Samim Utkun

• Born 1928-03-10 · Died 2001-07-14

He was a Turkish illustrator, painter, and comics artist, regarded as one of the most prolific comic-book cover artists in Turkey. He began his career as a cartoonist, contributing to the magazines *Karikatür* and *7 Gün*. From 1946 onward, he worked professionally for Türkiye Yayınevi, producing covers and illustrations for children's magazines. After serving in the Korean War, he resumed his career as an illustrator, working for newspapers such as *Demokrat İzmir*, *Tercüman*, and *Yeni Asır*. From 1955, he worked extensively for Ceylan Yayınevi, illustrating the covers of numerous comic-book series, including *Teksas*, *Tommiks*, *Kinova*, *Zagor*, *Tim*, *Kit Taylor*, *Superman*, and *Akbulut Kaan*. During the 1960s, he reached an extraordinary level of productivity, illustrating approximately 20–25 magazine covers each week. He also produced dozens of covers for paperback detective novels and, on several occasions, created original stories for the *Kinova* series. In 1953, together with Fuat Yılmaz, he illustrated the comic album *İstanbul'un Fethi*, published to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. From the early 1980s onward, he worked for the İhlas Group, producing illustrations for the newspaper *Türkiye* and other publications, including the encyclopedia *Türk Sultanları Ansiklopedisi*. After a brief return to comics with the story *Afrika Rüzgarı* for the magazine *Türkiye Çocuk*, he retired in 1994. He died in Istanbul on July 14, 2001, from complications caused by chronic vascular disease. Source: [https://www.biyografi.net/kisi-samim-utkun-2229/].