The Bookseller Advertisement Feature FEATURE GRAPHIC NOVELS


Graphic novels


TEXT Paul Gravett


GRAEME MACRAE


BURNET WAS LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE


he Czech graphic novel scene is surging, its vibrancy demonstrated by a string of remarkable recent works. Among the country’s most acclaimed comics artists is


Jaromír 99 (a.k.a. Jaromír Švejdík), who is also a rock musician and screenwriter. His bold, almost woodcut style perfectly suits the mood of Franz Kafa’s last unfinished novel, The Castle (SelfMadeHero), adapted with David Zane Mairowitz. More recently in the inspiring graphic biography Zátopek (SelfMadeHero), Jaromír 99 and writer and documentary-maker Jan Novák capture the turbulent life of runner Emil Zátopek, four-time Olympic gold medallist and outspoken national hero. Two intertwined life stories are at the heart


of Savages (Centrala) by Lucie Lomová, the best-known Czech female comics creator from the post-communist generation. Lomová brings to life the complex relationship between explorer and botanist Alberto Vojtěch Frič and an indigenous tribesman from Paraguay named Cherwuish, afflicted with a mysterious disease. Determined to find a cure, Frič brings him to Europe in 1908, where Cherwuish has to adjust to an unfamiliar society and its prejudices—a story plucked from history speaking to current issues around decolonisation.


Another key contemporary creator is


Vojtěch Mašek, whose award-winning projects range across plays, film scripts, children’s books and both collaborative and solo graphic novels. Of the last, The Sisters Dietl (Centrala) is part detective mystery, part psychological horror. Twins Věra and Veronica share a special bond, but when one has her face mutilated and undergoes facial reconstruction, dark secrets are uncovered. Their “cursed case” is illustrated by Mašek in


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Two intertwined life stories are at the heart of Savages (Centrala) by Lucie Lomová, the best-known Czech female comics creator from the post-communist generation


painterly panels and melancholic palette, a cinematic mood echoing Cronenberg and Lynch, but distinctly his own. The most familiar Czech word to enter the English language is probably “robot”, coined in 1920 by the playwright Karel Čapek for his science fiction drama “R.U.R.”—which stands for Rossum’s Universal Robots—centring around the titular company which invents androids to replace human labour. For the play’s centenary, talented artist Kateřina Čupová adapted it into a first-ever colour graphic novel. R.U.R. has appeared in French and Spanish


editions, but Anglophone rights have not been sold. Rossum’s policy—“The best worker is the cheapest. The one with the least needs”— makes the revival even more relevant with current anxieties about AI’s impact. Surely, the time is ripe for an English translation.


© SelfMadeHero


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