Jeż Jerzy

Jeż Jerzy ("George the Hedgehog" in English) is a popular [http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/6897/] Polish comic book title created by young artists - Rafał Skarżycki (script) and Tomasz Lew Leśniak (drawings).

The comic strip first appeared as part of a children's magazine called "Świerszczyk". At first the strips were aimed at children with Jerzy the Hedgehog having adventures in a fairy tale land. In 1996 the strips were published in the magazine "Ślizg" in a "Adult version".

The adult version of the comic strip was a satire on politics and modern Poland. The comic makes fun of groups - like the police, ecologists, the subcultures of skinheads or dresiarze - or individuals, such as politicians (Andrzej Lepper and Grzegorz Kołodko). In the adult version, which has often been compared to South Park, the characters often swear, drink alcohol and take drugs. It is often is violent and features scenes of nudity. Jeży become a part of Skate subculture. The adult version is still running and many versions of the comic books were published both in and outside of Poland.

Characters

* Jeż Jerzy (George the Hedgehog) – Main character; a talking hedgehog and a skater. He likes to drink, smoke marijuana and have sex with human females (in some stories they find him attractive; in others, repulsive). He loves his trusty skateboard. It seemsthat he has enemies everywhere, including the police and politicians. He often breaks the fourth wall.
*Stefan and Zenek – a duo of Jerzy's enemies. They represent the far right skinhead subculture. They are racist and they hate everything they consider unpatriotic.
*Zombie – a member of subculture called "dresiarze" who shot himself after Jeży convinced him that he was gay. He later came back from the dead as zombie to take revenge on the hedgehog.
* El Dresso – often referred as “Mały” (Tiny); a friend of Zombie who became a supervillain after his friend's death. In the "Exorcist" storyline, Zombie took over his body, as his own was destroyed.
* Kula and friends - a trio of bullies from the Dresiarze subculture who often try to beat up Jeży. The leader's name is Kula.
*The priest – An exorcist and a good friend of Jeży.
*Przemysław R – A serial killer who after once failing to kill Jeży, keeps coming back to seek revenge. In some ways he similar to Sideshow Bob from "The Simpsons".
*Pietia "the Scar" Pavlov – A Russian hitman, often seen in the second book.
*Yola – A very lusty girl, she sometimes dates Jeży.
*Michał Puszka – A prison warden and friend of Jerzy.
*Authors – The authors occasionally appear in the stories in the role of Jeży's parents (even though they are both male).

Albums

Albums of the “Child friendly version”
*Jeż Jerzy : Dla dzieci (For Children)

The “Adult Albums” :
*Jeż Jerzy : The True Story – The book is not counted as part of official series and it had a very limited print run, many of the stories were reprinted in later albums.
*Jeż Jerzy: Nie dla dzieci (Not for Children) – 2002. A series of short stories
*Jeż Jerzy: Wróg publiczny (The public enemy) – 2002. A series of short stories
*Jeż Jerzy: Egzorcysta (The Exorcist) – 2003. A long story. The story is a spoof of The Exorcist movie. In the story Jeży is chosen by God to save the world from Satan's plot to take over.
*Jeż Jerzy: Ścigany (The Fugitive) – 2003. Short stories
*Jeż Jerzy: Dokument (The Documentry) – 2004. A series of short stories, combined with a host telling the story of Jeży's life.
*Jeż Jerzy: Ziom (Dude) – 2005. Short stories.
*Jeż Jerzy: In vitro – 2006. Two long stories. One features Jeży being cloned and the other features Jeży being imprisoned with his enemy Przemysław R.
*Jeż Jerzy : Człowiek z Blizną (Scarface) – Album is scheduled to be published in 2007. It will be one long story and will center around the Pieta "the Scar" character.

Awards

One of the episodes of Jeż Jerzy won the Grand Prix of Comic Art Festival in Łódź in 1999. [http://lambiek.net/artists/l/lesniak_tomasz.htm]

Movie

A animated movie is planned for 2009. The script will be written by the authors themselves. The first teaser trailer is already out, and can be viewed on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0aS05_WO5U YouTube] .

External links

* [http://www.jezjerzy.pl Oficjal Page "Jeż Jerzy"]
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/l/lesniak_tomasz.htm Tomasz Lew Leśniak (JJ script) on Comicpedia]
* [http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/6897/ Strip Show] , Warsaw Voice, 27 October 2004, mentions Jeż Jerzy comic