Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410210011
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARAJEVO BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA LENGTH: Medium
It took 30 months of war before he sprang into action, but comic-book superhero Bosman has at last joined the side of besieged Sarajevans.
And the Superman look-alike is ready to take on the Serbs singlehandedly.
With bulging biceps, a blonde girlfriend and a high-powered motorcycle, Bosman seemed to have things going his way as his story opens on the eve of war in 1992.
But on a jog through the mountain woods, he stumbles onto a camouflaged tank and overhears Bosnian Serb nationalists plotting the bombardment of Sarajevo.
Destiny has called, and Bosman decides to become a solitary crusader defending his city and newly independent country.
Jusuf Hasanbegovic, a former lawyer, conceived the idea for Bosman last year while in a hospital after losing one leg in the war.
His brother, Sabit, former proprietor of a billiard parlor, assembled a small team of writers and artists, scraped together about $4,000 for printing costs, and produced the first issue of ``Bosman'' in September.
Plans called for 2,000 copies, but 5,000 were printed so it could be given free to soldiers and orphans, Sabit Hasanbegovic said. At newsstands, the issue costs about $1.20.
The ``Bosman'' team would like to produce new issues of the comic every two weeks.
``If we heeded the letters from the children, we should make it a weekly,'' said Alma Dzuber, an assistant editor. ``For the first time in a long time, they have a hero.''
One letter was addressed to Bosman himself, from a 12-year-old boy whose Muslim family was expelled early in the war from the Serb-held town of Vogosca.
``Dear Bosman,'' wrote Denis Kasumovic, ``I wish you could come to Vogosca and kill all the enemies.''
The comic, with a color cover and black-and-white drawings inside, starts out with Bosman gradually sensing that war is imminent.
``He wasn't aware that destiny had chosen him to be warrior for justice and against evil,'' reads the narration.
Even after sighting the Serb national soldiers, he fails to convince others of coming danger. But barricades soon go up, and the city is on edge.
Blurring fiction with reality, the comic depicts the April 6, 1992, peace march that was targeted by sniper fire. The young woman who became the first Sarajevan killed in the war is picked up by Bosman and cradled in his arms.
He sees shots coming from the nearby Holiday Inn, and charges to an upper floor to rout a band of hooded snipers.
``It's the beginning of hell,'' he tells his girlfriend.
``He doesn't have any superpowers. He can't fly or anything,'' said Hasanbegovic. ``He represents the Bosnians, who had help only from God and themselves, no one else.''
by CNB