The text text discusses the aesthetic potential of one of the first post-Soviet comics, Bylinnaya Rus' (The Russia of the Epics, 1992) created by Viktor Agafonov. The comic saga, which is now valued as a most original example of rare post-Soviet comic book art, presents the adventures Russian folk hero (bogatyr) Ilya Muromets in a most inspiring and daring aesthetic manner. The composition, colour scheme, fonts, and text presentation of the work demonstrate clear parallels with the tradition of Christian Orthodox iconography, which somewhat complicates their comprehension for the average reader/viewer. This article offers a double reading of the work, reliant on the one hand on narrative analysis, and on the other (and at the same time) on an iconographic reading: it may be considered as an annotated introduction to a possible iconography of the comic book text.
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