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The Complete Crepax #6
The Complete Crepax Vol. 6: Dangerous Liaisons
The Venus in Furs, Casanova, and Milanese photographer Valentina embark on erotic adventures in this collection of classic Italian comics. In this Italian erotic comics collection, which spans 1977–1989, the character Valentina, a music, art, and fashion-loving Milanese photographer, ages in "real time." First, she saves Effi, a German heiress, from kidnappers, and they become lovers. Valentina also has an affair with Bruno, a young cellist. Dangerous Liaisons follows our heroine into middle-aged home life with her longtime partner, Phil, with whom she has a grown son, Mattia. Two of Crepax's lauded graphic adaptations: "Venus in Furs" and "The Memoirs of Casanova" are featured in this volume. Black & white illustrations.
- GenresComics
416 pages, Hardcover
First published April 20, 2021
2 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Guido Crepax
418 books86 followersGuido Crepax (born Crepas, 1933-2003) was an Italian illustrator and comics author, considered one of the most influential cartoonists of the second half of the 20th century. He is notably remembered for his sophisticated black and white art, as well as his dreamlike storylines, often involving a significative dose of erotism.
Crepax was born and raised in Milan, the son of famed cellist Gilberto Crepas. He graduated in Architecture in 1958, then started a successful career in illustration, mostly for advertisement and record covers.
Crepax began making comics in the middle of the 60's, particularly for the Italian magazine 'Linus'. He is best known for the Valentina series of stories. Originally introduced as a side character in the sci-fi story The Curve of Lesmo (1965), Valentina is a fictional photographer from Milan. She is a cultured strong woman, with sophisticated art and fashion tastes, left-wing political ideals and a marked sexual curiosity. Valentina quickly became a staple of European counterculture of the late 60s and early 70s. The series run for thirty years, until 1995, with the titular character aging in real time.
Over the decades Crepax created other female characters, such as Belinda, Anita, Bianca, Giulietta, usually used as protagonists of erotic comics. His other works include a number of comic book adaptations of erotic novels, like Emmanuelle, Justine, Venus in Furs, Story of O, as well as horror classics Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Crepax was born and raised in Milan, the son of famed cellist Gilberto Crepas. He graduated in Architecture in 1958, then started a successful career in illustration, mostly for advertisement and record covers.
Crepax began making comics in the middle of the 60's, particularly for the Italian magazine 'Linus'. He is best known for the Valentina series of stories. Originally introduced as a side character in the sci-fi story The Curve of Lesmo (1965), Valentina is a fictional photographer from Milan. She is a cultured strong woman, with sophisticated art and fashion tastes, left-wing political ideals and a marked sexual curiosity. Valentina quickly became a staple of European counterculture of the late 60s and early 70s. The series run for thirty years, until 1995, with the titular character aging in real time.
Over the decades Crepax created other female characters, such as Belinda, Anita, Bianca, Giulietta, usually used as protagonists of erotic comics. His other works include a number of comic book adaptations of erotic novels, like Emmanuelle, Justine, Venus in Furs, Story of O, as well as horror classics Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 10, 2024
The stories contained in Dangerous Liaisons - Volume 6 in Fantagraphics' collection of Guido Crepax's substantial comics oeuvre - continues to star Valentina in a vibrant array of surreal, erotic and varied slice-of-life scenarios. The stories here are a bit more focused on Valentina's love life, but stories like "Venus in Furs" and "The Memoirs of Casanova" offer something more varied.
Thus far, many of the Valentina stories collected in the first five volumes have been collected in a bit of a spliced order to fit underlying themes, but here we get to see more Crepax's later Valentina stories spanning the entirety of the '80s. Valentina is aged in real time, and so the stories here have a bit more of a sober quality to them compared to the psychosexual ventures of her youth, but there is still plenty of eroticism here too. The '80s takes Valentina on adventures like rescuing a German heiress named Effi and beginning a new romance with a cellist who is a decade younger than her. We also get a snapshot of Valentina in a more domesticated setting where she lives a peaceful home life with her long term lover, Phil Rembrandt, and their son, Mattia.
But as solid as the Valentina stories were, the adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs and a graphic adaptation of Casanova's memoirs were easily the highlight of Dangerous Liaisons. Both are well suited stories for Crepax, with the heavy emphasis on BDSM and eroticism prevalent in the original works just asking for a cartoonist of his predilections and caliber to come along and bring it to life in a new medium.
Thus far, many of the Valentina stories collected in the first five volumes have been collected in a bit of a spliced order to fit underlying themes, but here we get to see more Crepax's later Valentina stories spanning the entirety of the '80s. Valentina is aged in real time, and so the stories here have a bit more of a sober quality to them compared to the psychosexual ventures of her youth, but there is still plenty of eroticism here too. The '80s takes Valentina on adventures like rescuing a German heiress named Effi and beginning a new romance with a cellist who is a decade younger than her. We also get a snapshot of Valentina in a more domesticated setting where she lives a peaceful home life with her long term lover, Phil Rembrandt, and their son, Mattia.
But as solid as the Valentina stories were, the adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs and a graphic adaptation of Casanova's memoirs were easily the highlight of Dangerous Liaisons. Both are well suited stories for Crepax, with the heavy emphasis on BDSM and eroticism prevalent in the original works just asking for a cartoonist of his predilections and caliber to come along and bring it to life in a new medium.
May 1, 2021
Another beautiful volume of Crepax's craft, about 75% of it devoted to Valentina's love life and the remaining quarter to graphic adaptations of Casanova's memoirs and Venus in Furs. The latter two entries are considerably farther into the X zone than most of the work printed in the first five volumes and feel more like novelties than the artistic creations that were probably closer to Crepax's aspirations. The Valentina strips are a little soapier than the fantastic stories in other volumes but by the final story in the series, have moved well into the realm of dreams and spirits and are very fine indeed.
Currently reading
January 28, 2023I had to stop at p.19 to admire it again when I resume.
->The scene is genius! Crepax began building it when Bruno, now in his 27th year, popped in where Valentina, now in her 38th year, was showing her work- nine years after their singular affair with the violin. Then Valentina's desire to go visit him very awkwardly grows over the following pages until they are at Bruno's and the past is reminisced between them over the classical music piece that always played when they were together. I couldn't flip 19 because it's the kind of page where my mouth gapes open followed by the thin exhale "~wow~" and I'm stymied with amazement. So I shall re-live it and the inevitable conclusion next time!
->The scene is genius! Crepax began building it when Bruno, now in his 27th year, popped in where Valentina, now in her 38th year, was showing her work- nine years after their singular affair with the violin. Then Valentina's desire to go visit him very awkwardly grows over the following pages until they are at Bruno's and the past is reminisced between them over the classical music piece that always played when they were together. I couldn't flip 19 because it's the kind of page where my mouth gapes open followed by the thin exhale "~wow~" and I'm stymied with amazement. So I shall re-live it and the inevitable conclusion next time!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews