Centrala: Blacky. Four of Us

Author:	Mateusz Skutnik

Translation: Ewa Lipińska
210 x 297 mm
Hardcover
64 pages
black and white
ISBN: 978-0-9929082-1-8

£12.99
 http://centrala.org.uk/shop/blacky-four-of-us/


The latest comic book by Mateusz Skutnik, co-founder of Pastel Games and creator of several acclaimed point-and-click flash games, now in English translation.

Blacky might seem to be just a regular guy but there is something very special about the way he looks at the world. Seen through his eyes, daily routines and things that tend to go unnoticed in a busy everyday life serve as triggers for reflection. It is a funny and thought-provoking collection of bitter-sweet observations on living in a big city, growing older and being a parent. Read it, but be warned – you will never look at a mug of cold coffee in the same way again.

The latest comic book by Mateusz Skutnik, co-founder of Pastel Games and creator of several acclaimed point-and-click flash games, now in English translation.

Oh boy.  "After an hour you realise you made a cup of coffee!"  THAT is the story of my life.  Working on CBO and on all sorts of other comic projects the one thing I know is never going to change is making a hot cup of coffee, working and then realising it's now a cold cup of coffee.  Just happened.

Anyway, I'm getting off the subject of this post.  This book is mad.  You look at the cover and think it is going to contain eye-popping colour art.  It doesn't.  It's black and white on a curious lined background. (water colour paper?).  The art has a scratchy quality in places and this works well with the ink washes (or it could be water colours reproduced as tones) and the story...it almost seems a very odd mish-mash....

But it is all completely mad and a bloody good fun read.  I long ago gave up trying to work out why it is I like some things but not others and all I can say is that Black. Four Of Us just makes me looking at the art.  Almost distracting with its washes, crinkly lines, stipling -look at the first page below!

I can see someone like Paul (Browner Knowle/Anon) Brown appreciating this type of thing. I've not seen anything quite like this -it has that European look but with "an edge".

I really do hope Centrala are successful in the UK because that means we would see more of this type -or more unique- work.  I think it might be a nice breath of fresh air!