Alberto Breccia is The Greatest and Other Things I say in Mixed Company
I’m getting a lot of Alberto Breccia in this month, so this will probably the first in many entries on Breccia comics. Once I read all of Perramus I might do a long thing on it, just because it is the only one of his work that is in English.
Theory #1: He’s a pervert who only getes it up for monsters…beauty inhibits him.
No.
Theory #2: That girl was his daughter, who showed up without his knowledge because she didn’t want him to do this.No
Theory #3: “Falo” Juarez is a sham and this whole thing is for the ratings, to sell a false image of democracy…
no.
(Closeup)Definitely not.
Theory #4: “Falo” Juarez fell in love for the first time. And he realized that the human carrion who’d put him up to this have never loved, that its not the same thing, the same thing….
Yes…
From Alberto Breccia and Juan Sasturian’s Perramus..
Probably my favorite comic page in a minute. I love the poetry and rhythm of the writing. It has that call and response of a blues song–line, repeat, repeat, punchline. The way Breccia bends that note on “definitely not” is so insidious in its dripping sarcasm. And then the final beautiful answer for why Falo Juarez couldn’t perform we get that panel with everyone cast in shadow. Notice how as the page descends the shadow slowly creeps in and overtakes the characters on the page–reflecting the darker and darker nature of their questions as they get closer and closer to the truth.
These are from these beautiful old fantagraphics magazine releases of Perramus which I was able to pick up this past week( I have all of them except the first issue). It is really beautiful stuff. This particular chapter reminded me of what I enjoy in the films of Godard and Bunuel.
On the other pages notice how Breccia shrinks and enlarges the panels on the page to replicate the motion of sex–and the effect that has on speeding and slowing down time. Look how much bigger the panels are before the competition starts, and how big they are when it ends.
Also look at the jagged thick expressive line around Breccia’s figure work. It’s something I’ll see a lot more of when my copy of Dracula finally arrives–but it’s interesting to see in one of Breccia’s very last works, how he has fused together so many of his different experiments over time in form. It’s very refined by this point. And I mean, I kinda miss the rawness of something like his Cthulu Mythos–but this is still undeniable in it’s beauty. And getting to actually read it in english is a huge treat. Juan Sasturain is a poet. I love when I read a comic and can actually not feel insulted by the words in it. Comics can be so beautiful. Maybe we can all start talking about Breccia on the internet, and get a new collected edition of this? Or Mort Cinder even.
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I’ve got a copy of the Lovecraft stories in English if you don’t have it and want the files.
For sure. I only have it in spanish. My email is mercurialblonde.
on gmail.
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I think it’s sad that there’s no English Breccia edition available to read. Someone should do it, but maybe it’s problematic to gain the rights, dunno. Cheers, thanks for the text and Zero 11 cover is very nice D: But I like panopticon style things since I’ve listened to Isis’ CD.