Tri Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

by Guido Crepax, Jukka Heiskanen (Translator)

Kauhuklassikon eroottinen sarjakuvaversio. Italialaisen Guido Crepaxin elegantin albumin tarina noudattaa uskollisesti alkuperäisromaania mutta kertoo myös sen mitä Stevenson ei aikoinaan tohtinut kertoa...

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

91 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Guido 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.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

”The only places where the illustrated discourse radically departs from the written narrative are the graphic (in every sense of the term) depictions of Hyde’s deportments (and Jekyll’s sexual phantasms). These are most often voyeuristic, reflecting Jekyll’s basically passive sexuality, but they can on occasion turn to cruel sadistic games, which represent in Jekyll the eruption of the Hyde element, characterized by the doctor as pure evil. It is the combination of these two elements, the passive and the aggressive, in the human psyche that conditions our total sexual being--a classic Feudian view.”

I often wonder what the first version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde portrayed that Robert Louis Stevenson’s wife, Fanny, thought of as perverse. RLS was so angry at her reaction. He was a fiery Scot, though a very sick one, and he flung the manuscript on the flames of the fireplace. The first version of DJMR is lost to history. After reading this Guido Crepax interpretation of DJMR, I wonder now if Stevenson did not provide more detail in the first version about the perversions that Hyde was getting up to in the red light district. Hyde could do anything he wanted, knowing that the next day he would simply go back to being the respectful Dr. Jekyll. How would they ever hang him if they couldn’t find him?

If we were able to be unfettered, uninhibited, and knew without a doubt there would be no consequences for our actions, what beastily things would the rest of us get up to? Would Hyde be leering over our shoulders, chuckling at the hypocrites we are for judging him, when our own dark desires match the worst of his own?

The pictures of Hyde’s excessive behavior are graphic. Some would call them pornographic or just simply filth, but they are neither of those things. They are unsettling, but at the same time have a Victorian elegance about them. The participants still have a civilized deportment about them, even as someone is inserting an enema tube in their uplifted buttocks. As the intro quote alludes, Hyde is mostly an observer. With the lurking, deformed figure peering around a doorway or squinting around the arm of a chair at the depravity, it is clear he is directing.

There is a dream-like participation by the men and women caught up in his depravity, as if they have come under the magnetic sway of his persuasion.

Let’s not forget that Hyde is Jekyll and Jekyll is Hyde. It is Jekyll’s dark desires that drive the actions of Hyde. The real evil manifested itself in Jekyll long before Hyde was ever allowed out of his cage.

”I inherited a large fortune and always longed for the respect of society’s better class, yet I had a disposition for certain indecorous desires. Desires which I couldn't’ reconcile with my need for a reputation beyond reproach. Therefore I concealed my pleasures. Feeling shame and guilt. I lived a life of duplicity, but loathed hypocrisy and truly both of me were in dead earnest. My scientific studies went in search of a solution. A formula that could actually separate my conflicting personalities. On one side I would still be the upright Dr. Jekyll. On the other, a new man would be born more primal... free of any scruples.”

So yes, some of the pictures in this book might be offensive to some people. If you are rather sensitive to graphic material, then this is not the right book for you. For those who have an adventurous nature, who always wondered...what exactly did Hyde get up to...then you will enjoy Guido Crepax’s vision of what he believed happened off screen in the book. You might even disagree with him or think up your own version of Hyde’s dastardly deeds, and that will make the Hyde in you delighted. After all, this story is only a reflection of our own dark desires, but before you whip up your own potion to let your Hyde loose upon the world, be sure to read the book to the end.

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[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came from the question: What were Hyde's crimes?

He displays the sadistic pervert we all expected but that is just a part of this FAITHFUL ADAPTATION.

He took very little license (outside of the wordless scenes described above) and it was shockingly keen to the material; very much what Stevenson would have actually added! One can tell what incredible study, thoughtfulness and meditation Crepax did upon the original masterpiece!

[Marcos Faria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supreendentemente fiel ao romance, com a óbvia exceção das páginas em que Crepax usa a licenciosidade de Hyde para desenhar o que realmente lhe interessa: homens e mulheres com muito pouca roupa e fazendo tudo que Jekyll não teria coragem.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una gran bella trasposizione in fumetto di uno dei classici del XIX secolo.
Crepax fornisce una grande prova di autore, e le espressioni dei visi della copertina di questa edizione ne sono un bell'esempio.
Continua a non piacermi il suo tratto, eppure nulla da dire sulla sua bravura.

[Timo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why I even try? Intellectual comics nor books are not for me.
Too arty.