WITH WHOM TO DRINK BRANDY

Goran Đukić “Gorski” (Sarajevo, January 11, 1956 – Novi Sad, May 11, 2021) is a Serbian comic artist and illustrator, best known for the series “Tarzan”, illustrations for Politikin Zabavnik, as well as comics and film concepts for American companies. He was born in Sarajevo in 1956, and lived in Novi Sad since 1970. His first comic “Osvetnici”, based on the script of Svetozar Obradović, was published in Spunk novosti in 1984, and then immediately published in the German magazine Schwere Metall. Then he worked on the licensed comic “Buffalo Bill” for the publishing house “Dnevnik”. In 1987, he drew the “Ballad of the Slavs” for the Val strip magazine. For “Dečje novine” he made comics “Legion of the Immortals” and “The big and the small” which were published in Gigant and Horor. He accepted the offer of the publishing house “Forum – Marketprint” and worked on more than 10 episodes of “Tarzan” published in several countries. In the early 1990s, he created about twenty horror and magic comics for the German publisher “Bastei Verlag”.

За „Malibu Comics“ из Сан Дијега, под псеудонимом George Dove ради серијале „Prototype“, „The Solution“ и „Ultraverse Year Zero: The Death of The Squad“. За издавачку кућу „Dark Horse“ урадио је епизоду стрипа „Ghost“. Сарађивао је са америчком фирмом која се бавила презентацијом филмских пројеката „Platinum Studios LLC“, од којих је најзанимљивији „Cowboys and Aliens“.

In the 21st century, he regularly did illustrations for Politikin Zabavnik and illustrated books related to the history of our nations. He signed these works as “Goran Gorski”.
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Second Serbian Uprising, he illustrated a unique comic exhibition titled “Evo mene, eto vas: Sećanja kneza Miloša na Drugi srpski ustanak” on the initiative of the Historical Museum of Serbia in 2015. The exhibition was set up in Prince Miloš’s residence on Topcider in Belgrade, in the form of large comic panels depicting the key moments of the Second Serbian Uprising through the recollections of Prince Miloš Obrenović on his deathbed. This comics exhibition was published in 2016 as an album published by the Historical Museum of Serbia, in a thousand copies. In 2018, the artist created the cover, a couple of illustrations and the comic “Vultures” for the “Linije Fronta” comic book edition, dedicated to the Great War of 1914-1918, especially about the fate of the Serbian people in the war.

The comic “Vultures” tells about a Serbian soldier who takes care of war orphans by stealing from dead soldiers. The man gets into a verbal conflict with another Serbian soldier, who after his death assumes the role of the orphans’ guardian. Goran Đukić was a founding member of the Association of Comic Artists of Serbia, which organized his first solo exhibition in 2011: Goran Đukić Gorski: Strip i ilustracija (Ciklus samostalnih izložbi USUS 1), Student Cultural Center, Belgrade; selector: Svetozar Obradović. In May 2019, Đukić became a board member of the Association of Comic Artists of Serbia.

Branko Popović was born in 1981 in Valjevo. From the early childhood he has shown a talent for music. His performing career already began in primary school with domestic and foreign pop and rock music. In 1998, he began studying with the renowned professor from the Faculty of Music, Miroslav Karlović – who has remained his mentor to this day.

From 2004 to 2007, Branko played in The Belgrade Dihieland Orchestra, with which he recorded four CDs: Moon over Bourbon Street, Jazz Museum, What a Dixie We have In Gospel and National Treasure. In Dublin, in 2006, he auditioned and received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. In 2007, he went to Boston to study.

At Berklee (Berklee College of Music), he learned from the best professors of today, some of whom are: Kim Plainfield, Jon Hazilla, Yoron Israel, Ralph Peterson, Kenwood Dennard, Dave Dicenso, Jamey Haddad, Mark Walker, Berthram Lehmann, Skip Hadden, Steve Wilkes, Mike Mangini, Casey Scheuerell, Dave Weigert, Eguie Castrillo, Mike Ringquist, Richard Flanagan, Dean Anderson, Jackie Santos, Rod Morgenstein, Terry Lyne Carrington, Bob Kaufman, Joe Galeota, Marko Djordjevic…

During his studies at Berklee, Branko created his own style of playing, combining Balkan odd rhythms, thus creating very complex rhythmic structures such as 17/8, 27/8, 29/8, 33/8… At Berklee College, in March 2010, by the decision of the dean, the head of the department and a professor, Branko received the most prestigious award in the Percussion Department, Avedis Zildjian Award. He graduated with high honors as a Magna Cum Laude student in August 2013.

He performed at festivals and held drumming clinics all over the world (Germany, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Sweden, America, China, Croatia, Switzerland…). He is the founder of the drumming institute: www.bubnjarskiinstitut.com

Dejan Marić, a.k.a. Little Hammer (1964, Sremska Mitrovica). He has been doing digital illustrations since 2016. He has had solo exhibitions in Sremska Mitrovica (Book store) and Belgrade (Šikarica café, Polet, Čumić, Hilton, N.EON gallery). He frequently publishes his works on his FB profile.