I've read my share of whimsical, surreal graphic novels by Manara, but this was one of the few times I've come across one his short stories. In this one, I was thoroughly impressed how he tackled the chilling, abusive power of the Italian Catholic church in post-Ren times.
I also thought the jump cuts in the story were truly masterful, in which the reader gets exactly the amount of necessary info and context to move forward without waffling or delay. Note: The story was translated to English in the Heavy Metal Summer '88 issue.
----> https://imgur.com/gallery/w1CbNC1 <----
As for Manara himself, there's so much to say that I'm not sure where to really begin. To me, he's without question a genius of human expression, pathos, and the mysteries of human nature. I'm sometimes a bit frustrated by the same-ness of his female characters, the lack of story structure, and the fact that there always seems to be an erotic context to his stories, but based on my experience with Italian BD, those seem to be fairly lukewarm complaints.
More on him here:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/manara.htm
Oh dear yes, that look from her at the end was devastating, terrible... yet somehow sublime. Thanks so much for the thoughtful analysis.
Oh, this is part of what I love about good BD. That frequently there's a certain mystery and 'open slate' in terms of character motivations that ultimately make the stories more interesting, if sometimes not leading to the kinds of plots turns & conclusions that we might hope for as readers.
I'm so glad that I (pretty much randomly) found this impactful BD story. There's certainly some good art & writing in the HM mag across sci-fi & fantasy, and of course plenty of cheesecake, but it's rarer for more direct critical commentary like this to appear, which of course still has plenty of modern impact with regard to human institutions & behavior.
This is just a shot in the dark, but do you happen to know of a story that was in the US Heavy Metal at around the same time as this one, also takes place in Europe but feudal era, most of the action is in a small rural castle run by a nobleman with a young wife, at the end the wife betrays him and the nobleman either dies or is left despondent? I think there might also be a son who is large but mentally challenged, though I might be mistaking that for another story. I've been trying to find it but it's hard to find with such vague keywords.
I do believe that would be the story from Les Tours de Bois-Maury, tome 5, "Alda." Based on a search, it looks like it was published in HM, July '90.
Note: the original book was 50+ pages, so it's always possible they abridged that to fit in the magazine.
OMG thanks, that's it! I found a couple page scans on a marketplace listing and recognize it. Greatly appreciate it!
^^