Karaoğlan is a Turkish historical comic book that was created in 1963 by Suat Yalaz. It was first published on January 3, 1962 daily in Akşam newspaper. Karaoğlan was started to be published by Yalaz as a separate comics magazine on April 1, 1963; and was continued to be published by various publishers until 2002.https://www.ntv.com.tr/video/sanat/kara-murat-ve-karaoglanin-yaraticilari-ayni-gun-vefat-etti
Synopsis The comic's story takes place between the 12th and 13th centuries in Central Asia during the reign of Genghis Khan. The main character, Karaoğlan, is a young Uygur Turkic adventurer who worked as a scout in Genghis Khan's army. Karaoğlan is portrayed as a 23-year-old adventurous and brave youngster. He is nomadic and travels throughout Eurasia in his stories. He traveled as far as China, India, Constantinople and Siberia. He is accompanied by his faithful friend Balaban, an ex-captain in the Mongolian army and his father Baybora. His nemesis is Camoka, a Mongolian bandit who raids villages with his men.
Karaoğlan has an interesting origin story. His mother was killed in a tribal blood feud and his father (which he will reunite with years later) Baybora had to run while Karaoğlan was just a baby. He was raised by a woodsman. Because he was never officially named with a ritual by his father (this was the tradition in those times) the boy remained nameless. The woodsman called him "black boy" (karaoğlan) because of his long black hair.
Suat Yalaz based his stories on Turkish history and folklore. He was faithful to the language and daily life of that era. Because it originally started as a daily newspaper comic strip, stories were focused for a mature audience with serious issues of war, politics, history and eroticism. Humor is also an important part of stories. Characters are never portrayed as two-dimensional heroes or villains. The socio-political aura of 1960s and 1970s Turkey is also reflected in Yalaz's stories.
International publishing Karaoğlan is the first Turkish comic book to be published internationally. After Yalaz moved to France, Karaoğlan was published in Paris with the title of "Kebir" for seven years. Kebir comic books got successful and began distribution to French-speaking regions of Europe and Canada, as well as north African countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco etc. The Kebir comics started publishing as monthly, then turned to bi-weekly. This success brought new editions of Kebir comics in English and Arabic (in Iraq under the title "Desert Eagle" at the end of the 1970s). A Russian edition with the title "БОЭКАШИ" (Bozkashii) was also planned by the French publishers but later was canceled.Hürriyet Gazetesi, April 7, 1989, Suat Yalaz interview
List of adventures
Asya Kaplanı Baybora'nın Oğlu Altay'dan Gelen Yiğit Semerkand Casusu Buzlu Çöller Tilkisi Yeşil Ejder Kanlı Saltanat (Uğursuz Saltanat) Bizanslı Güzel Vasiliya Tek Gözlü Albız Asya'yı Titreten Korku Samara-Şeyhin Kızı Ötügen'in Üç Atlısı Sarı Bayrak Yavru Düşman Çöl Şeytanı Ölüm Yoldaşı Bizanslı Zarba Şeytan'ın Çakalları Çayır Korsanları Dokuz Tuğlu Kahraman Uzun Saçlı Kahraman Gökçe'nin Baykuşu Cengiz Han'ın Habercisi Bağan Tigin Ergenekon Kızıl Kule Tiyen-Şan Canavarı Kılıçların Gölgesinde Ölüm Süvarileri Uygur Güzeli Sarı Büyü Camoka'nın İntikamı Alamut Kalesi Kurt Başlı Sancak Tibet Fedaisi Ölüm Geçidi Yeşil Gözlü Dilber Kanlı Tuzak Kudüs İlahesi Üç Gözlü Mabut Kırbaç Altında Gök Han'ın Mirası Kafkas Çiceği Kaplan'ın Adaleti Ulah Han'ın Gazabı Dağlar Benimdir Dağlar Benimdir 2 Fedailer Alayı Bozkurt Gelini Kara Panter Kara Panter 2 Cengiz'in Gazabı Cengiz'in Gazabı 2 Her Kılıç Bir Kın İçin Hind Yıldızı Dünyalar Hakimi Dağlar Fatihi Camoka'nın dönüşü Deniz Ejderi Düşman Uyumaz Sarı Baltuk Hocanın Sırrı Suruç Dağlarında İnsan Avı Ötügen'in Dört Atlısı Acuna Bedel Oğul Selçuklunun Şeref Sözü Tumanbay'ın Gelini Kayıp Ülke Fırat'ın Sahipleri Mor Kahküllü Şehzade Ullimalı Kanlı Sultan Çin Duvarlarında Dehşet Demir Maske Çakal Adamlar Bir Ölümcül Oyun Bozkaşi İnce Yılan Hanı Kul Bakay'ın Mezarı Banı Çicek Ya Devlet Başa Ya Guzgun Leşe Delice'nin 4 Kızı
Adaptations Karaoğlan was first adapted to movie by Suat Yalaz as writer, director and producer in 1965. Yalaz searched for a long period for the actor to play Karaoğlan and found a young, (then) unknown theater actor from Ankara, Kartal Tibet. Yalaz and Tibet made five movies from 1965 to 1967, which brought great fame to the actor. Suat Yalaz replaced Tibet with Kuzey Vargın in 1969 movie Karaoğlan-Samara the Daughter of Sheik. In 1972 Tibet returned to the role for a last time in Karaoğlan Geliyor, which was directed by Mehmet Aslan.https://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=karaoglan YearFilmDirectorActor1965 Karaoğlan - Altay'dan Gelen Yiğit (The Hero From Altai) Suat Yalaz Kartal Tibet1966 Karaoğlan - Baybora'nın Oğlu (The Son of Baybora) Suat Yalaz Kartal Tibet1966 Karaoğlan - Camoka'nın İntikamı (Revenge of Camoka) Suat Yalaz Kartal Tibet1967 Karaoğlan - Bizanslı Zorba (Tyrant of Byzantium) Suat Yalaz Kartal Tibet1967 Karaoğlan - Yeşil Ejder (The Green Dragon) Suat Yalaz Kartal Tibet1969 Karaoğlan - Samara Şeyhin Kızı (Samarra Daughter of Sheik) Suat Yalaz Kuzey Vargın1972 Karaoğlan Geliyor (Karaoğlan is coming) Mehmet Aslan Kartal Tibet
Karaoğlan was also adapted for television as a mini-series in 2002. Series was directed by Cem Akyoldaş and Erdogan Engin. Kaan Urgancıoğlu played Karaoğlan, and Baybora was played by Serdar Gökhan. On June 24, 2010, in a TV interview Yalaz mentioned his new Karaoğlan movie project which is early stages of development. The new movie was released in 2013, starring Volkan Keskin as Karaoğlan, Hakan Karahan as Baybora, Müge Boz as Bayırgülü, and Hasan Yalnızoğlu as Camoka. The movie is directed by Kudret Sabancı.
Notes and references
External links http://www.suatyalaz.com