Yaroslav Horak

Yaroslav Horak (12 June 1927 – 24 November 2020) was an Australian illustrator and comics artist, of ethnic Czech-Russian origin, best known for his work on the newspaper comic strip James Bond.^[1][2]

Yaroslaph (Yaroslav) Horak was born on 12 June 1927 in Harbin, China, the son and second child of Joseph Horak, a Czech-born engineer, and Russian mother, Zanidia.^[3] He and his older sister, Josephia (Josephine), grew up in the suburb of Novyi Gorod and attended the YMCA International School.^[4] In 1939, his family migrated to Sydney, Australia following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and prior to World War II. They settled in Centennial Park, where he attended St Mary's Cathedral College and subsequently undertook evening art classes at the Sydney Technical College.

He began his career as a portrait painter but switched to illustration for the larger Australian magazine publishers. In 1948 Horak's first accepted comic strips were for Rick Davis (a detective adventure) and The Skyman (a mysterious costumed flyer) in 1948. He then moved to Syd Nicholls' Publications where he worked on Ray Thorpe (an adventure series) and Ripon – the Man from Outer Space (sci-fi). Horak also did comic strips for a number of other Sydney publishers, before he moved to Melbourne where he drew Brenda Starr for Atlas Publications. In 1954 he created The Mask – The Man of Many Faces^[5][6] and an adaptation of the popular children's TV program Captain Fortune for Fairfax publications The Sun-Herald between 1957–1962 and Mike Steele – Desert Rider for Woman’s Day magazine.

Horak then moved to England in 1962, where he also drew adventure stories for D. C. Thomson of Scotland, the scripts being supplied by others. He was the second artist, taking over from John McLusky, for the Daily Express strip James Bond from 1966 to 1977, then for the Sunday Express and the Daily Star from 1977 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1984. In total Horak worked on 33 James Bond comic strips sequences.

Horak also created the comic series Jet Fury, in addition to working on other comic strips such as Andrea, Cop Shop^[7] and Sergeant Pat of the Radio Patrol.

Horak also achieved a degree of popularity during the 1960s when he was employed by Fleetway Publications (later IPC Magazines) to contribute art for 11 of their comic books in the War Picture Library and Battle Picture Library series.^{[citation needed]}

Horak died on 24 November 2020 at the Whitehall Aged Care facility in Lindfield, New South Wales, after a decade-long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.^[8][9] He was cremated at the Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium on 4 December 2020.

• WPL 214 Rough Justice 1963
• WPL 303 Death Or Dishonour 1965
• WPL 304 Battle Drill 1965
• WPL 315 Cross For Courage 1965
• WPL 323 Passage Of Arms 1966
• WPL 648 The Curse 1971
• BPL 156 The Savage Sands 1964
• BPL 173 The Stronghold 1964
• BPL 190 Killers Code 1965
• BPL 197 Gun Crazy 1965
• BPL 231 Victory Cry 1965

• Horak biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Horak, Yaroslav (1995). "Yaroslav Horak interviewed by Ros Bowden for the Comic artists and illustrators oral history project". Interviewed by Bowden, Ros. Retrieved 8 May 2023.