Miki Muster – the Slovenian Walt Disney and His Animated Film Tovarna motornih koles Tomos (Tomos Motorcycle Factory)

Last year, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Miki Muster, an illustrator and pioneer of Slovenian comic strip, whose stories, comics, and animated films left an indelible mark not only on Slovenian but also on the broader European field of illustration and animation. His creations, ranging from comic strips to commercials, continue to remain an important part of Slovenia’s cultural heritage.

Miki (Nikolaj) Muster was born on November 22, 1925, in Murska Sobota. He spent his early childhood in Kremelj, in the Dolenjska region, where he completed the first year of his primary school before continuing his education in Ljubljana. After finishing grammar school in Murska Sobota, he enrolled into the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, where he graduated in 1953 with a degree in sculpture. However, the profession he formally acquired did not engage him for very long, as he soon established himself as a comic artist and caricaturist. From 1952 to 1973, he worked as a journalist for the daily Slovenski poročevalec, published by newspaper company Tedenska tribuna. His comic stories, inspired by world-renowned authors as well as original stories by some of some Slovenian writers, were published as a feuilleton in Slovenski poročevalec from 1955 to around 1965. During this period, he also produced other comic works. The first comic-book character that Miki Muster brought to life was Zvitorepec (Slyboots/Trickster). He began publishing the stories Zvitorepčeve prigode (The Adventures of Slyboots) in 1952 in the first Slovenian post-war illustrated weekly, Poletove podobe in povesti. He got his opportunity by chance, when the newspaper failed to receive Disney's comic strip from the USA on time, and asked Muster to create a »Disney-like« comic featuring a more native character. Muster continued to draw and write the adventures of Zvitorepec for twenty-one consecutive years, during which time he was also involved in animated film.

Muster's first three animated masterpieces, now kept by the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia, were created at the start of the 1960s. Puščica (1960), Kurir Nejček (1961) and Zimska zgodba (1962) were produced by Viba Film and directed by Muster himself. Puščica is considered the first Slovenian animated film, featuring simplified characters and warm coloured backgrounds that give the animation a minimalist charm. Kurir Nejček displays a richer form of animation; its realistic drawings and colours complement each other perfectly, while longer shots give the narrative a measured rhythm. Muster employed s similar style in his third animated masterpieces, Zimska zgodba.   

In 1973, Muster moved to the Federal Republic of Germany, where he began creating animated series for Bavaria Film in Munich. In the mid-1970s, he began collaborating with the Argentinian caricaturist Guillermo Mordillo, who granted Muster the exclusive licence to animate his characters after the latter had successfully passed an audition. This marked the beginning of Mordillo (1976−1981), a series of four hundred animated films, each one minute or less in length, totalling about 300 minutes, which achieved great success all over the world. Although Muster's name does not appear in the credits of the individual episodes, his role as the author of the series was clear. He co-authored the scripts and was the sole author of the animation, copying and the background painting, leaving his colleagues only the task of colouring and filming. In Germany, he also helped to create a series of animated films about the adventures of a German Sherlock Holmes, Nick Knatterton (1977), as well as the series Oma, bitte kommen (1977−1978).

Miki Muster, the most accomplished and prolific Slovenian author of comic books and animated films, received numerous awards throughout his career. In 1978, the Yugoslav association Klub devete umetnosti created the Andrija Maurović Award to honour achievements in the field of comics, and Muster was its first recipient of lifetime achievement. In 2000, he received the Viktor Lifetime Achievement Award from the Viktor Academy. In 2001 he was named an honorary citizen of the City Municipality of Murska Sobota, and in 2003, the City Municipality of Ljubljana also presented him with an award for his achievements. In 2014, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, awarded Muster the Silver Order of Merit for his contributions and his pioneering work in Slovenian animated film and comic strips. That same year, his journalist colleagues granted him the Borut Meško Honorary Award for his lifetime achievements in political caricature. Finally, in 2015, he received the Prešeren Award for his lifetime work. Muster spent the last years of his life in the Nursing Home Notranje Gorice, where he passed away on May 7, 2018, at the age of 92.  

In the history of the Slovenian animated film, works created for commercial and promotional purposes form a distinct category. Promotional films created by Miki Muster were not systematically archived, making it practically impossible to verify their exact number. Muster single-handedly started a unique revolution in the Yugoslav promotional sphere. Between 1967 and 1990, he was credited with around 380 promotional films, which introduced remarkably high standards. into the existing Yugoslav promotional space. Among the TV animated commercials that many of us still remember today were the famous »Cikcak« rabbits, commercials for Šumi's candy »Visoki C«, commercials for Jelovica products, and other spots that Slovenian Television aired every evening in the commercials slot just before the evening news. 

The Slovenian Film Archives at the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia, together with the Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana, are currently in the process of acquiring some animated promotional films created by Muster for companies such as Krka, Peko, Ilirija, Mercator, Tervol, etc. In its Collection of films (SI AS 1086), the Slovenian Film Archives keeps seven of Muster's animated films. Presented here as this month's archivalia is the 1958 animated commercial promoting the Tomos factory. The two-minute film was shot on 35-mm film tape and highlights the advantages of using Tomos monocycles in Slovenia as well as in other parts of the world, including Africa, Azia, and Latin America. 

Primož Frajle