I’ve been on a big Decadence Comics kick lately and was inspired to jot down some of my thoughts. They are an art collective from London and Athens, respectively, spear-headed by two artists named Lando and Stathis Tsemberlidis, each bring their own perspective to themes of decay, collapse, survival and rebirth.
They put out sci-fi collections of their own work and group anthologies that focus on the more the expansive, brutal, and philosophical ideas that seem to be slightly out of vogue in current pop culture. Their aesthetic tends towards realism and avoid the conventional hero narrative; Triangle headed gods drown their families on floating space temples in order to transcend to the next dimension; empty shopping malls house scattered survivors, searching for a drop of water; space explorers land on a foreign planet and begin battling the reanimated skeletons of the previous landings. Reader are often left to fill in the blanks around the action in the work, through little hints provided in the art. However, more often than not, the larger narrative around the action remains intentionally obscured.
There’s a very realistic and menacing feeling of constant collapse and decay throughout, as if you’re never truly safe, even though you’re the only person left in an empty and desolate city. What disturbs most is how observed the drawing feels, drawing parallels to decay we’ve all witnessed around us in late-state capitalism. Are these worlds that different than our own? The aim is to underline the obvious similarities.
A common theme is a current of physical realism in the work of Lando especially. The comics are grounded in motion; things develop movement to movement, giving you a real sense of physical space. The brutal emphasis on the present often means there’s very little in terms of explication. Often, there is very little dialogue to shelter you from the visceral nature of his story-telling. Things develop as they happen in the physical world, giving it a very cinematic feel, which is in direct opposition to the fussy, flat and purposefully unpleasant line-drawing technique he employs. the realism of the figures and their movement give the violence in his work a special feeling of dread and brutality.
One particular thing I really appreciate in his work in the attention to detail. Upon finding a group of survivors in an abandoned building, in one panel we briefly see the tarp they had set up and hunting supplies they created. It adds to a sense that Lando’s reporting what happened from some observed future, rather than making things up to suit a story.
I’m always pleased when I find artists collaborating like this. They both have found a common ground in their interests and story-telling that is not identical but is equilaterally fruitful. Each reenforces the other. and adds a crucial element to the narrative whole, both visually and in terms of thematics.
I’m more into Lando’s work at present, so I hope you’ll forgive any imbalance in attention, dear reader. In short, Lando’s work feels more grounded and episodic. The well rendered physicality in the action and movement in his work that truly sets it apart from peers, especially within the genre. I keep returning to it to see how he pulls it off and it almost feels like a magic trick. despite its purposeful simplicity. He’s not afraid of negative space, which is always a well considered element in the compositions.
Stathis tends to go into the lucid dream logic dimension, with similarly silent creatures enduring bizarre episodes that still somehow adhere to some kind of unconscious universal anti-logic (very much like David Lynch, in that respect). Waking nightmares we all recognize as having the echo of truth.
There’s a kind of vicious black humor in the mix as well, which can be overshadowed by the larger (often disturbing) themes they work with; a sense of humor that I think helps the pill go down. The name ‘Decadence’ itself has an obvious sarcastic and mocking tone. Reading things with a negative or nihilistic bend can sometimes feel like an exercise in self-flagellation, but their particular brand of humor creates welcome breaks from the more difficult passages.
I’m not sure if the design work for their comics is more one than the other, or if it’s collaborative, but they do very cool and cheeky things emulating old sci-fi paperbacks, classroom text books, and role-playing manuals. It gives the whole line-up of work a distinct identity and classes up what could appear kind of flat in its otherwise stark black and white printing.
These comics are mysterious, super ambitious, and cinematic. The artists themselves seem palpably committed to what they are doing, which I really respect and I’m frankly envious of. There is an impossible coolness about all their work in its uncompromised realization. Their commitment to their vision makes the work feel truer than something that bends and bows to common taste. To me, these comics show expert level mastery of the craft and are a great example of what makes the medium singular. At first glance, the art can seem so flat and purposefully unpleasant, that it’s almost a daring you to enjoy it. A deserved middle finger to a world careening towards oblivion.
Highly recommended! (start with Gardens of Glass, in my opinion)
