This existential graphic novel draws us into the world of a Prague thirty-something who’s just been dumped by his longtime girlfriend. What does it mean to be single at a time when everyone around you is starting families? Is it a blessing or a curse? And what to do now? Think about the past, seek yourself, try to redefine your existence? A lot of questions, not a lot of answers. The single is free, but against his will. And it’s this very freedom which brings him stories and experiences which he’d never go through otherwise. A strange trip to Rome with a friend that didn’t go as planned. A brief but nonetheless intense relationship with a racist football fan. And many other scenes which play out in his head as memories during a purgative voyage across the Arctic Ocean. The single is like an iceberg waiting for a fateful Titanic to strike.

A richly textured story of a mysterious evil hovering above two ageing sisters. It’s mood is reminiscent of Charles Burn’s Black Hole, but in a particularly Czech way.

A horror detective story about two sisters, whose world is created from the surreal visions of Vojtěch Mašek, one of the most acclaimed Czech comics authors. When one of the Dietl sisters ends up in hospital after what appears to be a brutal attack, leaving her with a mutilated face and unable to move, Mašek leads the reader on a detective story exploring change of identity, doppelgängers, deformation, hallucination and altered states of mind in contrast with idyllic family life. This comics takes place in a fictional world woven from dreams, hazy and distorted memories of childhood fears, fear of the unknown and the desire for a safe hiding place. Reality constantly disrupted by doubts, changing points of view, the neurotic need to find objective truth. All this is contained in the story about the Dietl sisters – many theories, many possibilities but seemingly with only one solution. Mašek employs a unique multilayered art style, combining backgrounds created from various texts, newspaper cuttings and patterns with the main plot taking place in the foreground. The connections and juxtapositions between these two levels brilliantly evoking the main themes of the book.

Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi’s peppy impish wooden puppet, must encounter many adventures before finally coming to his senses… But what must a plum pit endure before it can become a puppet? This adventurous and comic tale told by a talking plank recounts the winding and capricious life story of a plum pit given to escapades. Screenwriter, comic book creator and author, Vojtěch Mašek, exhibits a sense for lively, nearly theatrical, storytelling and returns absurdist humor and biting levity to the children’s literary scene. Abundant linocut illustrations and graphics by artist Chrudoš Valoušek are, as always, stunning.

The beloved puppet of children’s literature, a figure that has been a continuous inspiration for artists all over the world, here presents an entirely new gallery of heroes and adventures. The graphic design plays with scale. The pages are peopled with historiated initials reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts, giant page numbers, avant-garde references and a medley of geometrical characters, their neon colours boldly outlined in black. Spread after spread, the mix of different layouts and the uncommon use of line-cut technique make for a truly extraordinary picturebook.

The Jury of Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2019

The true story of three Czech men whose daring exploits of anti- Communist resistance and 1953 flight to West Berlin set off the largest manhunt in the history of the Eastern Bloc.

The story of the Mašín brothers and their band waging guerilla war against the Communist regime in the early 1950s could be the most dramatic Czech tale of the 20th century. After their activities in Czechoslovakia, these young men headed west – facing off against twenty thousand East German Volkspolizei and shooting their way to freedom. In the novel So Far, So Good, Jan Novák wrote the story like a thrilling Czech Western and won the Magnesia Litera prize for Best Book of the Year. After the runaway success of the previous collaboration with an illustrator Jaromir 99, Zátopek, the authors return with an even more explosive comic book.