Traum 1999

The TRAUM 1999 book contains three previously self-published trade paperbacks, now remastered and expanded, and three brand new, much more extensive stories from the TRAUM universe. The stories are loosely intertwined with the character of the frontman of the mysterious band Manequine and the events of the 1999 fictional reality of the TRAUM world. Furthermore, the book contains many bonuses in the form of character drawings, fictional band covers and a completely unique gallery of drawings, prints and illustrations by leading Czech artists and friends of the author ( Eva Maceková, Eva Mária Ondová, Jakub Gajdošík, Jakub Janovský, Jan Gemrot, Kateřina Morgenstein Tesařová, Lívia Suchá, Marek Berger, Marek Rubec, Nikola Logosová, Pavla Malinová, Štěpán Adámek, Tomáš Bárta, Tomáš Roubal, Tomáš Staněk, Vojtěch Šeda ) inspired by the TRAUM universe.

The stories that Traum offers are well captured by its name, which, in addition to the German word for dream, certainly echoes the word trauma. In his exclusively black-and-white comics, full of stark light and dark cast shadows, Motal offers disturbing delirious visions in which the overwrought echoes of trivial popular culture, civilizational anxieties and the so-far mentally unprocessed horrors of European history intermingle. Motal's narrative world is dark, bleak and yet remarkably absorbing. As a creator, this writer and artist clearly draws on American independent comics in particular, but his poetics and art style are already very distinctive and easily recognizable at first glance.