Ivica Bednjanec was a famous comic artist, poet and writer from Zagreb, Croatia. He was formerly a professor at the Zagreb Graphic Arts School and he has written and drawn comics during a prolific career of over 40 years. Bednjanec began his career as a lithographer with the printing firm Ognjen Prica in Zagreb. He finished his higher education in 1962, but he had already published is first comic, 'Stanoje Goranin', in 1952. He won a prize for his comic strip 'Crveni se šuma' ("The wood is becoming red") in 1957. Between 1963 and 1968 he worked on a series of historical adventure comics set in the Croastian history, that were comprised in 30 books. He has also made historical comics about World War II and the Mexican revolution.
Bednjanec is best known for his two serials that ran for more than 30 years in the "tweens" magazine Modra lasta. 'Genije' was about a kid with penchant for strange inventions with hilarious consequences, while 'Osmoškolci' was a teenage drama starring two girls. Other famous creations by Bednjanec were the crook 'Nježni' and the temperamental Kindergarten kid 'Durica'.
