Igor Kordej

Graduated at ŠPUD (The School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb), graphic department (1972-1977) and attended two years at Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, graphic department (1977-1979).

Igor Kordej started as a professional graphic designer when he was 18, and as a professional comic artist and illustrator when he was 19 years old, joining a very influential group of comic artists Novi kvadrat (New square) 1976-1979[2], and publishing in all relevant Yugoslavian youth magazines of that era. In 1979 Novi kvadrat won the prestigious national award 7 sekretara SKOJ-a, thus marking a break-up of the group.

At the beginning of the eighties Kordej teams-up with Mirko Ilić again in SLS studio (acronym for “Slow, Bad and Expensive”), and focuses on producing album covers and posters for Yugoslavian pop musicians and groups. After the break-up with Ilić he continues with solo career, doing illustration for Yugoslavian mainstream magazines, film and theater posters[3][4], logotypes and album covers[5][6].

He started a career in European comic market in 1986 (France, Spain, Germany), and since 1989 on the US market (Heavy Metal Magazine). His most significant work from that period is album Les cinq saisons – Automne, published in 1990 by Dargaud. That album was appointed by the Ministry of Culture in France as a work of significant cultural value and was assigned to all public libraries in France (in 2011 the same album was featured in Paul Gravett’s book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die[7]. Kordej moves from Zagreb to a small Istrian village, Groznjan in 1988 where he leads, as an artist and supervisor, a group of over 20 artists and story writers (among others a young Darko Macan, Edvin Biuković and Goran Sudžuka), as well as veterans Radovan Devlić[8] and Dragan Filipović Fipa[9], producing comics and design for the German market.

He moves to Denmark in 1991, invited by Semic International company, where he spends almost a year, producing comics and illustrations for Malibu Comics. In 1997 he moves to Canada, invited by Digital Chameleon company, working as a creative director. Having disputes with management, he leaves the company after eight months and becames a freelancer again.

His career in Marvel Comics can be divided in two phases; the first one (when he simultaneously worked for Dark Horse Comics) is from 1994-1996, under editor-in-chief Marcus McLaurin, when Kordej produced several hand-painted comics for Tales of Marvels series. Second phase begins in 2001 when he got invited by editor-in–chief Joe Quesada, to work on Cable series, as well as New X-Men series. Shortly after 9/11 attacks many of Marvel artists produced illustrations inspired by the tragedy. They all went on public auction, with all profit given to families of fallen rescuers. Kordey’s illustration Pennsylvania Plane[10] was bought by The Library of Congress. Because of his speed as an artist, at his peak, Kordej was producing artwork for three or four monthly books at the same time. However, as a result, he has attracted heavy criticism for the quality of his art, especially from the readers[11][12]. Eventually he got fired from Marvel in April 2004.

However, that event opened up a new chapter in Kordey’s career. Just a few months later he signed his first contracts with Editions Delcourt, and his prolific collaboration with that French publisher continued until nowadays. In a period of fifteen years, producing 4-5 albums per year, concluding with 2019 he published close to seventy albums on francophone market[13], out of which only L’Histoire secrete series sold out over 1,000.000 copies. In 2006 he moves back to his homeland.

Igor Kordej at Festival de la BD de Buc, 2017

Through out all those years Kordej continued to produce graphic design and illustrations for both francophone and ex-Yugoslavian region markets, occasionally doing illustrations for US comics market. He has a very diverse repertoire, moving between traditional pencils and inks to fully painted panels, using watercolors and gouache. His works are collected, among others, in The Library of Congress, LucasFilm (CA) and MoMa – Museum od Modern Art (NY).

• The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest #3 (Dark Horse, 1996)
• Predator: Kindred #1-4 (Dark Horse, 1996–1997)
• Predator vs. Judge Dredd #3 (Dark Horse, 1997)
• Classic Star Wars: Han Solo at Stars' End #1 (Dark Horse, 1997)
• Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — Redemption #1-5 (Dark Horse, 1998)
• Star Wars Special #1 (Dark Horse, 1998)
• Soldier X #9-10 (Marvel, 2003)
• Angel: The Curse #1, 3 (IDW Publishing, 2005)
• Hrvatski Velikani Volume 1 #1, 3 (Astoria, 2007)
• Unknown Soldier vol. 4 #1-6 (Vertigo, 2008–2009)
• Detective Comics #1018 (DC Comics, 2020)

• SMOKE Interview with Alex & Igor, PopImage
• Veliki Brat valja se od smijeha (in Croatian)