Revolutions - Mateusz Skutnik

Polish artist, writer, independent game developer and graphic novelist Mateusz Skutnik inhabits a quite singular world in his graphic novel Revolutions. Based on reading just part 1 (Parabola) of the five part series, it's difficult to summarise or do it full justice, but it's such a bizarre and unique worldview that I'm not convinced that reading further episodes will clarify matters greatly, and may even perhaps just add further to the confusion. 

The world in Mateusz Skutnik's Revolutions only has a passing resemblance to our own, and its characters only have a passing resemblance to human. Rather than a straightforward linear narrative, the story seems to develop a number of situations that cross one another, each one rapidly taking a turn towards the surreal. It reminds me of David Lynch's approach to stream of consciousness narrative and indeed its figures often look like something out of Eraserhead.

The art style is very distinctive, lovely clean lines and soft colouration that make this pleasant to look at and actually quite enjoyable to read (it's a quick read) as long as you are happy to put up with a little confusion and go with the flow. Whether there's any greater depths to be derived from Revolutions is difficult to determine from Part 1 Parabola alone, but it's a weirdly fascinating place to inhabit for a while and I'd certainly be interested in seeing more work by Skutnik.

Revolutons: 1. Parabola by Mateusz Skutnik is published in eBook format in English translation by Europe Comics.

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