Famous illustrator of comic books dies at 77

ISTANBUL

Aslan Şükür, the illustrator of the cover of Turkey’s most favorite comic books, died of a heart attack on April 10 at the age of 77.

Announcing the news on its Twitter account, the Desen Publishing House said, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Aslan Şükür, who has turned the key of our imaginations with the comic book covers he has drawn for decades. Condolences to the comic book world.”

Known as the “man with golden brush,” Şükür was the illustrator of the cover of many popular comic books, including “Mister No,” “Zagor,” “Kızıl Maske,” “Mandrake,” “Teksas,” “Tommiks,” “Judas,” “Yüzbaşı Volkan,” “Karaoğlan,” “Tom Braks,” and “Atlantis.”

Born in 1945 in the Black Sea province of Samsun, Şükür moved to Istanbul in his childhood with his family. He left his high school education and started making drawings on tourist products.

In the early 1960s, Şükür prepared various vignettes and illustrations in the supplement of daily Akşam under the direction of the cartoonist Nehar Tüblek and in Hayat magazine in the early 1960s. He drew book covers for some publishing houses in Babıali and met Sezen Yalçıner thanks to Yücel Koksal, who drew the covers of the comics published by Tay Publishing at that time.

He drew the cover of the comic book Tom Braks in 1970 and continued to draw the cover illustrations of periodic comic book magazines due to high demand.

Şükür prepared the cover illustrations for almost all the magazines published by the Tay Publications in the following years.