What’s going on …?
The comic, published in Poland by KBOOM, begins with the story of the eponymous Tightened Head. If anyone is in doubt, his name accurately describes what our superhero is. It is a mechanical, speaking and intelligent head that has several body variants and can simply screw into them to take advantage of them. He also has a faithful butler who helps him with his daily activities. What’s more, he has the status of a real slayer of criminals, because even the greatest of them, Emperor Zombie, trembles at the mere sound of his name, and Abraham Lincoln himself turns to him for help in solving cases. And all in a slightly steampunk style. It is also worth adding that the genesis of the Tightened Head remains a mystery, but instead we can admire three horrible old women and a monkey!
The story of the title character takes up almost half of the entire notebook. In the further part we find a few shorter, other curiosities. They include, among others Abu Gung and the Beanstalk , a slightly changed fairy tale about Johnny and the magic beans . The protagonists are three sisters (one is dead, but still playing an important role), and at the top, instead of a giant, we’ll meet the devil. The next story is the Wizard and the Snake , which is a rather sad story about an unusual friendship. In The Witch and Her Soul, we will see how easy it is to manipulate puppets. We can also visit the Chapel of Curiosities . For all this, we will meet the Prisoner of Marsor the story of a convict, whose soul went to the Red Planet right after his execution, was turned into a frying pan and… Well, you have to check for yourself what else happened there!
Two of the three horrible old women. And no monkey.
Everything makes sense!
The author of both the script and the graphic design is the aforementioned famous American artist Mike Mignola. If any of you have ever seen his work, you will realize from the cover itself that it was he who created the Amazing Tightened Head and other curiosities. His work and style are certainly unforgettable. Maybe not everyone will like them, but still it is a classic that made Mignola famous and a crowd of fans. As for the plot itself, in each story it is very abstract, funny and unpredictable. Mignola has fun while working on the comic book and gives the reader joy. And although it might seem that most of the ideas are meaningless here, and that the script was created based on some crazy idea, we will see that it is not. KBOOM, the Polish publisher of the issue, at the end published a correction to the individual stories, written by the author himself. He explains how the plot and drawings for individual stories were created. Sources of inspiration and anecdotes are a wonderful complement, that will light the way from the first sketch to the full comic. It is worth adding that the effect on the final shapeThe Wizard and the Serpent had the artist’s seven-year-old daughter, Katie. It was she who drew the animal on the roof and told her father what it was angry about. Dad picked up on the idea, made a whole story out of it, and marked his child as the main author. In 2003, they both won the Eisner Award for their story. The same award, only in a different category, was also won by the Amazing Tightened Head .
Laughter is good for health!
The comic by Mike Mignola is not likely to appeal to everyone. Probably not everyone appreciates the graphics he creates, and the level of absurdity makes some people avoid the artist’s work. I had a great time reading it! At times I actually found myself wondering what was actually going on, but at the same time I was laughing and eagerly returning to the best parts. I also appreciate the explanations written by the artist himself, who tells us the secrets of the creative process. Therefore, if abstraction combined with humorous scenes are what you eagerly reach for, and the Hellboy-like graphic design has always fascinated you, and if your favorite president of the USA was Abraham Lincoln, be sure to read The Amazing Twisted Head i Inne kurioza !
