I've always thought I should be way more into HEAVY METAL magazine, but in spite of occasional forays into serious excellence and extraordinary relevance to my interests (please to see the Jodorowsky/Manara series about the Borgias), I never caught the fever to collect the magazine for its own merits. It's only by grin-inducing happenstance that I found a 1988 issue containing a Valentina story by Guido Crepax, and I figured I might as well make my joy into OUR joy, interpals. I'm going to dice this 38-page story into four parts for your internet delectation. Let's begin part one, shall we?
For those unfamiliar with the character, Valentina is a photographer in the same kind of mold as the one-M Emanuelle character, surviving by her wit and instinct, usually With Sexy Results. The Valentina stories follow a loose narrative where the line between Valentina's dreams and reality is blurry at best. And yes--for the cynics among us, that DOES mean that these tales don't make a hell of a lot of sense, so relax and just enjoy the pretty pictures.
NEXT TIME: Sexy swimsuits, gorgeous hats, and erotic intrigue! Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment...
10 comments:
Kinda curious. Where do you find these old school magazines?
My FAVE place to go is Time Machine Comics on 14th St. just west of 7th Ave in NYC. I highly recommend folks go there if/when they're in the city. Just don't buy any of the stuff *I* want ;) Also, I have pals who mail me stuff if they're closet cleaning, and I frequent comic conventions where I can sometimes find a gem or two! Mostly it's just persistence that leads me to funstuff.
Yay! I eagerly await further installments.
Or as my Word Verification says: KDOLA!
p8
Nice post. Last time I was in Italy I was fortunate to pick up a nice Valentina trade paperback collection which included the story 'Baba Yaga' - which as you know became the ultra-groovy 1973 Corrado Farina movie. I also found a nice old hardback Barbarella collection with a great (and fairly obscene) Valentina/Barb mash-up comic strip preface. I'll post it up sometime...
I remember when that serial first appeared. At the time, I thought that Crepax was slipping. It wasn't nearly the sensual delight that his stuff from the 1970s was. Maybe I'm too picky, or maybe I should look at it from my current perspective instead of relying on 20 year old memories. Hah!
I should go back through my vast archives and see what I can pull from my Heavy Metals. That magazine was so random in its quality that I'm amazed that it lasted as long as it did.
I gave up on Heavy Metal pretty early in it's run because it seemed I only liked a third or less of the stories in any issue. And it was SF and fantasy heavy--I don't ever remember seeing any Crepax in there.
I really enjoyed Baba Yaga (the movie). And I really like the B&W work of Toth-y european cartoonists like Crepax, Manara and Hugo pratt, but haven't seen much in it original form (stories, as opposed to random panels)
I inherited a boxful of the late '70s/early '80s HM from my bongsucking older cousins when I was twelve, and while even then quite a bit of it was too D&D for my taste it definitely got me into a few artists I'm still really into, like Crepax (obviously) and Druillet. Original copies of Metal Hurlant and bound collections were hard to come by in rural Iowa, so I was happy to take what I could get. The Valentina stories were always my fave of his, though even his more literal stuff (like his adaptation of The Story of O, probably the easiest of his collections to pick up in the Eurotica editions) is definitely worth investigating.
You’re gonna love this, Kate: Guido Crepax was not only a great artist, in real life he was Mr. Cool. Movie star handsome. Couple of pictures here: http://nuvoleparlanti.blogosfere.it/2008/09/valentina-in-mostra.html
On YouTube… A Crepax retrospective with short film clips of the artist (Amy Winehouse, appropriately, on the soundtrack): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFM3VlDm-WE
Here’s an visit with Crepax, late in life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlsiRlyqIA8
And are you ready for the Valentina documentary? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVitDRvK024
His influence is still being felt: http://tinyurl.com/nv2r6m
His daughter, Catarina, is a famous designer. Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f2iZ6aK-PQ
Kate, you hould really check out the first year of Heavy Metal (1977). There were a lot of reprints from the French magazine (Métal Hurlant)plus some amazing new stuff. The Moebius comics and Richard Corben's "Den" were worth the cover cost alone. The magazine did go downhill but those early issues were pretty far out for the time and quite trend-setting. Also, probably you know about that cool vintage Crepax documentary on the "Baba Yaga" DVD but just in case you missed it...
Flightless, I hope you're enjoying the continuing tale! My fave Valentina story is "Valentina nel metro," in which she encounters a variety of famous fictional figures while riding on a train. Alas, I only have that one in Italian (not that I suspect I'm missing out on great depth of story as a result of the language divide).
Tyrant, I am STILL upset with myself for not picking up what I suspect is the very "Barbarella" hardback you're referring to when I saw it at a convention last year. Knowing it's even more wonderful than I suspected is killing me! Great score, friend :)
Doc M, I've got to agree with you as to the quality of this story over the earlier ones. While Crepax's art is always beautiful to look at, and SOME Valentina is better than NO Valentina, it's not in the same league as, for instance, the "Metro" story. And yes--YES! Go back through the archives and see if there's anything marvelous. I'm eager to see what you uncover.
MDG, it's really hard to find the b&w European stuff in the US, and I've made it a point of snapping up whatever I come across just on principle. While scans from the web are nice, I love having a *book* in hand. I'm old-fashioned that way!
DB--the hardbound Evergreen editions that Taschen put out in 2000 are fantastic as well, and it looks like the "Emanuelle/Bianca/Venus in Furs" one is still available at a pretty reasonable price. VERY worth adding to your collection if you haven't got them already!
Oh my goodness PIERRE!!!! It's an embarrassment of riches!!! I'll have to highlight those links tomorrow as part of the finale. The bathing suit is especially awesome--what a perfect photo :) Thank you so much for sharing this bounty of goodness. *gleeee*
Brian, I'm going to have to go back and see if there are any issues from the 1977 "season" available at my Geek Retailer Of Choice. I'm curious to see if the original issues were more consistent in terms of vision than the stuff I'm familiar with! And yes, that doc on the "Baba Yaga" disc is gorgeous--that specifically made me seek out Crepax's work in a focused way :)
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