Los Inocentes by Gipi

Los Inocentes, a twenty-or-so page-long comic book by Gipi conveniently translated from Italian into Spanish, is a short flashback by a young guy into his own and his friends' wasted youth in the street. How mean hateful people, especially those with power, can provoke children. How children retaliate.

In a sense, the story reminds me of Mathieu Kassovitz's perennial La Haine – or, for those who's seen it, El Bola by Achero Mañas – or, maybe in a more proper sense, Susanne Bier's breathtaking Hævnen.

The art, I'd say, is less prominent visually than that of Exterior Noche, recently read as well, but still quite unique for comic books – as too few are done in paint and not in pencil these days.

Exterior Noche by Gipi

Made a quick revision of my comic book shelf (actually, shelves) just to realize I have 3 unread books by Gipi, an Italian author, translated into Spanish. Bought them in FNAC in Madrid maybe 5-6 years ago – and hasn't opened so far.

Started with Exterior Noche, a collection of six unrelated short stories – and boy, do they look awesome. Probably one of the most original and artsy comic books I have ever seen.

Stories are dark, delinquent related experiences, pure life without a long well-developed plot – rather, to find a proper comparison, they are pieces of raw flesh cut out and left there bleeding.

The multilayered style is also one of a kind. Beautiful dark blue background drawn in oil, with further pencil-like ugly faces added on top – Gipi himself says that he made sure no-one (especially women) looked anywhere close to sexy or handsome in his work.

I have Apuntes para una Historia de Guerra and Los Inocentes to read further – and now I definitely will.