Title: Urban Legends – Brothers

Review: Brothers

If I were to share the first thought that came to me after reading "Brothers" by Karol Weber and Jakub Kijuc, I would say that this is a very Polish comic book. Thoroughly Polish, one might say.

However, this is not a flaw, to be sure. The Polishness of this story is related to the fact that there is plenty of reflection in it. Even when a character who is endowed with superpowers appears, even when we observe her uneasy return to an honest path - after all, she leaves her younger brother in prison - there are still more reflections in "Brothers" than action.

In fact, the protagonists of "Brothers" are not the titular brothers at all, but two retired men who meet on the roof of a building and exchange observations or have fierce discussions. All the more fierce because one of them has a career as a university lecturer, so in disputes he feels like a fish in water.

In "Brothers" it gets more interesting, because although the discussion takes its own course, at the same time we get a glimpse of history, which - in principle - contradicts the theses put forward in the discussion. It turns out that university theories do not necessarily encompass the entire functioning of the world. The world presented in this way requires a little more attention from the reader, but it provides fantastic opportunities for the cartoonist.

Eagerly takes advantage of them Jakub Kijuc, who partners Weber's texts in this story. Kijuc's worlds are full of details, deliberate deformations, and overdrawings. In short, the artist has a style that is distinctive and unmistakable. In "Brothers" he shows himself at his best, with his sharp, expressive line drawing equally expressive characters.

The subject matter of "Brothers" is also interesting, as it is essentially a comic book about superheroes. It ponders their existence, playing with form and convention, and, above all, garnishing the story with a large dose of perversity. In the "theoretical" layer, in which the old men discuss, he questions the existence of superheroes, in order to simultaneously show us a character who, with his teleportation abilities, could successfully become one, and basically proves his priorities.

Is this an action comic? A little bit. Is it a good story? Yes, especially since you can see a powerful step forward in the screenwriter, especially in terms of character building and dialogue. Very much on the plus side, the language stylizations and the docking of characters by their manner of speech. If these delicacies are not enough for someone, the icing on the cake is the unusual construction. "Brothers" is a tasty dish sprinkled with a grain of Polish mustard.

(mak)