I am not at all familiar with comics. I’ve only written some texts about two in my life, but both were so borderline, without any purity of genre: a collection of graphics by Pawel Jarodzki (brilliant, by the way) and graphic caskets by Maciek Sienczyk (also). In general, up to a certain point (I admit it with shame and pain) I associated comics somehow so little seriously, despite the fact that around me there were many enthusiasts who pressed me now and then with novelties and oldies of all kinds. I took, watched, read, and commented, but somehow they did not stay with me for long.
The situation changed dramatically when in a Polish language textbook (a subject I’ve been teaching more or less successfully for almost a quarter of a century; even less, because I have three months left until my jubilee, yeah) I read that Vivaldi, Fellini, and Matejko are “high art”, and hip-hop, “Terminator” and “some comics” are the low ones. It shook, it wobbled, it poured and, firmly forbidding my high school students to look into this chapter, I threw myself into pictorial stories out of my perversity. I still don’t know myself, but I never let anyone take offense at me anymore. And it was quite a long time ago anyway.
So I went through a classically simple but effective way. But it’s always better to hedge; so please take this lengthy egotistical introduction as a kind of reassurance: because how about if I write something that any expert on the subject will consider lack of knowledge or, worse, triviality? Because I’m going to write about Soviet Zombies, or Hunting made by Karol Weber and Wojtek Wu Zielinski. So here goes.
The idea of communist zombies seems original and catchy – congratulations to the initiators. After all, here are the artists invited to the project, and they were entrusted with just such a task: to come up with and draw a cool horror film in which the living dead somehow blend into the Soviet or peri-Soviet landscape. Weber and Zielinski have come up with a story that is downright bizarre – but therein lies all its charm. Here, in a mysterious, undefined forest, a mysterious (undefined because from America) uncle teaches his niece (nephew?) to hunt. No one probably knows that in that forest… But let’s leave that for a moment. Because at the same time, General Jaruzelski gives orders to a group of militiamen to clean up an area where the Polish-Soviet authorities are conducting mysterious experiments with equally mysterious weapons. The thing takes place in a forest; needless to say, it’s the same forest.
The story is so short that any other detail would already be spoiling the text. Its uncomplicated, but coherent and cool plot combined with very interesting frames (I especially liked the ones simulating the departure of a militia wagon) give the recipient what he looked for here for entertainment, which we will find, however, something more than the mere joy of reading. The comic book formula does not relieve us of the obligation to reflect, and there are plenty of those here. Especially since the author of the script weaves his thoughts unobtrusively and – above all – allows us to evaluate the characters ambiguously. From the first discussion of the ethics of hunting to the characters of the militiamen, to the unexpected finale, there is ambivalence here, which, it must be emphasized, is not easy in such a short story. Another plus is the awareness of both creators regarding the graceful building of tension: seemingly insignificant scenes, devoid of text or ascetically disposing of it, allow you to taste the world created. Finally – an unobtrusive reference to the “obligatory” plot of the walking dead. With taste and without episodes of literalism.
I like it. I will ask for more because there is a lot of potential hidden here, which I see both in the writer and the illustrator. And the greatest – in their fusion and mutual detailing, because this story stands for the duo. This is how it was supposed to be, I guess?
Tomek Florczyk
Okay, not to get too cute. I’m annoyed by the unnecessary “explanations”: one that Wróblewski, one that “Three Matches” (here, by the way, you could make an effort and point out that the TSA song is a musical version of Jacques Prevert’s poem translated by Gałczynski), and finally that five words of school English have to be starred and translated into Polish. But maybe I’m clinging – at the end of the day, I don’t know much about comics.