EG: It’s my version of a story once written and illustrated for the contest by Tomasz Pastuszka. I was enchanted by it. I think it’s one of the most underrated comics in the history of the entire contest – it only got an honourable mention. I decided to draw it my own way, to change a little bit here and there, you know, as in a remake. I hope I managed to complete something worthy of it. Who knows, maybe it would be worth going back to it, to tell about what happened earlier?
JD: The album also includes ‘Idziemy w Noc’ (Going into the Night) – an unconventional comic, comprising frames from a music video to the song by Marika.
EG: The publisher of the album, Tomasz Kołodziejczak from Egmont, convinced me to include it. I was reluctant at first, as I thought it didn’t fit well with the rest of the comics, but eventually I decided that it serves well as a surprising interlude. It’s worth adding that, while I made the illustrations and graphic design for the clip, it’s Paweł Stankiewicz who animated and directed it. He did an amazing job – plenty of ideas for the video came from him.
JD: Did you do any specific research while working on the comics? Did you look for photographs, documents?
EG: While I was working on Śnieg (Snow), I only had a few photographs at my disposal. There wasn’t that much material available online yet, and the Museum wasn’t able to help me much either. Meanwhile, I wanted to find out what the winter uniforms of German soldiers stationing in Warsaw looked like. So, I used the graphics from Call of Duty 2, in which German soldiers in Stalingrad wear a sort of white parka. They probably didn’t use those in Warsaw, though.
When I was drawing Chodzące Nieszczęście (Walking Misery), one of the conditions of the contest was to include frames based on authentic photos form the uprising. Grzegorz and I used the photographs by Eugeniusz Lokajski – several of them appear in the comic, including the famous self-portrait in which the photographer is holding a black cat. It’s a very moving picture.
But I’m also inspired by other things, not related to the uprising or to history at all. Aesthetics-wise, I’m fascinated, for instance, by Italian horror films from the 1970s, those by Dario Argento and Mario Bava. I like the way they play with light and colour. My other role models include Spanish filmmakers: the way creators of crime and horror films deal with the demons of the past, for instance, like Guillermo del Toro does in Pan’s Labyrinth.