The comic book They Called Him Karol, published by the publishing house 23, shows the tragic last moments of boys with the same name and (apparently) the same bad luck. It is candy, colorful and very fun. As long as you like blackish humor. We talked for a while with its creators.
Agnieszka Czoska: At the very beginning, where did the idea for such a comic come from? Practically silent, only one sentence appears in it. He collects tragic stories and is very … pretty – great colors, lots of energy in Ewa’s drawings. What was his story?
Jerzy Łanuszewski: Great, thanks! And the idea … I don’t know …
Ewa Ciałowicz: Jerzy, don’t throw it on me, because the idea is yours! (laugh)
J: But I don’t know where it came from … It just occurred to me, and there was scriptober, so I made sixteen comics and four ideas for illustrations.
A: And how did Ewa draw Karol ?
J: Because Ewa is drawing! I figured “it would be fun” and she agreed.
A: Ewa, what did you think when you got the proposal to draw this comic? It has a very strong concept, clearly it does not pay off … I mean, it seems to be quite niche.
J: Why is it not profitable? We have only had it since February and it’s hard to say how it sells, because due to the coronavirus, there are no festivals. But it seems pretty cool.
E: At the beginning, there was the very offer of cooperation. Then Jerzy sent me the script. I wanted to do it because I had tried to write a comic before, but …
A: Where did the idea for such colors come from?
Erik: It was rather the result of a long research, trying to make it look like. What would I most like to do. I was just in phase with such colors. As for the dash, it’s for me this comic asked about cartoonową style – a little less realistic death and accidents, and more treatment of the subject with humor.
A: Can you reveal who Karol is? There is one, many?
Erik: Charles is more like a state of mind.
J: Various Charles. It’s a popular name. It could be Karl Marx, Charles Wojtyla, Charlemagne, Charles Darwin… Okay, the Charles are over.
A: Then only friends. I understand Charles Darwin is fighting Godzilla?
E: Prince Charles!
J: No, I don’t like him.
A: There are nice tenement houses in the first comic, this could be London.
J: But there are other Charles in London too …
A: As Karol called him, fits into what you are doing? In the way you work, your plans? I am also interested in how it fits into Wydawnictwo 23.
J: When I wrote this comic, I didn’t have a publishing house yet. The original plan was that Ewa would draw it “on speed” and we would publish Karol as a zine on Golden Chickens last year (2019 – ed.). But Ewa pampered each board so much that it took a little more time. First of all, I started a publishing house, and secondly, this comic looks a bit silly to publish it as a zine in a small edition. So since I have a publishing house and great stuff … You have to combine it! And, of course, they called him Karol wpisuje się w politykę wydawniczą Wydawnictwa 23, bo jest to komiks dziwny, polski i fajny. Co do moich artystycznych prac… Robię głównie krótkie rzeczy, a to jest zbiór krótkich form. Raczej nie planuję robić z niego cyklu komiksowego. To żart, który świetnie działa, przynajmniej tak mi się wydaje, na tych dwudziestu stronach, a gdyby go kontynuować, mógłby się przejeść.
E: I don’t know exactly how it fits into my, let’s say, artistic life. Certainly, when drawing, I had such an approach that I want to do something finished – finally, because I have big problems with getting ready to finish things. For me, when it comes to comics, it’s a bit of a debut. So far I have not had a chance to draw a longer form. And for it to appear on the publishing market! This is the beginning for me, I hope. Career and personal development (laughs).
A: Are you planning further cooperation? Do you have any more comic designs on your wallpaper?
E: One of my shorts will appear in the 26th Anthology of the Krakow Comics Club, which will be out soon. I would like to try to do something for my script, maybe a longer one. We will see in the future.
J: In three years …
A: Do you have an idea for a specific topic?
E: Knowing my pace (laughs) … I would like to do something of my own, especially in horror scenes. Not such comedy and horror films as Karol , but more seriously. We’ll see how it works out.
A: The horror inspiration actually connects you. Was this the reason for the willingness to cooperate?
E: Dark humor definitely connects us. I am very drawn to horror movies. Books, movies, podcasts. I don’t know how Jerzy …
J: Also. Maybe not very, very much. I like horror films, this aesthetics … No, you can’t probably say that there is some horror aesthetics. I like the atmosphere of weirdness , maybe not slashers or jump scares , but subtle darkness combined with grotesque, black humor, or con * cept things.
A: A very specific category! Does it mean that there will be more of such climates at Wydawnictwo 23?
J: Brom was first, he is horrible. Schachmann is a fantasy comedy, Karol is … “crap * bans” … And so is the Captain of Polonia ! There will be even more horrible things.
A: The Captain of the Polish Diaspora made a great impression on me, especially the idea itself, which was born in 2010.
J: Somehow. At the beginning it was a joke with which Łukasz Kowalczuk traveled to festivals. Or was it on one? Anyway, he gave a popular science lecture about the first Polish superhero. Later it grew into an article, a comic book, and a short story recently.
A: How did it come about?
J: I asked Łukasz if they would like to publish it for me. They said yes (laughs). In my opinion, this is Kowalczuk’s best script. I also like drawings by Łukasz Godlewski. This comic was originally published at the time when Łukasz Kowalczuk was starting with three web projects. These were the former Captain of Polonia, Ultra Minion and Valiant Skateboarding French Bulldogs . These comics were supposed to be published somehow then , they didn’t come out. Ultra Miniona was finally published in Profanum and elsewhere overseas. Bulldogs were reworked and released as Violent Skate Bulldogs . A Captainit stayed that way. I was sorry for that (laughs). So much. Usually there aren’t any complicated stories here, at least in my case – I like something, I want to publish it and spend it.
A: But how long does it sometimes take! I like to hear stories about someone dropping a joke, the topic buzzing and finally, after ten years, we have a comic.
J: In Karol’s case, I threw a joke in my head, laughed and twenty pages came out. But as I read these comics before sending them to the printing press, I was still laughing. I think they’re cool.
Erik: I was given the script, I laughed and drew it.
J: Didn’t you laugh while drawing?
E: It’s hard to do it during that time. I don’t know if it works like that for me …
A: I am delighted with the faces of the protagonists who learn that someone has died, or actually – someone dies. They look offended rather than sad.
J: (laughs) Because how is it to die in the presence of ladies. Cheeky. It’s like coming to someone’s guest and hanging yourself.
Erik: It’s nice to draw such things, just like that. If I were to draw twenty-four pages of a tragedy in which someone dies and everyone cries, I would probably not be able to endure it mentally.
A: I have to finish canonically by asking about your plans. And also how you do without comic book parties. I saw that Ewa sells gadgets with her illustrations …
Erik: This is a website that deals with printing, I really only share pictures. The production is done by the leaders. I also don’t do broadcasting and so on. I created this profile because my friend said she wanted a bag with my artwork. They are rather change, but I’m really happy when someone actually orders something, because then he walks down the street with my graphics on his bag.
J: I don’t have any artistic plans yet. I mean, they’re very delayed. The publishing plans for May will include Super Naukledzy: 2099 . This will not change, they were supposed to be on Pyrkon, which moved – hard. Then they will be there too, but you can buy them earlier. I will probably announce the next plans at Pyrkon itself (we conducted the interview before the cancellation of Pyrkon 2020 – editor’s note).
Ewa Ciałowicz
Born in the Big City and raised in Mały. Currently, he resides in Krakow in the company of far too many potted plants.
She defended her MA in the Narrative Drawing Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow – with a comic book. To this day, no one can say with one hundred percent certainty what the comic was about. And good. Life can’t be too easy.
For five years she worked as an illustrator in an animation studio. Currently in game dev as a 2D graphic artist.
Zine published in Piglets .
Jerzy Łanuszewski
Zodiac sign: tank. Screenwriter, publisher, editor.
Co-author of the series: Giacomo Supernova (drawings: Robert Jach) and Rogden (drawings: Joanna Sępek). In the years 2015-2019 he ran (together with Barbara Okrasa) the zine Warchlaki .
He took part in the anthologies: Revolutions: Apocryfy, Krztoniowersum, Sliced Quarterly: Special # 4. He also published in zines: Brudno, Biceps, Monstrwór .
