Jucika

Jucika (Template:IPA-hu) is a Hungarian comic strip, made by Pál Pusztai from 1957 until his death in 1970. Its title character is a young, attractive woman who gets into a variety of different situations, often risqué and suggestive. The comic often satirizes and parodies sexism, with many of the strips revolving around unwanted attention from men and how she sometimes uses it to her advantage.

Starting in 1957, Jucika was initially published in the magazine Érdekes Újsag, and was later moved to Lúdas Matyi due to its popularity. It continued in these pages until the death of Pál on September 11, 1970. There were over 500 comic strips in total. Nine strips of Jucika were printed in the East-German magazine Freie Welt. The series also ran in Canada under the name "Judy." In 2003, a compilation of Jucika gags was published in China.

It was repopularized on social media websites such as Twitter and Tumblr in the 2010s. A museum exhibit dedicated to her was opened for nearly 5 months at the Hungarian Trade and Hospitality Museum in 2018.

Overview

The main character, Jucika, is a 20-year-old, black-haired woman who is frequently depicted in revealing clothing. Many of the typically three-panel comics revolve around her navigating the attention she got from men due to her style, much of it unwanted; though she would sometimes use her appearance to seduce men and get her way. However, some of the comics focused less on her appearance, and more on humorous situations involving her. She was seen to have a variety of jobs and occupations throughout the strips, which made for a variety of subject topics. There was little to no dialogue, instead focusing on visual humor and gags. However, in the fiftieth comic strip, Jucika herself finally "spoke" and told the readers about her life. She also spoke in a special news report dedicated to the comic series in 1964, as a celebration of her fifth anniversary.

History

Jucika, who was introduced in 1957, was a cult phenomenon in 1950s and 1960s Hungary, a particularly popular figure of her cartoonist and the newspapers that published her. If it was not included in one of the issues of Lúdas Matyi, the publisher would receive letters of complaint about it. Jucika made appearances outside of the comics, such as on card calendars published by Budaprint. In 1964, she was played by actress Gabi Magda in a TV variety show, and she also appeared animated to promote a clothing company in a TV spot.

In 1959, Érdekes Újság was merged with the Ország-Világ magazine, and from then on, Pál Pusztai, and with him Jucika, moved to the satirical humor paper Lúdas Matyi.

As part of Ludas Matyi, the comic was published in color, and the occasion was captured by a special series of pictures, in which Jucika presents her qualities in front of the paper's mascots, Matyi and her goose. From then on, the popularity of the character and its creator continued to grow, Jucika appeared several times on the front page of Ludas Matyi. Hundreds of comics were published in the magazine. The readers received Jucika's last autographed adventure on September 10, 1970, which featured Jucika working as a flight attendant. The then 51-year-old Pál Pusztai, died a day later, of sudden heart failure during a trip to Dubrovnik. The last Jucika picture series, "Jucika and the melon market" (Jucika és a dinnyevásár), which was found in Pusztai's workplace, was published in the issue of Lúdas Matyi on December 3, 1970, together with a couple of other drawings by the artist. The drawings were unsigned.

Recent popularity

Although during Pusztai's life Jucika was little known beyond Hungary, it has grown within other cultures in recent years. In the 2010s, Jucika had a resurgence in popularity on social media websites such as Twitter and Tumblr, where people began sharing her comics and showing appreciation for the theme and nature of the series. Communities revolving around Jucika were formed, and they made fan art of the series, or posted the comics for people to see and remember. In November 2019, a public booru was formed around Jucika, with fanmade images of the character made by the community.

From June 19, 2018, to November 4, 2018, a museum exhibition titled, "What Did Jucika Buy?" (Mit vásárolt Jucika?) was opened at the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism (Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum), which showed the history of advertisements targeted towards women throughout the socialist era of Hungary. It illustrated the dynamics of the advertising industry, along with how gender roles for women changed over the years, with Jucika being used as a caricature of the modern woman of the time. The exhibition contained video loops of classic Hungarian advertisements, along with an audio backdrop of classic jingles. It was the final part of a trilogy of exhibits, the first, "Tournures and Hooped Petticoats" (Fardagály és kámvás rokolya) being held from 2010 to 2011 and the next, "Beauty and Advertising" (A szépség és a reklám) being held in 2014.