You may remember Milo Manara from such internet controversies as “Holy hell that’s an inappropriate cover for Spider-Woman” and “oh dear, he doesn’t understand why.” You may also remember us discussing how we felt Manara’s work was beautiful when displayed in better context. Well, he’s put his particular skills to work for Dark Horse Comics for the first time with a cover for Alex de Campi’s last issue of Grindhouse: Drive In, Bleed Out and we’ve got your exclusive, totally NSFW, reveal.
As we mentioned, this is the Italian erotic comic creator’s first original cover for Dark Horse, though they’ve been publishing the Manara library for a while.
Click the image to embiggen.
Alex de Campi (also writer on Archie vs. Predator) talked to us a bit about the work:
I’ve loved Milo Manara’s art since forever. It’s a dream to get to work with him. Seriously, I’m pinching myself — my book has a cover by one of the great geniuses of comics art! Of course, my book is a space sexploitation tale, so Manara is the perfect choice — you don’t hire Michelangelo to stucco your bathroom, and you don’t hire Manara to do something other than sexy. But look: this girl (Veronica, the star of the book) has agency. She’s not in a convenient yet oddly unaware porn pose to titillate the viewer — she’s having a grand old time by herself, thank you very much, and if you happen to walk in on that? You’re blushing, not her. If you look at Manara’s work, when left to his own devices, the majority of the girls have wonderful agency. It’s their decision to be sexy/flirtatious, not something you are observing without their knowledge — not some weird, contrived carbuncle of butt and boob like we see in superhero covers. We love Manara. We love sexy. And we are thrilled with this cover.
And here’s a few exclusive process shots as well.
“If Grindhouse had a hashtag, it would be #draggingcomicsbackwards,” de Campi also said of the book. “Taking things back to the trashy, EC/Warren, pre-code primordial soup of lovingly rendered breasts and gore that comics were born from. Taking comics back to things you didn’t want your mom to find in your room. Edgy, sleazy, trashy, tasteless, the best worst idea comics ever had. But also: fun. Try it. What, are you afraid you might like it?”
Grindhouse: Drive In, Bleed Out #8
Alex de Campi (W), John Lucas (A), Ryan Hill (C), and Milo Manara (Cover)
On sale Aug 26
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Ongoing
It’s God vs. girl as Veronica and Britt fight the power, armed only with orgasms! And if they aren’t coming, the Earth is going!
• Alex de Campi (Archie vs. Predator) concludes Grindhouse with a bang!
• Milo Manara’s cover is too hot for previews!
What do you think, folks?
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