‘Manu: Altiplano Volume 1.’
Created by Gustaffo Vargas.
Book size is A5 (148mm x 210mm), 44 pages, full colour, price £5.00.
Published by Tacu Tinta Press.
‘A comic about monkeys, jaguars, cyborgs and a mystery.’
The Story - ‘Manu is a Peruvian science fiction comic about monkeys, jaguars, cyborgs and a mystery. Set in a dystopian world, the main story takes place in the Amazonian rainforest and the Peruvian highlands.’
The Review - This is the book from Gustaffo and one that I have very much been looking forward to reading. I reviewed his last offering ‘L1MA’ here http://neverironanything.blogspot.com/search?q=Vargasand it was a sweltering hot action based cracker!
This is more of the same from Gustaffo Vargas and from page 1/panel 1 this is an explosion of colours and ideas. The series setting is in the most part the ‘Manu National Park, Peruvian Amazon Rainforest’ and this creator sets this out straightaway with a full page spread of the Amazon river and the lush yet terrifying dense surrounding jungle. This page is imagined from a turtle’s eye view and shows this aforementioned amphibian surrounded by water lilies, butterflies, the shapes of exotic parakeets overhead and some excellent use of colour.
As I read onwards I discover that this book is many things at once. A sci-fi comic with an environmental/effects of the overuse of technology message, a neo-noir thriller and also a very real feeling and on occasion quite sexual love story. It throws dramatic action at you with style and sudden bursts. Making use of a bait-and-switch opening narrative technique where we initially believe that we are watching a chase through the jungle with a tattooed woman carrying a machete attempting to escape the ferocious and deadly terrors of the jungle. A cybernetic jaguar jumps out at her but rather than chowing down it licks her face and the character’s girlfriend appears out of the trees to remonstrate at her.
You really feel an otherworldly strangeness at all the corners and moments of this comic. Add to it’s science fiction premise the Peruvian culture, language and criminal community and it comes over as pretty darn fresh. It also has a real harshness where life is thrown away at a moments notice. Drugs and violence are commonplace especially between the humans and human/cyborgs. There is a real feeling of a world that sits uneasily in a constant ethical grey area, doing whatever it needs to just get through a day.
One sequence has a moment of peace broken by the ‘Sica-pokantis’ warriors arriving. Men who look like a cross between jungle tribesmen and The Terminator they run full pelt towards our heroes. They are counter-attacked by the couple and their animals and red blood washes and sprays out into the greenery. I am literally agog at the skill Mr Vargas puts on show here. As I read this sequence in particular I’m surprised that he hasn’t been picked up by an Image book or maybe something in the Hellboy universe!
If I had one problem I would say that it’s the overuse of Spanish in the script. I was going back and forth looking up words to get some meanings in their speech. Although that can be seen as an educational device? I looked up the word ‘Chinane’ in Spanish for example to discover it’s equivalent to ‘Darling’ or ‘Honey’.
You live and learn huh!?
Overall this is a book and a creator that I would highly recommend you go find out about. I’ll certainly be grabbing a physical copy when it is released at Thoughtbubble next month.
Find the creator on Instagram @gustaffovargastataje on Twitter @GustaffoVargas and at his website where you can buy this an others of his books https://gustaffovargas.bigcartel.com
Many thanks for reading.
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