Dr. Marek Szymaniak, Director of the Gdańsk Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN)

invites you to

a meeting with Tomasz Kołodziejczak and Mateusz Maranowski, creators of the Otwarte Komiksy channel, titled “Amazing Story! Or the Extraordinary Life of Julian S. Krupa”

as part of the “Borders of History” series.
Hosted by: Jarosław Jakubowski and Mateusz Szłapka

IPN Branch Office, 1 Teskowa St.
October 29, 4:30 p.m.

Since April 2025, Tomasz Kołodziejczak and Mateusz Maranowski have been running the “Otwarte Komiksy” channel on YouTube, where they broadly discuss the issues, history, and future of Polish and international comics.

Tomasz Kołodziejczak is a writer, journalist, creator of computer and board games, and editor-in-chief of magazines including “Voyager,” “Magia i Miecz,” and “Donald Duck.” Above all, however—he spent over 25 years as a comic book publisher at Egmont—so he knows the market and its challenges inside and out.

Mateusz Maranowski is a journalist. A comic book fan—as the legend goes—he convinced Tomasz to return to YouTube. Although he usually stays behind the scenes, handling the technical side of the channel, he is the driving force behind the project.

The meeting with our guests will center around a screening of the film “Amazing Story! Or the Extraordinary Life of Julian S. Krupa,” the duo’s most ambitious production and, without a doubt, an incredibly fascinating story. Otwarte Komiksy introduced the figure of the almost completely forgotten artist, Julian Krupa (1913–1989). They uncovered comics and illustrations whose existence was completely unknown to Polish fans and historians. Thanks to this discovery, they pushed the origins of Polish comics and science fiction press illustrations back by several decades. The film was produced specifically for the 90th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of the comic (May 1936), the 250th anniversary of Polish fantasy literature (March 1776), the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of *Amazing Stories* (April 1926), and the first anniversary of the “Otwarte Komiksy” channel (April 2025).

Issues of *Dziennik Związkowy*, a magazine published in Chicago by the Polish community, in which Julian Krupa’s comics appeared, were also discovered at the Institute of National Remembrance. All of these elements led to the organization of our event, which will also mark the first public screening of this film.

As part of the event, the IPN branch in Bydgoszcz will prepare a special exhibition featuring comics discovered in the IPN Archives.

The event will be divided into two parts—a screening of the film “Amazing Story! Or the Extraordinary Life of Julian S. Krupa,” followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.

We cordially invite you to attend! Admission is free!

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Borders of History - "Amazing Story! Or, The Extraordinary Life of Julian S. Krupa"

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