New Is Here, Old Is Here Too: Polish Comic Books

czerwony_pingwin_musi_umrzec_.jpg, default, Panel from ‘Czerwony Pingwin Musi Umrzeć, tom 2’, story and drawings: Michał Śledziński, photo: Kultura Gniewu

#comics

Comics expert Jakub Demiańczuk gives his review of the comic books and graphic novels from 2020, including his pick of 12 titles that won’t be soon forgotten.

This year’s pandemic has changed the world, causing economic turmoil and affecting our everyday lives, but the comic book market seems not to have been impacted particularly harshly. Obviously, the lack of comic book festivals or meetings with authors, with those long queues for the artists’ autographs, has certainly affected sales and forced publishers to revise their plans, but the number of published titles hasn’t dropped that significantly when compared with previous years. It probably stems from the fact that in Poland, comic books remain mostly the domain of collectors and hobbyists, who aren’t likely to give up on buying them. Moreover, unlike films and books, Polish editions of comics are unavailable in digital versions, which requires either buying a physical book or borrowing it. However, the availability of collected editions in libraries can vary, and throughout the lockdown months were closed anyway.

Modestly celebrated anniversaries

The drawbacks of the pandemic for culture included comic book conventions having been either cancelled or conducted online. Since March, only one big event took place: Niech Żyje Komiksowa Warszawa (Long Live Comic Book Warsaw) at the beginning of October. An interesting online formula was proposed by the International Festival of Comics and Games in Łódź, which took place on a specially prepared online platform where the participants could watch both live meetings and previously recorded interviews with huge comic book stars (like Bill Sienkiewicz, Brecht Evens and Andrew Maclean), some of whom probably wouldn’t have made it to Poland otherwise, regardless of the pandemic.

Thumbnail — Cover and panels from 'Lil i Put: Parady Przypałów', story: Maciej Kur, drawings: Piotr Bednarczyk, 2020, photo: Egmont

The cancellation of physical events has been particularly unfortunate due to the fact that 2020 marks the anniversaries of two distinguished publishing houses. Egmont Polska – which started off 30 years ago by introducing the adventures of Asterix and Lucky Luke to Polish readers – undoubtedly made a great contribution to the revival of Polish comic book market at the end of the previous century. The publishing house’s catalogue is dominated by American and Francophone comics, though Egmont also offers plenty of works by domestic artists. They include mainly comic books for younger readers, among them successful titles such as Berenika Kołomycka’s Mały Lisek i Wielki Dzik (Tiny Fox and Great Boar) and Lil i Put (Lil and Put) by Maciej Kura and Piotr Bednarczyk, both awarded in the Janusz Christa competition. Egmont is also the publisher of Christa’s comics, notably Kajko i Kokosz (Kayko and Kokosh), and lately they have also started publishing selected pieces from Relax magazine and albums of collected works by artists such as Zbigniew Kasprzak and Waldemar Andrzejewski.

The year 2020 also marks the 20^th anniversary of Kultura Gniewu, the most important publishing house offering new Polish comic books all year round. They frequently publish independent artists, and authors of comics that are far from commercial. There are obligations that come with tradition: after all, the Warsaw-based publishing house started off by releasing works by Dariusz ‘Pała’ Paliński, Krzysztof ‘Prosiak’ Owedyk and Ryszard Dąbrowski. Nowadays, they no longer avoid more mainstream titles – their catalogue includes works by Tomasz Leśniak and Rafał Skarżycki (George the Hedgehog and Tim and the Master; several years ago, both series were being published by Egmont) and Tomasz Samojlik’s ecological comics – but they still fight for independent artists to be represented on the market. And successfully so, as Kultura Gniewu titles overtook my list of the most interesting comic books this year, which I shall introduce properly later on.

Our guys were here

One can easily notice a Polish presence in Western comic book markets: at this point, it’s not just the contributions of visual artists (including the very active Szymon Kudrański) or of scriptwriters (as exemplified by the particularly noteworthy The Witcher: Fading Memories, written by Bartosz Sztybor, enthusiastically received by both critics and audiences); one can also find numerous translations of Polish works. Marcin Podolec’s Bajka na Końcu Świata (A Fairy Tale at the End of the World) was released in France and Spain, while English translations of the masterful Anastasia by Magdalena Lankosz and Joanna Karpowicz, as well as of Little Fox and Great Boar by Berenika Kołomycka, are available on the Europe Comics digital platform. Information appeared a few days ago that Wojciech Wawszczyk’s Pan Żarówka (Mr. Lightbulb) will be published as a collected edition at the turn of 2022 through the distinguished publishing house Fantagraphics. The series will be translated into English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, lauded for her outstanding translations of Olga Tokarczuk and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz.

What needs to be counted among financial successes is the record-breaking sum paid at auction for a painting by Grzegorz Rosiński: a canvas depicting the cover of the comic book Szninkiel was sold for over € 186,000.

What will tomorrow bring?

The final months of 2020 have abounded in interesting events. First of all, the official launch of the Polish version of the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter was advertised using comic book fundraisers. Not all of the projects ended up being funded, but successes were achieved by certain amazing independent comic books creators. Therefore, thanks to readers’ support, we can now look forward to the publication of Cesarzowa (The Empress) by Dominika Węcławek and Maciej Pałka, a collected edition of Marek Turka’s Fastnachtspiel, a special episode of the Wydział 7 (Department 7) series by Tomasz Kontny and Anubis: Thin Places, an artbook by Joanna Karpowicz. Some of the fundraisers are still going on. Second of all, the announced return of Relax induces curiosity. The last issue of the iconic comic book magazine came out almost 40 years ago in 1981; it returns with Grzegorz Rosiński as the head editor. The magazine will be published through Labrum Publishing House in collaboration with PolishComicArt gallery. Krzysztof Garula from PolishComicArt explains:

Text

The pages of Relax will present works by the most renowned artists, both international and Polish. It will allude to the original classic edition, and the reader will find both longer stories – split into episodes – and shorter ones. The magazine won’t lack for journalistic pieces either, including articles on comic art, retro recollections about the best of Relax.

The new Relax will refer to tradition not just through its contents but also through its visual side: the cover is based on a design known from the original issues, while the layout of the journalistic articles is similar as well. Interestingly, the publisher decided to keep the previous numbering: the first new issue was number 32. Polish artists whose works were published in the reactivated magazine include Nikodem Cabała, Jacek Skrzydlewski and Sławomir Kiełbus.

The third event that put comic book fans on alert was the news on 6^th December about the release of a Kayko and Kokosh animated series on Netflix, planned for 2021. Created by EGoFILM studio, the animation has Ewelina Gordziejuk as the showrunner and outstanding comic book artists working on the production. Directors on the series include Tomasz Leśniak and Michał Śledziński, the screenplay is by Rafał Skarżycki and Maciej Kur, and the characters are designed by Sławomir Kiełbus. It’s worth remembering that Kur and Kiełbus are the creators of the very successful official continuation of Janusz Christa’s works.

The magnificent 12

Much like last year, I’ve prepared a list of the most interesting Polish comics released in the past twelve months – comics worth knowing as well as absolute must-reads. The order is alphabetical.

‘Andzia’, text: Bishop Piotr Mańkowski, drawings: Przemysław Truściński, publisher: Timof Comics

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panel from 'Andzia', text: Piotr Mańkowski, drawings: Przemysław Truściński, 2020, photo: Timof Comics

Picture image

andzia_komiks_plansza_.jpg

Przemysław Truściński is one of the most important Polish comics creators, yet he publishes them extremely rarely, focussing mostly on single illustrations and covers. That’s why Andzia, although not a comic book, should be present in every comic book fan’s collection. The content of the album consists of poems written almost a hundred years ago by Bishop Piotr Mańkowski (mostly having lain forgotten in the author’s archives), which wonderfully satirise Stanisław Jachowicz’s moralising poetry. Where Jachowicz warned little Andzia against touching a rose, Mańkowski let his imagination run free, cautioning her not to climb Mount Etna or to beware a decapitator.

What happens next is a display of surrealist humour and an intensification of absurd events. Truściński’s artwork – superb drawings and collages, frequently resembling forms of expression typical for comic books – provide Mańkowski’s poems with excellent graphic design.

‘Bogowie z Gwiazdozbioru Aquariusa’ (Gods from the Aquarius Constellation), story: various authors, drawings: Zbigniew Kasprzak, publisher: Egmont

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panel from 'Bogowie z Gwiazdozbioru Aquariusa', story: various authors, drawings: Zbigniew Kasprzak, 2019, photo: Egmont

Picture image

bogowie_z_gwiazdozbioru_.jpg

Zbigniew Kasprzak’s comics collection can’t really be considered a new release – all of them came out in the 1980s – but it’s certainly a valuable album. Kasprzak has been living and working in the West for years, but he was already a productive artist under the communist regime, one who felt at home in historical graphic novels (creating a series about great travellers, with scripts written by Stefan Wienfeld) and even more so in fantasy, strongly inspired by post-Daeniken ideas. Gods from the Aquarius Constellation collects together all of Kasprzak’s fantasy-related works, both short and full-length, from pseudohistorical fantasy to science-fiction, all drawn with flair and a sense of humour. And, although script-wise they’re average at best (and at worst, they make the cringe-o-meter go off the scale), the whole collection has got huge value as a sample of a real talent and proof of the artistic development of one of the most important Polish comic book artists.

‘Czerwony Pingwin Musi Umrzeć, tom 2’ (Red Penguin Must Die! #2), story & drawings: Michał Śledziński, publisher: Kultura Gniewu

I usually prefer comic books in which Śledziu (Michał Śledziński ) exhibits his ability to look at reality closely, such as Osiedle Swoboda (The Liberty Estate) or his sentimental work Na Szybko Spisane (Written Down Quickly). But Red Penguin – whose second part was released after a seven-year break – is testament to his pop-cultural mastery, a tribute to space operas, manga, computer games and B-movies, an action-packed wild ride. Śledziński’s enthusiasm for the story even infects readers who find the world created by the author somewhat hermetic.

‘Dromaderki’, story & drawings: Marta Frej, publisher: Centrala

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panel from 'Dromaderki', story and drawings: Marta Frej, 2020, photo: Centrala

Picture image

dromaderki_okladka.jpg

This picture book is by an author whose works are mainly associated with harsh criticism of patriarchy and the politics of exclusion. Commemorating the women who fought for Polish independence by smuggling weapons and ammunition during both the 1905 revolution and World War I, Dromaderki [a nickname referencing the dromedary, or Arabian camel – editor’s note] constitutes a political statement. One may notice, without much effort, parallels between these historical events and the present reality. An illustration depicting a suffragist arrested by the Tsarist police could just as well be a symbolic depiction of autumn 2020 in Poland.

‘Koniec Lipca’ (End of July), story & drawings: Maria Rostocka, publisher: Kultura Gniewu

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panel from 'Koniec Lipca', story and drawings: Maria Rostocka, photo: Kultura Gniewu

Picture image

koniec_lipca_23.jpg

Holidays are a wonderful pop-cultural topic. They are a source of stories full of melancholy and childhood memories, or of coming-of-age ones, and are often mixed with elements of fantasy or horror. Maria Rostocka, however, employs neither of these themes. The protagonist of her book spends the summer at his grandma’s, but these aren’t days when every moment turns into an adventure. Walking the dog, meeting friends or making new ones needs to be pushed aside in favour of mundane reality. The boy’s mother battles her own problems, his grandma turns out to be a bitter tyrant, daily reality – despite it being the middle of the summer – is bleak, boring and devoid of meaning. An excellent, beautifully drawn, poignant book.

‘Tiny Fox and Great Boar, Volume 6: Atrocity’, story & drawings: Berenika Kołomycka, publisher: Egmont

Another volume of one of Poland’s most popular children’s comic book series. The charmingly drawn stories of the friendship between Fox and Boar are concerned with emotions. This new volume, whose starting point is a lie and some mindlessly circulated gossip, constitutes not only a wise fable but also a (perhaps unintentional) commentary on worldviews built upon fake news constructed by certain media.

‘melon: Pretensje’ (melon: Pretensions), story & drawings: melon, publisher: W.A.B.

Has melon gone commercial? One of Poland’s most popular internet comics, published daily on Facebook and Instagram, has already been released in paper form, but that was the Integrale series that melon used to published in the form of a low-cost zine. So here we have a surprise: a book edition, in hardcover. The comics themselves, of course, haven’t been disadvantaged by this new development. This selection of highlights from the past few years reminds readers that melon belongs, along with Jan Koza, amongst the top commentators on Polish reality. He mercilessly points out political absurdities, mocks seasonal Internet fads, and casts a critical eye on shallow and meaningless mass culture (while drawing from it at the same time). It’s easy to identify with the yellow characters of these short stories: just like them, we’re often one step away from falling into some sort of an alternative reality as if right out of Bareja’s films.

‘Poczwarki’ (Pupae), story & drawings: Gosia Kulik, publisher: Kultura Gniewu

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panels from 'Poczwarki', story and drawings: Gosia Kulik, photo: Kultura Gniewu

Picture image

poczwarki_plansza_okladka.jpg

Twelve-year-old Lucjan has undergone a religious awakening. He was certain he had contributed to the death of one of his schoolmates. However, when the boy turns out to be alive, Lucjan considers it a sign from above. He decides to take on other people’s suffering, as Jesus once did, willing to atone for the sins of humanity. Nadieżda, on the other hand, is a teenage nihilist, mostly dedicated to chasing butterflies. In conflict with the priest who teaches her religion classes, she ceases to believe in God. The two protagonists – as different from each other as possible – will need to team up and take on the challenges posed by reality. This new work by Gosia Kulik, author of the amazing Ta Małpa Poszła do Nieba (This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven) is an eccentric combination of bildungsroman, black comedy and fieldnotes from the life of a provincial town (provided that these fieldnotes were made by David Lynch). The outstanding graphic form perfectly complements the story.

‘Przyjaciele’ (Friends), story: Adam ‘mykupyku’ Gawęda, drawings: Jan Koza, publisher: Kultura Gniewu

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panels from 'Przyjaciele', story: Adam "mykupyku" Gawęda, drawings: Jan Koza, photo: Kultura Gniewu

Picture image

przyjaciele_plansza_.jpg

Here we have a phenomenal comic book for children: the adventures of this animal group of friends are not only humourous stories – they also become a textbook on how to read a comic book. The characters quickly realise that they inhabit a comic book, and this awareness is tied to plenty of unexpected consequences. Can you move between the frames? Or to the other side of the page? Can the characters talk to the scriptwriter? What’s the role of the artist? How quickly does time pass within a comic book? These are questions asked both by the readers and by the characters. A splendid idea, excellently executed, and at the same time a tribute to classic Polish comic books – Friends probably wouldn’t exist without the works of Papcio Chmiel, Bohdan Butenko and Tadeusz Baranowski.

‘Rodacy: Trzy’ (Countrymen: Three), story & drawings: Jakub Topor, publisher: Timof Comics

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panel from 'Rodacy: Trzy', story and drawings: Jakub Topor, 2020, photo: Timof Comics

Picture image

rodacy_trzy_okladka_i_plansza_.jpg

Both funny and scary, this series by Jakub Topor is a critical outlook on Polish society’s vices, customs and general malaise. In this third part, the artist attempts to look at the world from the perspective of domesticated animals, both working animals and pets. His conclusions are far from optimistic. The dark humour here, present in many of the stories, doesn’t conceal the bitterness. Writing about the fate of a carthorse, a dog, a turtle kept in an aquarium, or even a goldfish, Topor reminds readers that we often treat animals as if they were objects – sometimes useful ones, but sometimes also forgotten or abandoned. Topor’s graphic novel resembles independent fanzines, yet beneath those seemingly simple illustrations there’s content full of empathy and commiseration.

‘Rycerz Janek i Instrukcja Prawidłowego Składania Ofiar Zapomnianym Bóstwom’ (Jim the Knight & The Manual on How to Make Offerings to Forgotten Gods), story: Jan Mazur, Robert Sienicki, drawings: Igor Wolski, publisher: Kultura Gniewu

The titular character may be remembered by readers of independent comic book magazines, where he has previously appeared in short stories. In this full-length story, the absurdly noble Jim needs to support the citizens of a small country in their struggle against the cruel and greedy Prince Mścigniew. Being an excellent parody of fantasy tropes, Jim the Knight constitutes high-quality entertainment – although the authors refer to recognisable cliches of the genre, they are still capable of surprising readers with unexpected plot twists or modern gadgets woven into pseudo-Mediaeval ornaments. Drawn extremely well, excellently paced, humorous – one expects nothing more of solid mainstream entertainment.

‘Wiedźmun, tom 1: Słodki Zapach Potwora o Zmierzchu’ (Wiedźmun, vol 1: The Sweet Smell of Monsters at Dusk, story and drawings: Tomasz Samojlik, publisher: Kultura Gniewu

Picture display

standardowy (864px desktop)

Cover and panels from 'Wiedźmun, tom 1: Słodki Zapach Potwora o Zmierzchu', story and drawings: Tomasz Samojlik, photo: Kultura Gniewu

Picture image

wiedzmun_okladka.jpg

The origin of Wiedźmun is similar to that of Jim the Knight. As a parody of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel, it first appeared in independent adult comic books, and now it has been transformed into a story for younger readers. Tomasz Samojlik enriches the plot with a wise, pro-ecological message, and he complements allusions to Geralt with quotes from Star Wars and Apocalypse Now, apparently keeping in mind the parents who will read the comic book with their children.

Originally written in Polish, Dec 2020, translated by AWP, Dec 2020

Language English

comics