'Az utolsó levél' (O'Henry adaptation).
József Sváb is a Hungarian illustrator and comic artist, based in Nyíregyháza in northeastern Hungary. He is the author of several historically oriented comics for the puzzle magazines Füles and Kedvenc, as well as a guide book about drawing comics, 'Képregényiskola' (1992).
Early life and career
Born in Hernádcéce in 1963, József Sváb enjoyed reading adventure stories in magazines like Pajtás, Füles and Magyar Ifjúság while growing up. As a child, he already drew his own interpretations of the stories he read. He improved his drawing skills during his high school years, and later enrolled at the George Bessenyei Teacher Training College (Bessenyei György Tanárképző Főiskola) in Nyíregyháza. He graduated from the Geography Drawing Department in 1987. Early in his career, he participated in the activities of the experimental comics group Kísérleti Képregény Studió, which was founded in 1985 by the journalist, graphic artist and comic historian Sándor Kertész. The group exhibited in Hungary and Italy. Around the same period, Sváb was also making illustrations for the sci-fi magazine Galaktika.
'Cochise'.
Early comics work
After a short stint as a drawing teacher, József Sváb landed a job with the Italian-Hungarian publishing company Linea in 1989. His drawings and articles appeared in several of the company's publications, most notably Krampusz magazine, for which he made the title comic (1990). Menő Manó ran his comics 'Cochise' (1990), which later appeared as 'Az apacsok főnöke' ("The Apache Chief", 1993) in Füles, and 'A bölcsesség ékköve' ("The Jewel of Wisdom", 1990). For Menő Manó, Sváb also wrote a series of articles on the art of drawing comics, which later resulted in the first Hungarian guidebook on the subject, 'Képregényiskola' ("Comics School", 1992). When the Linea publishing house closed down, Sváb set up his own company in 1991, and has made designs and illustrations for mainly historical and science fiction books since then.
'Sherlock Holmes'.
Füles and other magazines
Since the mid-2000s, József Sváb has returned to drawing comics. One of his first new works was 'Sivatagi bor' (2006), based on Max Brand's 'Wine on the Desert' in the comic magazine Fekete-Fehér. However, his later work has been mostly printed in the puzzle magazines Füles and Kedvenc however. Most of these comics were historical and based on classic literature. For Füles, he made serials based on Baroness Orczy's 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', the Oscar Wilde play 'Bunbury' and the 'Sherlock Holmes' novels 'The Adventure of the Dancing Men', 'The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist' and 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band'. His short comics based on O'Henry stories appeared in both Füles and Kedvenc. Sváb additionally made a short story about the Spring Revolution of Prague for the literary magazine Szépirodalmi Figyelő, and did a contribution to the anthology 'Seuso-Mozaik' about a Roman Age treasure.
Recognition
Since 2006 several Sváb's older works have been reprinted, at first in the 'Fekete-Fehér Képregényantológia' anthology series, and then in self-published limited editions, like the 'Sherlock Holmes Comics' series (2018- ). In 2018, József Sváb won the Pál Korcsmáros Award, a Hungarian comics award established by Képes Kiadó and the Hungarian Comics Association (MKSZ). As of 2021, József Sváb is a VIP member of the Hungarian Sherlock Holmes Fan Club.
