L’idea che sta alla base degli ZYMACHI risale alla mia adolescenza, come dimostra questo fumetto che disegnai nel 1982. – ZYMACHI is one of my teenage dreams, as this comic I made in 1982 can attest.
The Immune System Forces reach this village freed by guerrilla.
Captain Irios is contacted by a Farmer.
He recalls life under dictatorship, and the decaying morality of modern times.
Bactio-Cola dispenser was the sole witness of prosperity. Then Farmer recalls his only Son.
Son was infatuated with regime propaganda, then became uncontrollable and nihilist.
One night the Son didn’t show up. Police found him robbing…
…and dope addict. To avoid jail, Farmer inscribed him in the Black Guards, an elite corps.
Dictatorship declines. Village becomes an operational area, Black Guards are sent in.
The Son was in the group, but he was indistinguishable from the others.
Guards patrol the village efficiently. Some conspirators are caught in the trap…
…and shot dead, no way to escape.
A brutal massacre, was the Son amog the guilty or the victims?
At the end of the day the Farmer reaches the Son in the barracks.
The Son looks like a robot. In fact Black Guards are conditionated to become killing machines.
Farmer wants the Son to leave the Black Guards, but it’s too late. “Take your helmet off!”
Suddenly general alarm. Son springs up to join his comrades, but…
…Farmer stops him. During the night guerrilla wipes out the outpost. Captain foresees a behavioral therapy for the Son.
The Son is in the attic, finally without his helmet. Captain notices something and backpedals.
“Thank you so much…”
Irios, il protagonista, lo avevo tirato fuori nel ’77, sull’onda del terremoto culturale generato da Goldrake e Guerre Stellari. Negli stessi anni ragazzi poco più grandi di me si prendevano a sprangate, mentre io sognavo di Macro e microMondi. Ho iniziato almeno una decina di fumetti di Irios (s-Irio), pochi ne ho terminati, tecnicamente nemmeno questo, mancando una vignetta nella terza tavola. Probabilmente mi ponevo degli obiettivi troppo alti, ma avevo come riferimento le tavole e le storie di Lucky Luke.
L’ambientazione sudamericana, la Bactio-Cola, “Las Guardias Negras vuelen (quieren) te”, fanno esplicito riferimento al Nicaragua, all’epoca fresco di rivoluzione e impegnato nella resistenza alla Contra.
Dopo la Guardia Nera, Irios è sopravvissuto a sprazzi, cambiando nome e genere, ma continua ad essere presente nel mio immaginario, l’eroe “malgré lui”, posto di fronte ad una realtà più grande di lui (di almeno tre ordini di grandezza).
Disegnavo prima a matita e poi ripassavo a china, Rotring 0.4 e 0.2, tutto sullo stesso foglio F4 liscio. Poco dopo sono passato alla sola 0.5.
Born in Naples, 1965, lived in Princeton and France, then back to Italy. Comics. Grendizer, Star Wars, Lucky Luke. Architecture, Punk Rock. Sciattoproduzie, structures. Digital animations, running, hospitals. I live and work in Rome, married with two children.
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