“Invincible” – the first boards from the comic adaptation of Lem

Rafał Mikołajczyk’s comic book “Invincible” is a graphic adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s hard science fiction novel, published in 1964. The title Invincible is an intergalactic cruiser sent to the planet Regis III with a mission to find the Condor – a mysteriously lost twin unit with whom contact was lost shortly after it landed on the planet. As the crew of the Invincible discover the secrets of Regis III, new secrets emerge and questions arise that the heroes cannot answer unambiguously. They can only speculate and hypothesize about past and present events.

As time passes and the situation develops dramatically, there are reflections on man’s dominion over the forces of nature, in a broader sense than the earthly ones, and the sense of opposing and fighting what man tries to measure by human measure at all costs. Is it in any way justified to try to subordinate what exists in the natural balance of duration, paying for it with the value considered in the human world as the highest? Does what is different and unknown must invariably constitute an impulse for an attack and a trial of strength? The novel poses several important, universal questions about the interrelationship between man and the world around him, and touches upon issues that are still relevant today.

The visual side of the comic is the author’s own, artistic interpretation, who made every effort to reflect the atmosphere of the Lem’s futuristic world as faithfully as possible through characteristic details and details. The whole thing is kept in a subdued, dark, heavy climate, full of uncertainty, fear and isolation.

Visually, the comic is closed in two color tones, they are: oranges with shades of red and blues with gray and a large amount of black. On the one hand, we have a desert planet dominated by the color of ore – mainly because of rocks and sand, and the orange-red color of the sky. On the other hand, we have cold blues and grays of Invincible, which in combination with orange gives a strong contrast. Black results from the drawing, but it is also supposed to deepen the feeling of depression and terror.

The author builds scenes without closing them in regular frames, which adds a dynamic character to the novel. In the literary layer, it is important to use an almost unchanged, original version of the text. The narration and dialogues have been appropriately separated and transferred to the pages of the comic, without violating the specific and characteristic style of Stanisław Lem’s work.

Rafał Mikołajczyk is a graphic artist, illustrator, cartoonist, and – from now on – a comic book artist. He was born in 1977 in Silesia. He began to develop his skills at the Secondary School of Arts in Bielsko Biała. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Faculty of Graphics and Painting, with a diploma, in the Screen Printing Studio of prof. Andrzej Smoczyński. Initially, he worked in advertising agencies as a computer graphic designer, for several years in his own studio. He has been fascinated with comics since childhood. He trained his first short forms in school notebooks, which was not
always understood by the teachers. He has been drawing since he remembers and that is why in comics what matters most to him is the first visual impression: drawing, composition and form.
Mikołajczyk, and at the same time the first publication of his own publishing house, Booka (www.dobrestronybooki.pl), which the author runs with his life partner.