{"id":29556,"date":"2024-03-23T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29556"},"modified":"2024-03-22T18:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T18:00:03","slug":"marzi-volume-2-from-heaven-to-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/03\/23\/marzi-volume-2-from-heaven-to-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Marzi volume 2: From Heaven to Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Marzena Sowa <\/strong>& Sylvain Savoia<\/strong>, translated by Anjali Singh\/Mediatoon Licensing<\/strong> (Europe Comics)
\nISBN: 979-1-03280-391-2 (digital edition only) ASIN: ?B0C1JLQFMV<\/p>\n

As you\u2019re surely aware by now, our Continental cousins are exceeding adept at exploring humanity\u2019s softer, more introspective sides through comics. Here is another autobiographical tome, detailing the life of a little Polish girl growing up in an era of massive social change: a masterclass in emotive, evocative, vibrantly funny and ruthlessly sensitive storytelling to delight our senses by quietly affirming people everywhere are basically the same\u2026<\/p>\n

Originally released in France in 2006 as Marzi, tome 2: Sur la terre comme au ciel<\/strong><\/em>, this charming episodic collation continued a sequence of seven cartoon memoires by writer Marzena Sowa and her work\/life partner Sylvain Savoia. They first met when she came to Paris from Poland as an exchange student, and he – a successful cartoonist and graphic novelist – quickly realised the potential of her family anecdotes as she spoke of growing up in a subjugated Soviet satellite nation at the tumultuous tail end of the Cold War\u2026<\/p>\n

Their published collaborations were a hit in Europe, and first translated into English for DC\/Vertigo in 2011 (still available if you prefer physical books). At that time, media hype concentrated on the political aspects, but if you can, when reading this version, try to ignore that just as the creators did. It\u2019s a shaping element and plot point – albeit a omnipresent and potent one – like boarding at Hogwarts or growing up in the Teen Titans<\/strong>, but the setting is almost never what the stories are about. These are tales of childhood and finding comfort. Inspiration and happiness wherever you can, not a fabricated kid\u2019s adventure like Emil and the Detectives<\/strong> or a historical testament like The Diary of Anne Frank<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

Marzna Sowa was born in Stalowa Wola, Podkarpackia, Poland on April 8th<\/sup> 1979. She grew up mostly ordinary like all her friends and family, but after achieving maturity during some of the most eventful years of the last century, changed her life path in 2001 when she left Jagiellonian University, Krakow for Bordeaux\u2019s Michel de Montaigne University to complete studies in Literature. The how and why will become great comics in later volumes, You\u2019ll just have to be patient or buy all the books now.<\/p>\n

On meeting Savoia, mutual attraction became a working partnership with the first Marzi <\/strong>tome Petite Carp<\/em><\/strong> published in 2005. The last to date was released in 2017. Her other award-winning tales include N\u2019embrassez pas qui voulez<\/strong><\/em> (Don\u2019t Kiss Who You Want<\/strong> – 2013, art by Sandrine Revel) and Tej nocy dzika paprotka<\/strong><\/em>, (with Berenika Kolomycka). After further schooling to become a videographer, Sowa moved into Cinema, writing screenplays and directing documentaries while still scripting comics like La Grande M\u00e9tamorphose de Th\u00e9o<\/strong><\/em> (2022 with Geoffrey Delinte) and La Petite \u00c9vasion<\/strong><\/em> (2022 with Doroth\u00e9e de Monfreid).<\/p>\n

Savoia was born in 1969 in Reims and initially studied at the Saint Luc Institute in Brussels. In 1993 he co-founded art workshop 510TTC, crafting his first comics – Reflets Perdus<\/strong><\/em> – from a Jean-David Morvan script before beginning their extended series Nomad<\/strong><\/em>. Later hits included Al\u2019Togoat<\/strong><\/em> (2003), Les Esclaves oubli\u00e9s de Tromelin<\/strong><\/em> and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Allemagne 1945<\/strong><\/em>, supplemented by poster making, advertising art and training manual design and illustration.<\/p>\n

Since 2018 he has helmed educational series Le Fil de l\u2019Histoire racont\u00e9 par Ariane & Nino <\/strong><\/em>(On the History Trail<\/strong>), enjoying further success with Sowa in Les esclaves oubli\u00e9s de Tromelin<\/strong><\/em> and Petit Pays<\/strong><\/em>. In 2020 Savoia was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.<\/p>\n

Previous book Little Carp<\/strong> introduced 7-year-old Marzi, growing up in a Soviet-built apartment block. There are always shortages and long queues at the housing estate store, but somehow the market always has most of what people need. Dad works with Zdzich<\/em> in the Huta Stalowa Wola, the city\u2019s only factory, which has its own perks and perils\u2026<\/p>\n

Smart and observant but perhaps thinking too much, Marzi\u2019s also – to her excitably loud and frequently angry mum\u2019s consternation – a very picky eater, only barely aware of the effort dad must make to support them. Of course daughter is grateful, but also deeply concerned about so many things she can\u2019t change\u2026<\/p>\n

State-controlled housing is short on amenities and variety (there are only two kinds of apartment available – small or bigger) with no play facilities, so kids cluster around the elevator on her floor (the fifth) to play their games vertically. Favourite is messing with lift buttons so the carriage stops at every floor. They also like ringing doorbells and running away. Marzi is great at the latter but hampered in the former as she\u2019s afraid to ride the grim grey box and will always use the stairs if she can\u2026<\/p>\n

She has a strong bond with Andrzej<\/em>, Magda<\/em>, both Ania<\/em>s and especially feisty Monika<\/em>, who always leads at everything, like that time Ania (1) and Andrzej\u2019s mother pierced all their ears (except Andrzej and baby Magda!) and Monika\u2019s mum gave them all their first earrings\u2026<\/p>\n

Here, we resume her ruminations on December 13th<\/sup> 1981, <\/em>with \u2018The state of fear\u2019<\/em> as – aged 2\u00bd – she recalls how appointed head of state General Wojciech Jaruzelski<\/em> was on their intermittently-working television declaring \u201cPoland is in a State of War!\u201d There were tanks in the streets and everybody whispered and avoided telephones. It would be years before she understood, but her parents did right away and were really, really scared\u2026<\/p>\n

Marzi is a little older as \u2018Reality TV\u2019 <\/em>details a world of shortages where everyone hides what cash money they have. When the little lass sees colour TV for the first time and begins agitating to get one, she sees more of a world where everything is rationed and controlled by the Kupon<\/em> (coupon system) dictating the dissemination of goods and foodstuffs\u2026<\/p>\n

Although dictatorial by diktat and \u201cCommunist\u201d by command, Poland remained devoutly Catholic throughout Russian rule and we jump to the most important event in a child\u2019s life in \u2018God loves me\u2019<\/em>. Mama is manically devout and goes into nuclear mode as her only daughter simply cannot get with the program and do what priests and teachers demand as her class prepare for their first Holy Communion. She just can\u2019t understand all the fuss and her First Confession is a disaster, but this day and life-change is just inescapable\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Marzi is luckier than most of her friends as Dad has an official garden (in Britain we\u2019d call it an allotment) and her Aunt Niusia<\/em> lives on an actual farm. The family always have access to extra – fresh – food and can even make extra, under-the-table cash selling produce on the openly-ignored food black market. However, the day-dreaming child\u2019s visits to either are always fraught with unacknowledged but pragmatic brutality. Marzi has met cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, cats, dogs and other creatures and fully understands why mum says you shouldn\u2019t give animals names, but it can\u2019t stop her trying to form bonds or leave food on her plates\u2026<\/p>\n

A weekend at Niusia\u2019s and a new white dress for Mass on Sunday inevitably draws calamity and catastrophe when Marzi gets on the wrong side of cart horse Baska, <\/em>but her \u201cpunishment\u201d in \u2018What\u2019s bred in the bone comes out in the flesh\u2019<\/em> is a real gift from God, after which \u2018Bad grass\u2019 <\/em>sees the family stocking up on fruit & veg from the urban spread for a quick money bonanza. Sadly, after being forbidden a go on the scythe, Marzi gets caught up in observing ants at work and lets down her folks yet again\u2026<\/p>\n

When (relatively) rich girl Justyna j<\/em>oins the class, all her American bought clothes and cosmetics prove that \u2018Money does smell (good)\u2019 <\/em>whereas Marzi\u2019s new – incontinent – guinea pig \u2018Perelka\u2019 <\/em>just does not, and comes to an inevitable end in the family flat. Marzi really wanted a dog anyway\u2026<\/p>\n

Hinting at exotic things to come, an impromptu but welcome trip to the farm in Skowierzyn results from a distant aunt (born and raised in France!) wanting to reconnect with her roots. However, the glamour promised by \u2018Oh la la Elen!\u2019 <\/em>isn\u2019t what the little dreamer was expecting, although that disappointment was then eradicated by a 15-day stay in fabulous metropolis Krakow with grandmother Jdzia, Aunt Dzidzia <\/em>and Uncle Metek\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Her first extended taste of freedom supercharges Marzi\u2019s imagination as modernity, history, fantasy and romance collide, especially after hearing the legend and seeing the statue of the dragon \u2018Smok Wawelski\u2019.<\/em> Our tiny tourist is far less enamoured of patent herbal medicines like Amol, ruthlessly dispensed when she\u2019s deemed to have overdone things\u2026<\/p>\n

Despite all her gripes and doubts about everything – even God is on her \u201cunproven\u201d list – the life of Marzi and her pals is pretty good and generally happy, but that suddenly changes in chilling final episode \u2018Breathing can be hazardous to your health\u2019. <\/em>Here, Marzi is on the farm and revelling in the mucky joys of the countryside when suddenly the adults all start acting crazy. Now, no kid can go outside, eat vegetables (no loss there!) or drink milk. The trip ends suddenly and Dad drives them back to the flat in hurry. Soon every kid is having to take nasty medicine from the hospital and all outside activities are stopped. It\u2019s spring 1986 and slowly reports are emerging that there has been an accident in a place called Chernobyl\u2026<\/p>\n

A skilfully shaped, enticingly enthralling paean to growing up in interesting times (and aren\u2019t they all?), From Heaven to Earth<\/strong> is a celebration of independent thought: blending pranks and misunderstanding, new fun with familial strangers and with doing tedious stuff adults tell you to. Making fun where you can as your awareness deepens and a mature world is built by ever-expanding experience, and how we all grow up to be our parent in unbalanced doses of imitation and utter rejection\u2026<\/p>\n

Marzi<\/strong> is definitely about independence and freedom, but it\u2019s personal not national and inherently hopeful: the tale of a fish out of water learning to swim her own way. If you want polemical condemnation and confirmation of your own prejudices, look elsewhere. Better yet, stick around to see how a delightful and unique individual lived her own best life\u2026
\n\u00a9 2017 – DUPUIS – SOWA & SAVOIA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Marzena Sowa & Sylvain Savoia, translated by Anjali Singh\/Mediatoon Licensing (Europe Comics) ISBN: 979-1-03280-391-2 (digital edition only) ASIN: ?B0C1JLQFMV As you\u2019re surely aware by now, our Continental cousins are exceeding adept at exploring humanity\u2019s softer, more introspective sides through comics. Here is another autobiographical tome, detailing the life of a little Polish girl growing … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Marzi volume 2: From Heaven to Earth”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[299,104,122,125,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminism-sexual-politics","category-graphic-autobiography","category-historical","category-humour","category-satirepolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7GI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29556"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29559,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29556\/revisions\/29559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}