# Strip Art Features
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{{Short description|Comics publisher}}
{{Refimprove|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox company
| image =
| status =
| founded = {{start date and age|1971}} in [Bosnia and Herzegovina](/source/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina)
| founder = [Ervin Rustemagić](/source/Ervin_Rustemagi%C4%87)
| successor =
| headquarters = Krpanova 1, [Celje](/source/Celje), [Slovenia](/source/Slovenia)
| distribution =
| keypeople =
| products = [Comics](/source/Comics)
[Intellectual property](/source/Intellectual_property)
| subsid = Platinum Studios
| topics =
| genre =
| imprints =
| revenue =
| numemployees =
| nasdaq =
| website = {{URL|http://www.safcomics.com}}
}}
'''Strip Art Features''' ('''SAF''') is a [comic-book](/source/comic-book) [publishing house](/source/publishing_house) and rights agent currently based in [Celje](/source/Celje), [Slovenia](/source/Slovenia). The company is known to the American public through its co-publishing arrangement with [Dark Horse Comics](/source/Dark_Horse_Comics).
==History==
SAF was founded by 17-year-old [Ervin Rustemagić](/source/Ervin_Rustemagi%C4%87) in [Sarajevo](/source/Sarajevo), [Bosnia and Herzegovina](/source/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina) in [1971](/source/1971_in_comics). The rights agency component of SAF, known as Platinum Studios, developed a large, internationally oriented library of non-superhero properties. From its inception, the company focused on representing a broad range of genres and maintaining relationships with prominent European creators and publishers.[{{cite press |title=Scott Rosenberg Leaves Marvel; Acquires 50 Percent of Platinum Studios | url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Scott%2BRosenberg%2BLeaves%2BMarvel%3B%2BAcquires%2B50%2BPercent%2Bof%2BPlatinum%2BStudios-a019031769 |via=The Free Library|date=January 16, 1997|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318193209/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Scott+Rosenberg+Leaves+Marvel%3B+Acquires+50+Percent+of+Platinum+Studios-a019031769|archive-date=March 18, 2014|publisher=William Morris Agency, Inc.}}]
SAF's magazine ''Strip Art'' was the winner of the 1984 [Lucca Comics & Games](/source/Lucca_Comics_%26_Games) [Yellow Kid Award](/source/Yellow_Kid_Award) for Best Foreign Comics Publisher.[{{cite web| last =Immagine-Centro Studi Iconografici | title =16° SALONE INTERNAZIONALE DEI COMICS, 1984 | url = http://www.immaginecentrostudi.org/saloni/salone16.asp | language=Italian }}]
In the early 1990s, SAF had offices in the Sarajevo suburb of [Ilidža](/source/Ilid%C5%BEa) as well as in [Doetinchem](/source/Doetinchem), the [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands).[{{cite book|last=Kubert |first=Joe |title=Fax From Sarajevo: A Story of Survival |publisher=Dark Horse Comics |date=1996|page=15}}]
With the beginning of the [Bosnian war](/source/Bosnian_war) in early 1992, the SAF offices in [Ilidža](/source/Ilid%C5%BEa) were destroyed by a [Serbian](/source/Army_of_Republika_Srpska) bombardment. More than 14,000 pieces of original art were lost in the flames, including pieces by Americans [Hal Foster](/source/Hal_Foster), [Doug Wildey](/source/Doug_Wildey), [Joe Kubert](/source/Joe_Kubert), [Warren Tufts](/source/Warren_Tufts), [Sergio Aragonés](/source/Sergio_Aragon%C3%A9s), [George McManus](/source/George_McManus), [Alex Raymond](/source/Alex_Raymond), [Charles M. Schulz](/source/Charles_M._Schulz), [Mort Walker](/source/Mort_Walker), [John Prentice](/source/John_Prentice_(cartoonist)), [Al Williamson](/source/Al_Williamson), [Gordon Bess](/source/Gordon_Bess), and [Bud Sagendorf](/source/Bud_Sagendorf); works by Argentinean artists such as [Alberto Breccia](/source/Alberto_Breccia) and [Carlos Meglia](/source/Carlos_Meglia); and pieces by European creators like [André Franquin](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Franquin), [Maurice Tillieux](/source/Maurice_Tillieux), [Hermann](/source/Hermann_Huppen), [Martin Lodewijk](/source/Martin_Lodewijk), [Philippe Bercovici](/source/Philippe_Bercovici), [Giorgio Cavazzano](/source/Giorgio_Cavazzano), [John Burns](/source/John_Burns_(comics)), and [Ferdinando Tacconi](/source/Ferdinando_Tacconi).[{{cite news|title=Ervin Rustemagić, figure majeure de la BD européenne, est mort | trans-title=Ervin Rustemagić, a major figure in European comics, has died |date=August 8, 2025 |first= Hocine |last=Bouhadjera |url=https://actualitte.com/article/125454/edition/ervin-rustemagic-figure-majeure-de-la-bd-europeenne-est-mort |lang=Fr |work=Les univers du livre Actualité}}] After escaping Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rustemagić managed to reestablish SAF in Slovenia in late 1993.[{{Cite press|title = Diamond Book Distributors Signs SAF Comics|url = http://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/116?articleID=2461|website = www.diamondcomics.com|access-date = 2016-02-02|date=2004}}] (Rustemagić left the Platinum Studios, Inc. partnership in 2000.)