The second part in a thrilling, dramatic series about one of the most remarkable figures from Cold War Czechoslovakia.

Comics

A continuation of the series based on the bestselling novel by David Jan Žák, The Return of the King of the Šumava, inspired by real-life events, in which the former border guard Josef Hasil, the legendary King of the Šumava, escapes from a labour camp to Bavaria along with refugees from Czechoslovakia. This makes him a sought-after individual by both sides’ counterintelligence and the Czech secret police, including his adversary Captain Fišer. We find ourselves back in the border region, but also at the headquarters of State Security during the Cold War. Just as thrilling as the first volume and with the same real flesh-and-blood hero.

About the authors

Ondřej Kavalír (1980) is a writer for the magazine Raketa and an editor, dramaturg and translator. He studied political science, history and film science and comparative studies at Charles University in Prague. He worked as editor of the revue Labyrint and for many years as an essayist and film and literary critic for the magazine A2. He is the recipient of a Golden Ribbon for best translation and a Muriel prize for best translated comic book.

Vojtěch Mašek (1977) is a comics writer and artist, author of film screenplays and theatre plays. The film Křižáček (Little Crusader, 2017), which he co-wrote received the main award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Along with Markéta Hajská and Máša Bořkovcová, he created the triptych O přibjehi (2010), commenting on the fate of Czech and Slovak Roma. In 2019, he received three Muriel prizes for the books Sestry Dietlovy (The Dietl Sisters, 2018) and Svatá Barbora (Saint Barbara, 2018). Mašek is also the author of the internet hit Recykliteratura, which builds on the avant-garde tradition of associative montages using photographs and texts found in books and magazines.

Karel Osoha (1991) is one of the leading Czech comics authors. He won the Muriel Award for Best Drawing for Češi 1948: Jak se KSČ chopila moci (Czechs 1948: How the Communist Party Seized Power, 2016). The illustrations for the book Prašina (Dustzone, 2018) and the first volume of the comics trilogy Návrat Krále Šumavy (The Return of the King of the Šumava, 2018) earned him a nomination for the Czech Grand Design Awards.

With slight exaggeration it could be said that whatever discipline Vojtěch Mašek (1977) turns his hand to, his work always meets with incredible success: he was one of the screenwriters on the film Křižáček (The Little Crusader, 2017), which won best film at the festival in Karlovy Vary, while the children’s book Panáček, pecka, švestka, poleno a zase panáček (Puppet, Plum Pit, Plum, Plank and Back to Puppet, 2018), story by Mašek and art by Chrudoš Valoušek, won the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award. However, he is most at home in the world of comics, which he creates either on his own or in partnership with other artists and writers. Since 2002, he and Džian Baban have been developing the surreally farcical world of Monstrkabaret Freda Brunolda (Fred Brunold’s Monster Cabaret), which has appeared in five comic books, more than a dozen stage adaptations and in short films. They have also written two award-winning graphic novels with art by Jiří Grus. He also recently worked with the writer Marek Šindelka on the contemporary graphic novel Svatá Barbora (Saint Barbara, art by Marek Pokorný, 2018), and his list of projects continues to grow.