montal reading – white space

In 2019, with The arrival of the meteor and the subsequent apocalypse, revolution took the path of metacomi. Three years later, in the year 2022, it is the Restoration that embarks on a path beyond the narrative, or is fulfilled through it. Dylan’s dogtitle and character, face zeroing in, and return to origins at express and announced request Tiziano Sclavi.

As every fan of the comic series knows, cycles and recycling are often part of the game. Call it a “new beginning”, “reboot”, “crisis” or “beginning of a new beginning” the result will not change. Sometimes they taste like a breath of fresh air, others are like “well come on, we were kidding” and still others are like supercazzola, never quite like “it didn’t go as hoped sorry thanks anyway we’ll make up for that Love us again.”

With record #435, it’s once again up to the nightmare detective to start over. After, after New life And the deep spaceafter a cycle meteor And as interesting as it is ephemeral “666“-It’s time to Two minutes to midnight. In this case, it’s a step back, hopefully working out the catch-up and take-off at the end of the trilogy that spawned the Nationals. Claudius Lanzoniwritten by Robert Riccione It is designed George Pontrelliin connection with the first chapter, and who Barbara Baraldi And the Sergio Gerassi in the next two days.

The episode that begins the Restoration begins with John Ghost, spokesman for the Ricccione Revolution, scanning the horizon, resigned to being lost in his world now on the brink of collapse, and noticing a glitch, “Visual field disturbance“. Unarmed, and perhaps lacking the cognitive tools necessary to make sense of the situation, he, despite his genius, comments: “The center does not hold… things go downhillThen before he disappears he thinks:Reality always finds a wayPontrelli’s graphics recreate this erratic effect with broken lines, jump lines, and offset strokes. It’s like you’re reading a comic with a strong migraine attack with an aura in progress, except instead of rainbow colors, the eyes and brain are harassed with black And white When translated into Italian, the term “glitch” can be converted to “our failure” and “our malfunction.” Conceptually, it can be said that it is a break in relation to the normal course of things.

The poet was a great lover of discontinuity, so much so that he included it in many of his poems Eugene Montale. Manipulate some texts from the group Cuttlefish bonesPublished in 1925, it is possible to identify some points of connection with the beginning of the trilogy dedicated to Dylan Dog. The group starts with At firstfour verses that evoke important images such as the wind that enters and revives an enclosed space, the crucible in which different experiences mix and the ghost of salvation that provides a way out from the past towards the future. These typical Montale Page elements are echoed in Pontrelli’s cartoons, where the protagonist’s daily life is turned upside down by the arrival of a postal parcel: On the trail of the sender, he enters a hotel that becomes a labyrinth and a gateway to another world in which different existences mix and cancel each other out. However, Dog is offered another possibility, in which he can take a different path that takes him back to 1986, or rather to his 86 self, thanks to the help of a mysterious figure.

Until now, with At firstMontal offers irregularity”Broken network in the network“, the abstinence in which he finds himself Lemon In the form of “nature error“,”dead end in the world” And the “loop does not hold“They are isotopes that belong in.”shabby wall” From Don’t ask us to talk (In the department Cuttlefish bones from the group of the same name), in “difference“that”ComeIn the concluding quartet of Arremba on Strata Brodain “defector of time” From I wanted to feel tough and necessary (In the department The Mediterranean Sea), In the “Spider’s home“that”It breaks in a step” From eclogue (In the department Shadows and shadows) and in “Spiral barren fissures” From slopeuntil the lines of the third stanza of house by the sea:

I think for most people it is not salvation,
But some spoil every plan,
Cross the gate for whoever wants to find himself.
Before I give up, I’d like to define you
This escape route
Fleeting as in turbulent fields
From sea foam or wrinkles.

For his part, Dylan of Lanzoni, Riccione and Pontrrelli breaks through the boundaries of animation and penetrates the white space, where he must search for “sociological patientTo which he told him shortly before that he would be ready to follow soon. Once broken, the cage becomes an unnecessary net, a tinsel, a ring that neither holds nor supports the inquisitor’s wandering from one corner of the double page to the other, in a curving motion that becomes a fall and a stroke. The “tartar” is crossed, the threshold is crossed, the dog is in “Another world” in which “Monsters live“Who once understood it, before they wrote it, even turned it into a character.”Too structured, too specific…too…done!“.

In order to prevent the end from coming, the three cartoonists try to sabotage the drawing, to show the detective an escape route, not towards the Montalian Sea but towards a new beginning. However, there are waters to navigate, those of the Thames, to get back to Number Seven on Craven Road. The reconfigured grid incorporates submerged London, a bit like New York Kamandi And a little bit of Neo-Tokyo Akirawhile onomatopoeia, like the movement of a wave, accompanies the crossing: fluid perspectives give way to the monolithic city and the familiar building, where to welcome two alternatives there is an individual escaped from bug. whether it is a fault of nature orGhost save youThe last two works of the trilogy will tell.

We talked about:
Dylan Dog #435 – Two Minutes to Midnight
Claudio Lanzoni and Roberto Riccione George Pontrelli
Sergio Bonelli Publisher, December 2022
98 pages, paperback, black and white – €4.40
ISSN: 977112158000920435