Aunoa

by Guido Buzzelli

On a déjà répété cent fois que Buzzelli, avec son graphisme griffé, ses dessins baroques et noirs, son inspiration apocalyptico-démoniaque, était le Goya de la bande dessinée.

C'est encore plus vrai que jamais dans Aunoa où Buzzelli se révèle comme le maître incontesté de l'horreur, de la représentation du cauchemar contemporain, de toutes les menaces qui pèsent sur nos fantasmes et nous ramènent aux cavernes des mythes, illuminées cette fois par le mortel "spot" de la menace atomique.

Mêlant des métamorphoses hallucinantes et des savants fous dans une atmosphère de fin du monde, Buzzelli fait parcourir à son héros un univers en miettes où des têtes de chien très totémiques, très "égyptiennes", sont greffées sur des corps d'hommes et réciproquement, où des laboratoires de nazis de l'an 2000 mijotent d'atroces mutations génétiques, où des femmes accouchent de démons ailés sanguinaires comme des chauve-souris vampires, où la beauté et l'amour enfin sont devenus inaccessibles, enfermés dans une "sphère" symbolique aseptisée, définitivement remis à leur place, qui est celle de l'illusion humaine de bonheur sur fond de malheur permanent. Tous ces éléments font d'Aunoa une superbe épopée du deuil prochain de la planète - un deuil dont nous commençons à deviner les prémices.

Philippe Muray

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Genres: Comics

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Guido Buzzelli (1927-1992) was an Italian cartoonist, illustrator and painter from Rome, best known as a pioneer of Italian graphic novels in the 60's and 70's.

Buzzelli was born of a family of painters on his father side, while his mother was a model. As a teenage, he studied to become a painter like his father and grandfather. Soon, he added comics to his interests, working as an apprentice to Italian cartoonists Vittorio Cossio and Rino Albertarelli. In his youth Guido lived in Spain and England, working as an illustrator and comic book artist. In 1960 he came back to Italy and married Grazia de Stefani, who will also become his main collaborator.
After a few years focusing on his painting career, Buzzelli returned to comics to create La Rivolta del Racchi ("The Rebellion of the Uglies", 1966), an early example of graphic novel. He could not find a regular publisher for this work, yet the story attracted the attention of the curators of the 1967 Lucca Comics Festival, being released in the proceedings of the show. The comic acquired notoriety only in 1970, when French cartoonist Georges Wolinski noticed the book on a newsstand during a trip to Naples and decided to have it published in the French comics magazine Charlie Mensuel. La Rivolta del Racchi was a fantasy in a historic setting and presented a certain social commentary undertone, something that will remain in many of Buzzelli following works.
In the the 70's and 80's Buzzelli will continue to publish comics and political cartoons in a number of French publications, such as Pilote, Circus, L'Écho des Savanes, Vailant, Métal Hurlant, À Suivre, Fluid Glacial, Le Monde, as well as Italian ones, like Linus, Alterlinus, Comic Art, L'Eternauta, Paese Sera, Il Messaggero, L'Espresso, Psyco, Corriere dei Ragazzi, Comic Art, Playmen, Menelik, l'Unità, L'Occhio, Repubblica.
Among his comics are I Labirinti (1968-1970), Zil Zelub (1971), Annalisa e il diavolo (1973), H.P (with Alexis Kostandi, 1974), L'intervista (1975), L'Agnone (1977), La guerra videologica (1978), L'uomo del Bengala (1979), Il mestiere di Mario (1980), Zasafir (1981) and many others.
Buzzelli continued to produce traditional painting work throughout his life. His paintings have appeared in a number of exhibitions in Europe and North America. Additionally, he was a teacher at the European Institute of Design. Towards the end of his life he also collaborated with the Italian and French television.
Guido Buzzelli died at age 64 in his hometown Rome in 1992.