Haplea (1925)
Marin Iorda was an artist and illustrator from Bucharest, Romania. His studies were cut short due to the outbreak of World War I. He began his career as an apprentice printer, and began a collaboration with the magazine Revista copiilor şi tinerimii, that was edited by C. G. Costa-Foru, in 1919.
With former parliamentarian Nicolae Batzaria, he launched the magazine Dimineaţa Copiilor and the character 'Haplea' in 1924. 'Haplea' became one of Romania's most iconic characters, whose stories gave a satirical view on the country's society of the time. Iorda also produced a movie adaptation starring the character in 1927, which was in fact one of the first Romanian animated films. The character's adventures were later drawn by Pascal Radulesco for Universal Copiilor, and 'Haplea' books have continued to be reprinted even after the fall of communism in 1989.
Iorda ran Dimineaţa Copiilor on his own from the departure of Batzaria in 1936 until the publication ban of leftwing magazines in 1938. Marin Iorda worked in theatres until 1970, when he revived 'Haplea' for Luminiţa magazine with scriptwriter Tudor Muşatescu.