An extraordinary look at human disposition towards obsession and manipulation in an innovative crime graphic novel based on real events.
Comics, Crime/Detective
Young journalist Andrea has been tasked with writing an article about an unsolved case from several years ago, which had gripped the entire nation. At the centre of the case was an adult woman who pretended to be an 11 year old girl and later in Denmark disguised herself as a boy of the same age. More and more mysteries piled up, conspiracy theories changed every day. Abuse, the influence of a powerful cult, threads leading to the highest levels of society. Andrea is consumed by the investigation, she forgets about her private life, her boyfriend Jakub, she turns the wall of her apartment into a board full of names, events and connections. With each new fact a new possible scenario emerges only to be quickly disproved. Every answer she discovers leads to more questions. Andrea is lost in the never ending labyrinth but she cannot stop searching for the truth and when she finally thinks it’s within her grasp, she has to ask herself how much she is willing to sacrifice.
Saint Barbara is based on real events surrounding one of the most complicated criminal cases in modern Czech history, which was uncovered by chance after footage of the abuse of a young child was caught by a neighbour trying to set up a video baby monitor.
About the authors
Marek Šindelka (1984) studied Cultural Studies at Charles University in Prague and screenwriting at the Prague film academy, FAMU. His debut poetry collection, Strychnin a jiné básně (Strychnine and Other Poems, 2005), won the Jiří Orten Prize for authors under thirty. He has published two novels and two short story collections since, which have been published in six languages including English and Dutch and have won two Magnesia Litera Awards.
Vojtěch Mašek (1977) is a comics writer and artist, author of film screenplays and theatre plays. His comics have received eight Muriel Awards and two have been published abroad. The film Křižáček (Little Crusader, 2017), which he co-wrote received the main award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Mašek is the author of the internet hit Recykliteratura, which builds on the avant-garde tradition of associative montages using photographs and texts found in books and magazines.
Marek Pokorný (1983) started creating comics more actively after discovering the internet community around the website Comx.cz, where he published a semi-autobiographical comic strip series. He took part in a figural drawing workshop lead by Boris Jirků and Radek Petříček and later studied classical animation at Film School Zlín. With the Ašta šmé group he authored the comics Silnější než někdo (Stronger Than Some) from the Nejisté domovy (Uncertain Homes) series about institutional and foster upbringing.
Marek Šindelka (1984) is a poet, prose writer and scriptwriter. He made his debut with a volume of verse Strychnin (Strychnine) for which he was awarded the Jiří Orten Prize 2006. Two years later he published his first novel Chyba (Aberrant), followed by a volume of short stories called Zůstaňte s námi (Stay Tuned), expressing a critical and ironic view on contemporary life. The book was awarded the Magnesia Litera Prize 2012. His next book, Mapa Anny (Map of Anna), is a set of short stories that are interconnected with each other and digs deep into the personal feelings and lives of young people. In 2016 Šindelka published a novel Únava materiálu (Material Fatigue), in which he focuses on european “migrant crisis”. His most recent publication was the graphic novel Svatá Barbora (Saint Barbara) – on which he collaborated with V. Mašek and M. Pokorný. As a scriptwriter he has worked with directors Michal Nohejl, Václav Kadrnka, Martin Mareček, Tomáš Bojar and others. His script (co-written with Vojtěch Mašek) for the film Okupace (Occupation) was awarded the Czech Lion for best script and received a Czech Film Critics Award 2021.
With slight exaggeration it could be said that whatever discipline Vojtěch Mašek (1977) turns his hand to, his work always meets with incredible success: he was one of the screenwriters on the film Křižáček (The Little Crusader, 2017), which won best film at the festival in Karlovy Vary, while the children’s book Panáček, pecka, švestka, poleno a zase panáček (Puppet, Plum Pit, Plum, Plank and Back to Puppet, 2018), story by Mašek and art by Chrudoš Valoušek, won the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award. However, he is most at home in the world of comics, which he creates either on his own or in partnership with other artists and writers. Since 2002, he and Džian Baban have been developing the surreally farcical world of Monstrkabaret Freda Brunolda (Fred Brunold’s Monster Cabaret), which has appeared in five comic books, more than a dozen stage adaptations and in short films. They have also written two award-winning graphic novels with art by Jiří Grus. He also recently worked with the writer Marek Šindelka on the contemporary graphic novel Svatá Barbora (Saint Barbara, art by Marek Pokorný, 2018), and his list of projects continues to grow.