The last two members of the Rapid Arrow gang, Červenáček (Red Cap) and Rychlonožka (Speedy) made their appearance in the fifth part of the series, on 14th January 1939. It was on this day that the gang of five was truly complete and ready for the adventures that followed.
The place of birth of the group was on the last page of the seventh issue of the magazine Mladý Hlasatel (Young Harold), whose mastermind, Jaroslav Foglar, was the same man who wrote the Rapid Arrows. In 1938, when Foglar became an editor of the magazine Mladý Hlasatel (Young Harold), the magazine had been in print for four years already. Until then he was just allowed to contribute to it.
One of his ideas was an illustrated series for children. It was at this time that he met the equally young and zealous cartoonist, Jan Fischer. Jan was originally a lawyer but stayed in this profession only for six months before embarking on his successful cartoonist career. He was most famous for cartoons with sports themes and caricatures, and contributed to the magazines České slovo (Czech Word), Star and Pražského ilustrovaného zpravodaje (Prague Illustrated Reporter). Foglar knew his drawings and understood that this was the style he needed. He prepared for Fischer not only the text but also the artistic design of the first story called Black Riders Rage, even sketching the main characters for him.
The first ten parts were about the group of Black Riders, where the boys had their faces covered by scarves. This was disapproved of by some of the critics, and Foglar later on had these parts slightly amended by other cartoonist, Bohumír Čermák. The following episodes were called the Rapid Arrows, and the Black Riders were replaced by Bratrstvo kočičí pracky (the Cat Paw’s Brotherhood). Fischer had drawn 107 episodes before he left Prague, when Foglar had to look out for a replacement.
The second cartoonist was Václav Junek, who drew eight parts although only six of them were published in Mlady hlasatel, due to the magazine being banned by the authorities. The last issue of the VI volume carried the number 38.
Second, third and fourth era
The second era of Rapid Arrows came to life again after the war. The boys appeared on the pages of the magazine Vpřed (Ahead) and once again were drawn by Fischer. After February 1948, the Union of Czechoslovakian Youth decided that comics were a hangover from the old system. They were pressuring Foglar to make changes – to have pictures without speech balloons and to introduce a more communistic slant.
In 1968, the series was re-established in the magazine Skaut-Junák. Dr Fischer had unfortunately passed away and Foglar had to find a new cartoonist. Eventually he replaced him by Marko Čermák. By the way, it is just a coincidence that he carried the same surname as Bohumil we have already talked about. Between 1968 and 1971, he drew 91 new stories and adapted or re-drew an additional 11 ones.
For the fourth time, the Rapid Arrows were reborn in 1990. They appeared in the weekly magazine Květy, on the kid’s page called Kvítko, and stayed there from January, 1990, until December, 1994. Altogether 260 parts were issued in the magazine. The publishing house Olympia published four comic publications in 1990, and another two in 1991. Each of them contained 48 stories, which have been repeatedly published in various versions since then. The stories were also made into movies, theatre plays and used for exhibitions. It seems that the Rapid Arrows are immortal, and that they will be enjoyed even by our grandchildren.
