Customer Reviews

El Gaucho

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think Pratt and Manara are the Italian dream-team of comics. The detailed but light drawing style of Manara fits perfectly Pratt's great historic pieces. I wish Pratt was alive to complete a trilogy that started with Indian Summer and continued with el Gaucho.

If you expect a book about sex and people, this ain't it. This is pretty much just a story about soldiers in the wooden ships and muskets age, with some women thrown in for bonadage slave sentiment, with a few sex scenes - those mostly sordid. The art is okay. See his other titles for truely sexy books - Gullevera is a quick, neat, sexy, fairly clean romp for adults who like naked women but also enjoy women who aren't always naked.

Milo Manara is one of the greatest italian artist. He is a famous illustrator and his fine touch can transform simple pieces of paper into sweet and fantastic dreams. But with Hugo Pratt you can see the real Manara, his love for history and adventures, for poetry and prose, for every kind of art. Don't miss this masterpiece!

You could just pick the up the book, browse and enjoy the art of Manara.
After you settle down, the story is engaging and it makes you feel for the characters: Tom Browne, an english drummer boy; Molly Malone, an irish prostitute; Matthew the hunchback and Aureliana, an argentinian girl.
All these while Argentina dreams of freedom from Spain and the British empire profits from it.
Manara does superb art, teasing the eye while Pratt keeps the story going.
A must have for Manara lovers!

I have always enjoyed the marvelous line of Manara; it's so simple yet exquisite. And admittedly this is my first experience with anything by Pratt. The story has a lot of potential given the setting and the characters, and moves along rather well, but everything sure seems to end abruptly. So, I enjoyed it, but it shouldn't be rated 5 stars.