Nick stands in front of a mural of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old whose 2008 police shooting sparked nationwide riots in Greece, in Exarchia, a contemporary Athenian neighbourhood known as a hub of resistance culture. Photo by the author, used with permission.
Athens-based horror artist Nikos Tragganidas Posazennikov, more commonly known as Nick, channels his political outrage into comics that confront government corruption, authoritarian abuse, and the neglect of ordinary citizens. Raised in a politically engaged family, Nick was discouraged from pursuing an art career. However, he followed his own path as a comic book artist, animator, and musician.
We met in Exarchia, a self-proclaimed “working-class” neighborhood that has long been at the center of protests, gentrification, and cultural resistance, to talk about his upbringing, politics, and his new comic book, which places Exarchia at the heart of the story.
GV: What drew you into comic book writing and artistic work?
Nick: Like most artists I know, I grew up with comic books. Drawing was one of the first things I did, so it came naturally. Later, I leaned more toward music, but art was always part of my life, I even made comics for fun as a teenager.
When I entered high school, I had to decide what to study. My parents said, ‘You have to do something that makes money, a real profession.’ I tried, but it didn’t work for me. So I chose art full-time. At first, I thought I’d focus on illustration because it sells better. But I ended up back where I began, with comic books. I love writing, and I love drawing.
Nick sketches in the streets of Exarchia, capturing the neighborhood’s spirit. Photo by the author, used with permission.
GV: What message do you try to convey with your work?
Nick: I started as a horror artist and didn’t expect my work to become so political. I always wanted to have a message, but early on, I didn’t know what direction to take because I was still learning how to draw.
Then Tempi happened, and I was furious. That was the first time I created a piece about a specific event. It was cathartic, I felt I was contributing to the broader conversation about these issues.
After October 7, 2023 [the start of Israel's ongoing war against Gaza], I created pieces about Palestine, and it snowballed from there. I still consider myself a horror artist, but now I focus on a different kind of horror; the horror of real life and the political landscape.
The Tempi train crash occurred in February 2023 in Greece, when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train, killing 57 people, and making it the country’s deadliest rail disaster on record. The ensuing scandal exposed years of negligence, corruption, and underfunding in Greece’s railway safety systems, leading to public outrage and political fallout.
GV: When you say “horror” as your art style, what do you mean?
Nick: I started by wanting to create scary scenes — tension, heavy shadows, supernatural beings — and that’s still part of my work.
But now I want to show the misery of our reality and portray the point of view of the victims, as best I can. When we talk about things like police brutality or genocide, it’s easy to lose sight of individual people. I try to capture their emotions, their faces, their reactions. That’s what drives the horror element of my work today.
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Nick shares his work to raise awareness of the tragedies in Palestine, not only the ongoing violence but also issues like femicide and financial exploitation.
GV: What is the work you are most proud of so far?
Nick: My latest comic ‘Vile Hunter.’
Back in high school, I loved the comic series ‘Hellblazer,’ which stars John Constantine, a British magician and exorcist. It combined supernatural horror with sharp political commentary, and I fell in love with it.
That inspired me to develop my own ideas. The first draft of ‘Vile Hunter’ was written back in high school; it was much less political then, mostly supernatural. Over time, it evolved into what it is now.
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GV: Your comic blends horror with social critique. What inspired you to tackle issues like femicides and state violence through this genre?
Nick: In horror stories, ghosts usually exist because of a tragedy — a murder or an accident — and the solution is always to banish the ghost. But that felt empty to me. The systemic problems that led to the tragedy persist.
Take the common trope of a husband killing his wife, and she becomes a ghost. The story ends when the ghost disappears, but what about the femicide that caused it? I wanted to flip that and create a character who recognizes that to stop hauntings. You need to stop the injustices behind them: femicides, wrongful arrests, state violence.
GV: Tell us about this main character.
Nick: His name is Mac. At first, I designed him as a kind of generic protester, unpolished and ordinary. People joked he looked like me, but, really, he’s more of an everyman, a politically aware but not deeply organized figure. He represents the many people who share radical ideas but feel intimidated by formal movements.
GV: Is he an anti-hero?
Nick: Not exactly. He’s not perfect, but not because he’s morally gray; more because he’s unprepared. He reacts like most of us would: with fear, confusion, and even disgust. There’s a scene where he sees a magically mutilated corpse, and he throws up. He’s something audiences could relate to, not a stoic superhero.
GV: So it’s not a superhero comic?
Nick: Not at all. It’s a mystery horror with supernatural and comedic elements. Life is both terrifying and absurd. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you’re scared. I wanted Mac to reflect that.
GV: Why did you choose Exarchia as the setting for the story?
Nick: I wanted to talk about police brutality and gentrification, two issues that affect me and most people around me. At first, I thought about setting it in my hometown, Korydallos, which is also a victim of gentrification but rarely discussed.
But when people hear ‘Exarchia,’ those two issues, police brutality and gentrification, immediately come to mind. So to make the story more accessible and set the tone, I chose Exarchia as the backdrop.
GV: Without giving too much away, what is the overall message behind the comic?
Nick: I wanted to show almost in a dark fairy-tale way how gentrification and police brutality rot a neighborhood from the inside.
The tagline is ‘The Flowers of Pain’ — intentionally so. These issues are deeply rooted. It’s not just about businesses closing or hotel and retail store chains opening; the entire mood of a neighborhood changes. Rents rise, it becomes unsafe or unaffordable for locals, and the original authentic way of life disappears.
I wanted to communicate that, but in a way that would reach people who might otherwise be turned off by overtly political language. Horror and supernatural mystery draw them in; then, they start to understand the deeper issues.
GV: With everything going on in Greece at the moment, do you see any hope for the future?
Nick: I think a politically engaged person has to hold on to hope, even when it feels almost impossible, because without hope there’s no reason to keep fighting.
There’s a chant we often use at protests that I really love: ‘Even if we lose, we keep fighting.’ That’s the point: we fight because we must, not because victory is guaranteed.
If I’m being realistic, I don’t expect things to get better in my lifetime, or in the lifetimes of many people I know. But that doesn’t mean we stop. If I can make life harder for the bosses, the cops, and the politicians who keep creating these problems, then I’ll keep doing whatever I can.
GV: If you could send a message to others in the struggle, what would it be?
Nick: Keep fighting.
Keep creating art. Art is a crucial part of resisting oppression — though sometimes even movements underestimate it. People often ignore articles or even photos and videos from real atrocities, because they’re too uncomfortable.
But art reaches them differently. I once spoke with an artist from Gaza who changed my perspective. You can see countless photos from Gaza, but one drawing by a Palestinian artist can communicate emotions more personal and direct.
That’s why I believe we must keep making art — make it as political as possible, promote artists, and never stop fighting.
Nick works on his sketch in the streets of Exarchia. Photo by the author, used with permission.
We ended the interview and wandered through Exarchia as night settled over the neighborhood. There was a quiet weight to Nick’s conviction; an unshaken faith in political activism. Greece faces grave challenges, but through works of political art like Nick’s, the world may begin to see reality from a different angle: one shaped by solidarity, and persistence as a political being.
The Bridge features personal essays, commentary, and creative non-fiction that illuminate differences in perception between local and international coverage of news events, from the unique perspective of members of the Global Voices community. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the opinion of the community as a whole. All Posts
