THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! Robert ‘bele’ Sienicki is a comics creator from Poland, and he let’s his work speak for itself, bringing us an interesting portrait of life and comics in that country.
Under Pressure Book One: Portrait of an Artist on Fire collects single issues of his self-published comic, Beletrystyka, published between 2019 and 2023. The pre-pandemic issue in Chapter One is a general biography of Sienicki up to that time, a proper “origin” story for the writer/artist! Sienicki constructs this first chapter as a series of episodic scenes of his life taken to a humorous turn. He goes from one-page vignettes about running out of reading material while commuting and a hilarious examination of the (not supposed to be) communal “butt towel”, to longer stories such as a great portrait of a friend obsessed with his own “endowment” who gives Sienicki a tiny tattoo.
There’s also a fascinating two-pager on Sienicki‘s day job at the time lettering Polish-language translations of English and European comics. The highlight of this first book may be the final chapter which deals with the trials and travails of the Rycerz Janek graphic novel Sienicki co-wrote being published and translated into English by Behemoth (now Sumerian) in the States as Knight Janek. This story is particularly notable for the bittersweet tone Sienicki balances between the excitement of getting a graphic novel published and the crushing blow of the pandemic shutting down all avenues to promote and share the book.
Under Pressure Book Two: Look At Him Go! continues on from the first volume reprinting three more issues of his autobiographical comic bringing us up to 2025. Sienicki applies his wonderful sense of humor, both relatable and painful, to getting in shape and navigating Poland’s bureaucracy. The resolutions of his stories are what most impress me. Sort of a silent mic drop to punctuate the chaos and lunacy leading up to that point. All the stories are well done, however most appropriate to Thought Bubble is Sienicki’s memoir of comics conventions past. It’s a fun behind the scenes blow-by-blow rundown of Sienicki’s mundane set-up routine and occasional irksome interactions with fans.
Sienicki’s art resembles a modern animated cartoon style (we’re reminded of Cartoon Network, but manipulated to an incredibly personal style) that works well in contrast with the subdued delivery of the story points. When Sienicki’s story goes over the top the wild exaggerated facial expressions and body language complement it perfectly. Likewise, when Sienicki pauses the action for emphasis, the art style is adaptable enough to accommodate.
Find Under Pressure Book One and Two, as well as Freshly Grown Gardener (written by his wife Agata Wawryniuk), in Redshirt Hall at Thought Bubble.
Robert Sienicki (W/A/L) • Self-published
Review by Gary Usher
Robert Sienicki is sharing table D42 with fellow Polish comics creator Marta Falkowska in the Redshirt Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2025 runs from November 1oth-16th with the convention weekend taking place on the 15th-16th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2025 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster by Ng Yin Shian
