Monday, March 17, 2014

Stigmata by Lorenzo Mattotti & Claudio Piersanti 2010



            Stigmata was an interesting story following a “man falls into a hole” sort of structure. When we are introduced to the character, he has just found himself in an unpleasant situation, the aforementioned hole, and the story, of course, traces his journey to the depths of that hole and the struggle to climb out. In addition to finding large gaping wounds in his hands, the protagonist is also a degenerate. Everyone around him however regards these wounds as stigmata, wounds bestowed rather than inflicted on saints and holy persons. Therein lie the initial tensions that build and begin to pick apart his life, because the protagonist has no intentions of embodying this ideal of a holy person. The stigmata are his call to action, which he of course ignores, keeping his day job at some eating or drinking establishment. However within a few pages, the ceaselessly bleeding wounds get him fired and send him on his journey to redemption. The illustrations are a complimentary and violent mess of ink work, made more aggressive with each rising action.



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