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Short comic created for the anthology Antologia illustrata del frastuono più atroce (Lamette).

I had another terrible week. A week where I had no time ad all the wonderfully superfluous things like, among others, updating my blog. Maybe I have to accept the things as they are and renounce one and for all to the idea of posting here regularly… but whatever…

It’s no news that I don’t read a lot of comics anymore. I prefer to inspire myself with other media, like for example novels. I’ve stumbled over a couple of really interesting readings lalely, which I’d like to talk about here.

The first one is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a book that take the original novel by Jane Austen and turns it into something you’d actually want to read (as the book itself states). Apart from the illustrations, which are just plain lousy (why do they pay people like that to illustrate a book, while talented people have a hard time getting commissions?) and the fact that the book is no easy reading, it’s a great experiment and great fun to read most of the time. The author keeps the original plot and linguistic style, adddins a bit of zombies, gore and martial arts here and there. While this novel is not perfect (sometimes it can be tiresome to read, due to the old fashioned language, and the there’s some problems with the storyline here and there) I highly recomend it!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies

Another book I’d like to talk about it In Cuniculum by Lapin. Unfortunately this one’s only available in English, but since It contains several illustratins by me, (attention: subliminal advertising) I though I’d talk about it anyway. Lapin has a highly imaginative and surreal way of writing, the short stories that make up In Cuniculum are sometimes shocking, sometimes fascinating. One way or the other, Lapin knows how to surprise you and the book is a great read I hope he’ll get it translated in the future!

www.lacarmelinaedizioni.it

IL giorno dell oca by Scoiattolazzo

Libellule polacche strozzate dal gas.
Cigni ungheresi morti di inedia.
I forti tori dell est, decimati.

C’e’ puzza, ed un vento abominevole, mentre l oca dagli anfibi neri fa il verso all acquila.
E nell anfratto schifoso e osceno dove medita, anche il diavolo distoglie lo sguardo davanti all orrore.
Anni dopo a  Norimberga, 17 oche vengono giudicate, impiccate,  fatte a pezzi e bruciate nei loro stessi forni.
Vittime… carnefici….specchi distorti.
C’e’ gente che giura che tra una sentenza e l altra si e’ sentito piu’ di un quack, provenire da dei giudici dal becco giallo.

Note

The hundred word stories are back! There have been time when I thought that never again I would find the strength to draw a line. But probably I just needed to focus on something completely different (like synths and making some music) Giètz! has put my mind and body to great fatigue. Drawing a graphic novel is alway hard, but when the product of your efforts feels like something alien, it’s even worse. I still think that in the end I did a decent work, and that Giètz! is an interesting project, worth being made, and that I needed to be working on it. It’s been a great experience. Nonetheless, now more than ever, I know what path I want to be travelling on, so it’s great to see that my lust for drawing is coming back again!

Sorry, still none of my regular posts. But in the meantime here’s a small preview of a comic I’ve been working on lately. It’s about the fathers of goth rock Bauhaus and it will be published in the upcoming anthology Guida illustrata al frastuono più atroce #2 by the Italian punk comic group Lamette. I really like the vintage film touch I managed to give to this panels. Basically it’s the “Dog Show technique” adapted to b/w. The text is a variation on the Bauhaus hit Bela Lugosi is Dead. That’s why it all looks like some old horror movie.

Nocciola by Alessandro Bonino

I coniugi Mario e Laura Piovano, di Serravalle Scrivia, in provincia di Alessandria, avevano cercato per molto tempo di avere un bambino senza, purtroppo, ottenere alcun risultato. Su consiglio del Dottor Alberto Miniati, primario della clinica San Michele Arcangelo di Cadelbosco di Sopra, provincia di Reggio Emilia, grande luminare che aveva seguito tutti i loro infruttuosi tentativi, decisero di intraprendere l’estenuante percorso dell’adozione. Dopo dieci lunghi mesi, ricevettero finalmente la comunicazione che un bambino era stato loro assegnato. Grande fu la loro sorpresa quando scoprirono che non si trattava affatto di un bambino, ma di una strega di nome Nocciola.

Notes

I’m finally back with some hundred word stories! I was really starting to miss them. The author of this first story of 2010, is yet another new entry in the project (I get quite some requests lately, and that’s great!). I’ve been drawing people in suites for so much time now (Gietz has something to do with is, in case you wondered), that it becomes quite automatic for me to draw a tie on a male character…

With all that Jazz and history in my mind I sometimes forget about the things that really keep going and doing art. Thanks god I have sketchbooks ( and have to scan them in for this blog) to remind me that my path goes in a completely different direction.

Actually there’s a lot I could say about this topic, but the time hasn’t come yet.

This shadow lady just keept haunting my mind for weeks until I decided to get rid of her by drawing her on this piece of paper.

The frequent reader of this blog might recognize that this is a sketch for one of the first illustrations I made for the A Hundred Words Stories project.

A retired general.

I’m sorry as usual for not posting them yesterday as I should have. But you’re good hearted readers, aren’t you?

L’uomo fiore di Cubber

All’inizio, le era sembrato divertente: dovunque venisse toccato,
l’omino sputava un mazzo di fiori.
La testa sembrava un papavero; lei ne guardava la silouette nera,
esotica, contro la luce del sole.

Quando i bulbi oculari scoppiarono in corolle variopinte, lei rimase
interdetta; addirittura si irritò quando, dopo aver cercato di
travolgere l’omino con spintoni più energici, non ottenne che nuovi
mazzolini, bellissimi, impassibili.

Adesso intorno a lei non ci sono che petali. Sconfitta, cerca di
muoversi il meno possibile: ha imparato che il minimo movimento non
farebbe che generare altra vegetazione; e poi, gli ultimi fiori
esplosi brulicavano di parassiti.

Notes

As you can see, another issue of  A Hundred Word Stories must go with only one story. Unfortunately my time for at least a couple of weeks will be really little, so I’ll do one a week, alternating an English story with an Italian one. Please be patient, after Bolzano Comics is over I should be able to return to my old posting rhythm!

Heat Rise by Carl Mills

The heat rose through the floorboards and stained the walls with humidity.
Her eyes were like the bluest sky, clear and cool. Then that smile spread across her pure pale skin like a feverish flood and I was under her spell.
All my good intentions slid silently from my mind and all I could do was stare. Like a rabbit in a headlight.
The sun shone through the dirty window, lighting up her mass of crimson curls like a forest fire.  I wanted to run deep into the night. Far from her poisoned magic. But I was frozen with desire.  She reached out, took my trembling hand and whispered softly in my ear as her madness drowned my memory.

Senza titolo by Lapin

Sono marionette particolari: i fili vanno legati sia alle mani che ai piedi del marionettista.
Quando balla, le marionette si divincolano come inquisiti sotto tortura.
Ad ogni capriola, aggiunge un’altra marionetta. Manovrandole con maestria inaudita, riesce a fare in modo che siano le marionette stesse ad attaccargli addosso nuove marionette. Il movimento con cui una marionetta cattura un’altra marionetta ricorda quello di una catapulta.
Alla fine, è talmente ricoperto da marionette che non lo si vede più. Rimane solo un groviglio di pupazzi che torcono le braccia di legno in direzione degli spettatori, ammiccando con cento feroci occhi di vetro.

Notes

The illustration for Heat Rise is certainly a bit strange when compared to my usual way of doing illustration. It’s something that might not even look like I’ve made it. But somehow that’s what projects like A Hundred Word Stories are there for. While I try to focus as much as possible on one consistent style in my commissioned work, I still need to experiment and try different approaches.
The puppets of the second story on the other hand resemble more some older works of mine. Here I had some great fun, my mind visually expanding the complex and vivid imagery of the story.