ladle . When he comes back to visit Torsten, they initially argue, even though Mirco had bought the ladle for him. But eventually they get along again and even Torsten's father returns.
reception
The comic won the 2014 Max and Moritz Prize in the “Best German-language comic” category. The laudation describes a “coming-of-age story that counts with dynamic sequences of images, a perfect sense of punch lines and cleverly designed characters” . The self-discovery of the main character becomes a “metaphor for the liberation of East Germans from the SED guardianship” . The "in-depth story despite its casual funny style" is told in a rousing, universal, funny way and only occasionally shows the state of repression. The main theme is the dreams and friendships of the young protagonists.
Individual evidence
- ↑ ISBN 978-3-943143-90-4 (1st edition, Berlin 2014)
- ^ Prize winners - Mawil children's area. Erlangen Comic Salon, archived from the original on December 16, 2014 ; Retrieved June 29, 2014 .