Title: Tales from the Ark: The Madman

A madman who is not a madman? - a review of the comic book "Madman" by Karol Weber

Weber likes to take the reader on a journey into the worlds he creates. This seems to be confirmed by "Tales from the Ark", several stories of which have already seen the light of day in the pages of comics magazine "Relax".

Daylight here, by the way, contrasts well with the circumstances created by Weber, for "Madman" takes place in a dark, somewhat surreal, world. It is full of dark nooks and crannies, and the tangle of pipes suggests that we have landed with the characters of the story in an underground state - or maybe even a world? The reader is quickly given an atmosphere of unease, which is strongly emphasized by the screenwriter and the talent of the illustrator. The hosts of disoriented people, fear-filled faces, and majestic devices of unknown destiny, which may be seen in the light of lamps, evoke post-apocalyptic worlds familiar from pop-culture imagery. However, in "Varian," this anxiety is multiplied - not only the depicted world makes the reader tremble, but also the plot.

This plot, by the way, touches on deep-seated human fears on at least several levels. We meet Adam in prison - fear number 1, as rather few of us think of such circumstances in friendly terms. Adam is visited by the ghost of his deceased wife - fear of death mixed with belief in life after life, fear of figures from the afterlife - this is a powerful player, or anxiety number 2. We also have anxiety number 3., perhaps less obvious, but just as deep, if not deeper - fear of mental illness or the premonition of this illness... Stop, there will be no spoilers. However, the title is suggestive enough.

But it's not only on the hidden fears in the human psyche that Weber plays effectively. For there is no shortage of romantic, perhaps at times even slightly cloying notes in "Varian". While at times it seemed to me that it was indeed rather pathetic, perhaps in extreme and dramatic situations (and this is what the main characters of the story undoubtedly found themselves in), perhaps this solemnity actually flows to us straight from the romantic Slavic hearts?

A big round of applause for Weber for playing with the speech styles of the characters, for Gedeon invariably for the fantastic, dreamy-dark atmosphere of the works, and for both men for their ability to emphasize the frames with appropriately adapted form.

Dr. Milena Koscielniak