Andrea Pazienza
Sotto Il Cielo Del Brasil

Nobody is God, at least among us humans there is no trace. Even the "greatest" have made their blunders and slip-ups, maybe unknowingly.

Andrea Pazienza, the greatest Italian comic artist (and beyond) also made his "insipid and bland little things" like everyone else. And what's wrong with that, you might say... Above all, he made these little things that someone (see Editori Del Grifo) collected in sumptuous volumes and sold as if they were tablets of the law, exploiting the NAME and the FAME earned on quite different fronts. However, this time the trick doesn't work.

The three short stories "Bali," "Brasil," and "Sotto Il Cielo Del Brasil" are the most sluggish Apaz has presented to us (perhaps the last story, less than the other two). Stories drawn with the left hand, coarse colors from second-rate Carioca markers (thanks to Marina Comandini!), sluggish plots, and "professional" dialogues without great inventions, without genius, and without even that touch of "quirky humor" that has made our PAZ so great. It might be the years gone by (almost 25!!), it might be the different Italy, it could be us who have changed, or maybe I have grown older... the fact is that these stories do not excite at all. I'm sorry for Paz whom I loved and still love, I'm sorry for all his "fans blinded by an unconditional Love," I'm sorry for Vincenzo Mollica who pours endless praise on the album in question (little brown-nose as usual, eh eh), I'm very sorry for everything but.... I'd rather go back to reading Pompeo, Zanardi or Penthotal.... where YES, it's a whole other "storielett." This doesn't deserve more than TWO stars.