Attic Wit #1: The Greater Punishment.

Posted: Tuesday, September 17, 2002
By: Darren Schroeder

Artist Matt Dembicki
Publisher: Self published
Address: 3148 Hartwick Lane, Fairfax, Virginia 22031, USA
Price: $1.00

Matt illustrates the first part of a story by polish writer Marek S. Huberath which follows the victim of a harsh interrogation from its end, through his recuperation in a detainment camp. The tone is very Kafkaesque in that we are never really told why he is being questioned. He is just in the process and has to go through the usual steeps. The events are made all the more harrowing by this attitude on behalf of the staff. The doctors clean up his wounds, amputate his leg and fit him with a plastic pipe to pee through.

Matt's illustrations are clear and show the countenance of some imagination as shown by the layouts and choice of images used to accompany the narration. The figure work is a bit rough in places as are some of the facial features of the characters, but none of this mares to any major extent the storytelling.

The plot takes the occasional surreal turn a torturers and female doctors sprout wings or disrobe in front of the main character. Are these events real or hallucinations? Matt keeps us guessing. Then there are the Unborn, giant baby like creatures that are detained in the barracks next door.

Matt does an admiral job of illustrating a fascinating story. It's grim and nasty in places but this is used to intensify the plot, no for cheap shock value. This is comic well worth tracking down and interrogating at your leisure.

In a word: Unsettling

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