KIRAL'S PEKOS BİLL
Pekos Bill (or.: Pecos Bill;  created by Guido Martina in 1949) was the first western comics magazine in Turkey. According to comics historian Levent Cantek, its first issue was reportedly published directly by the Turkish representative of the Italian rights owners Mondadıri in 1951, but the magazine was soon taken over by Alaeddin Kıral's Kıral Neşriyat Yurdu. Interestingly, it was banned in 1953, but continued under the title Koca Teks until the ban was lifted in 1954 upon appeal.
To the left is the inside of the magazine's covers. Below are covers of issues which feature an adventure involving a circus and runaway animals from it. Half of the pages of the magazine were in color and half in black-white. First and last pages featured splash panels, examples of which are shown below right.
In 1953, Kıral put out two other comics magazines:
Oklahoma, a short-lived western comics, and Köroğlu, a comics featuring the adventures of a medieval Turkish hero.
Click here for other Turkish comics publishers
Prepared by Kaya Özkaracalar