The talented draughtswoman is currently working on Marvel's series Mockingbird. Its heroine will be a strong-charactered doctor of biology/superhero, who is both beautiful and lethal.
Big Stuff
'I had no hesitation about accepting this proposition,' Kasia Niemczyk said about the job offer she received from Marvel Comics, who asked her if she would make the drawings for their upcoming series Mockingbird. The keen approach of this talented young draughtswoman from Poland is fully understandable as illustrators worldwide dream about working for the legendary comic book company, which has published titles featuring such classic superheroes as Spider-Man, Hulk or Iron Man. The main character of the comic Niemczyk is already working on is the titular Mockingbird, a daring superheroine with Avengers credentials. Big stuff for the comic book world.
Ties to Poland
This year Niemczyk was at the International Festival of Comics and Games in the Polish city of Łódź, when she bumped into C.B. Cebulski, vice-president of Marvel, who was scouting for talent at the event. She showed him her portfolio, which clearly must have made an impression, since two months later the company announced that she would be drawing Mockingbird. Interestingly, the whole affair was strongly Polish-related as the meeting took place in Poland and involved a Polish artist encountering a Marvel representative of Polish origin (Cebulski has roots in the Land on the Vistula). Moreover, the story of Mockingbird’s ties to Poland doesn’t end there. In a popular comic-book based TV series entitled Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which features the character of Mockingbird, her role is played by Adrianne Palicki, an actress with Polish ancestry. The success of this contemporary production is one of the reasons why Marvel decided to create a comic book series about the superheroine, who first appeared in 1971 – the company believes there has been generated an interest in this character that should be accommodated.
Beautiful and Lethal
The Marvel job won’t be the first time Kasia Niemczyk, a former student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, draws a hero. For Division 48, a studio of Polish graphic designers, she has worked on the video game Might & Magic X Legacy in which one creates a party of four heroes in a fantasy world. The work on Mockingbird will of course be different, at least because the main character of this comic is no elf or dwarf. She’s a modern-time, strong-charactered doctor of biology-slash-superhero, who is both beautiful and lethal. She has plenty of sex-appeal and brains. Barbara Morse is her real name, Mockingbird is her superhero alias. The script writer for the comic in question, Chelsea Cain, stated that 'Kate (English for Kasia; Ed. Note) can draw a woman in a metal bikini and thigh highs and somehow make her look completely in control and badass. So obviously we’re going to get along fine.' Mockingbird is scheduled to premiere in March 2016.
Author: Marek Kępa, Autumn 2015