'Stefekove Pustolovine'.
Oto Reisinger was a Croatian cartoonist and caricaturist. He made both political cartoons and more straightforward one-panel cartoons. As a comic artist he is best known for 'Štefekove pustolovine' (1964–1966).
Early life
Oton Antun Reisinger was born in 1927 in Murska Sobota, at that time still part of the Kingdom of Serbians, Croatians and Slovenes. He had his first work published in Šilo in 1942. As he studied architecture he published caricatures and cartoons in the student magazine Studentski list. His graphic style was very much influenced by Ronald Searle.
Early career
After his graduation he was a regular contributor to Kerempuh weekly humor magazine between 1946 and 1950. He became house cartoonist of the magazine Vjesnik, where he published the comic series 'Pero', from a script by Niksa Fulgosi.His work has also appeared in many foreign magazines, including Quick and Pardon in Germany, Panorama from The Netherlands, Nebelspalter in Switzerland and the UK magazine Punch.
Controversy
In 1962 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the Yugoslavian capital Zagreb, where he saw a cartoon by Reisinger which offended him. The drawing in question depicted Khrushchev visiting a hairdresser, who asks: "Should I trim your moustache like last time?", while a portrait of Stalin can be seen in the background, thus implying that Khrushchev's policies were basically not that different from Stalinism. The Soviet leader asked for the cartoon to be banned.
Stefekove pustolovine
Reisinger also achieved great popularity with the kids' gang comic 'Štefekove pustolovine', of which five episodes were serialized in Plavi Vjesnik between 1964 and 1966.
Animation career
He wrote the script of the animated short 'Generali, vojskovodje, admirali' (1978) by Branko Ranitovic and was a development artist for another animated short, 'Tisucu devetsto devedeset prva' (1991) by Stjepan Bartolic, Darko Bucan, Ivan Cacic, Darko Cesar, Stiv Cinik, Dunja Crnkovic, Zvonimir Delac, Radovan Devlic, Darko Krec and Ivan Pahernik.
Album cover designs
Reisinger furthermore designed album covers for artists like Mile Bogunović ('Džo', 1964), the Trio Savinja ('Veseli Šoferi', 1964), Ljubiša Pavić, Mirko Vojković and Stevo Vujatović ('Doživljaji Detektiva Hari-Lajma', 1964), Nela Eržišnik (Predavanje O Modi /Prenos Nogometne Utakmice', 1964), Branka Veselinović ('Ravnopravnost U Braku' /'Parodija Na Naše Pevače', 1965) and Nela Eržišnik ('Tetka Ika I Huligani'/'Marica - Muzički Stručnjak', 1970).
Death and legacy
Reisinger died in Zagreb on 6 April 2016 at the age of 89. During his lifetime, he has produced over 70.000 cartoons.
