Who is the monster here? – review of the comic book “Kraken”

A case for a reporter

The story contained in the comic book Krakenit is told from the perspective of former TV presenter Serge Dougarry. His five minutes of fame passed a few years ago and now the journalist lives on memories, drowning his sorrows in alcohol. One day, Damien, a teenage and slightly disadvantaged boy from Selalgues village, shows up at his house, claiming to have seen the Kraken. Since he watched Dougarry’s shows where the man talked about the sea creature, he figured it would help him hunt. The reporter decides to investigate the matter himself. He ends up in a village where people live on the verge of poverty. They blame the deep monster for their problems, as well as Damien. The boy is the only one who has survived the alleged attack of the beast, which they say now wants to catch him, scaring the fish away. By the way, their stereotypical and backward thinking prevents them from understanding trauma and disease, with which the young man is measured. Soon, residents begin to discover the gruesome corpses of village children. Serge must find out who the murderer is. Otherwise, the locals could sacrifice the young Damien.

Psychological thriller

It is difficult to accurately portray the plot of Krakenand not reveal too much. The Italian Emiliano Pagani is responsible for it. At first, his comic book seems to be pure fantasy, in which the main role is played by the title sea creature. However, the murders in the village quickly make us realize that he is not the monster here. And while we do not know who is killing the kids in the village, we quickly realize that we are dealing with a whole lot of monsters. They are the people of Selalgues themselves. Their backwardness causes them to blame Damien. They cannot understand the behavior of the boy who saw his brother and other fishermen die, and how it shocked him. Instead of trying to help him, they keep calling him names, spitting on him, and sometimes even beating him and pushing him to the margins of society. Thus, his condition only worsens, which makes the locals even more irritated and enraged. With time, it is in him that they see the source of their defeats and the fall of the village. Instead of trying to rebuild, find new activities, they prefer to keep going out to sea, and after unsuccessful fishing, blame the boy and the mythical Kraken. It gets really dangerous when their fear and rage make them think about killing the boy and sacrificing him. With such a development of events, a journalist who also cannot count on anyone’s help must quickly solve the case. Ultimately, we get an ending that many will not be so obvious about. that they are thinking of killing the boy and sacrificing him. With such a development of events, a journalist who also cannot count on anyone’s help must quickly solve the case. Ultimately, we get an ending that many will not be so obvious about. that they are thinking of killing the boy and sacrificing him. With such a development of events, a journalist who also cannot count on anyone’s help must quickly solve the case. Ultimately, we get an ending that many will not be so obvious about.

This climate!

Kraken’s plotit is undoubtedly addictive and very well run. And for that, the writer deserves a lot of applause. But what would a comic be without drawings? Another Italian, Bruno Cannucciari, is responsible for these. I must admit that it perfectly showed the atmosphere of Selalgues. At first glance, we can see how impoverished this fishing village is. Also emaciated people in damaged clothes show us the poverty of this place. It is also worth paying attention to the main characters, i.e. Serge and Damien. Both of them have had unpleasant life events behind them and both are plagued by memories and demons of the past, which were presented in numerous flashbacks and thoughts of the characters. Added to all this is the title Kraken, to which the cartoonist has devoted several pages. Every time it is huge, we do not see it very clearly. Blurred and fuzzy is supposed to arouse our fear and this procedure is successful. In order to keep the entire comic book in an atmosphere of mystery and horror, the artist used one more measure. You will not see beautiful colors here, but only black, white and several shades of gray framed with dirty green at times. As a result, the numerous shadows that run through the streets and in the depths of the sea look even more ominous. And it adds an appropriate character to the faces of people tired of life. As a result, the numerous shadows that run through the streets and in the depths of the sea look even more ominous. And it adds an appropriate character to the faces of people tired of life. As a result, the numerous shadows that run through the streets and in the depths of the sea look even more ominous. And it adds an appropriate character to the faces of people tired of life.

The problem of a small society

Although the Krakenit might seem pure fantasy, it is not. We’ll quickly discover that this is not a deep monster at all. We’ve got a nice detective story and even a thriller here, but that’s still not the most important thing. The authors present us primarily with a social problem, when people often cannot or do not want to understand others. Instead of helping, they prefer to push away. There is also the recently popular topic of “hate speech”, because Damien is the victim of it. It is also clearly visible how often people, not coping with their own problems, blame others without seeing their own mistakes. Finally, the authors present the affliction of small villages, where, in addition to superstition, stereotypes and backwardness, people struggle with financial problems. The government, on the other hand, pretends not to know anything and leaves them to fend for themselves. It is sad,Kraken is therefore a great comic book which, under the guise of a mythical monster and thriller atmosphere, shows the real difficulties of modern civilization. I am glad that thanks to the Timof publishing house and the silent partners also Polish readers have the opportunity to get acquainted with it.