Dans un monde peuplé d’animaux anthropomorphes, la loi n’admet que l’union d’individus de même race. Les transgresseurs sont sanctionnés et emprisonnés, accusés d’être « Contre nature ». Leslie, elle, est un cochon simple qui aime les sushis et la musique, forcée de faire un travail qu’elle déteste pour survivre. Cette jeune femme de vingt-cinq ans vit avec Trish, sa meilleure amie, rêvant, comme tous les gens de leur âge, d’une vie différente. Mais les rêves peuvent être dangereux, surtout lorsque c’est un loup inquiétant qui les peuple et que, au réveil, Leslie commence à se sentir observée…
Au croisement de SkyDoll et Blacksad, Contro Natura est une aventure bestiale et sexy où, derrière le masque animal, se cachent des pulsions bien humaines.
Neapolitan artist and writer, she is one of the most complete and eclectic Italian creators in the international field. Her upcoming Mercy is going to be published almos simultaneously in Italy (November 2019, Panini Comics), France (January 2020, Éditions Glénat) and United States (March 2020, Image Comics).
Her ControNatura (Panini Comics) is one of the most successful Italian series of the last few years. Published in the USA by Image Comics under the title Unnatural/b>, it’s a best seller hit with several reprints already. There are also Spanish, French, German, Polish, Mexican and (upcoming) Brazilian, Czech and Bulgarian editions.
Andolfo has been collaborating with DC Comics since 2015, having lent her pencil for titles such as Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Bombshells, Teen Titans, Green Arrow, R.W.B.Y. and Hex Wives (published under the cult-imprint Vertigo). Together with the writer Sylvain Runberg, she is creator of The Under York Chronicles (Éditions Glénat).
She also wrote stories for BOOM! Studios (The Amazing World of Gumball) and illustrated two issues of the award-winning Ms. Marvel series by Marvel Comics.
In 2012 she created Sacro/Profano (Edizioni Dentiblù), a huge bestseller published in United States, France, Netherlands, Germany, Serbia, Spain. As an artist she’s drawn comics for Dynamite and Aspen, as well as some short stories for Vertigo and DC’s Young Animal, and she’s actually working on covers for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Valiant, BOOM! Studios, Aspen, Zenescope.
As a colorist, she worked on covers and comics books of important franchises such as Geronimo Stilton, Adventure Time, Ice Age, Peanuts and other series and volumes published all over the world.
During her collaboration with Topolino magazine (Disney’s Mickey Mouse), she has colored numerous covers (including the cover of the historical issue 3000) and stories, working with artists like Giorgio Cavazzano, Corrado Mastantuono and Fabio Celoni.
When she is not working, she loves good food, reading comics and… sharing photos of cats and wolves on Facebook.
In the anthropomorphic world of Unnatural, blue-haired pig girl Leslie Blair has constant dreams about a mysterious and handsome wolf who makes love to her. As she and her friends investigate her dreams, her society's Reproduction Program orders he to go on a date and possibly marry a pig guy in order to preserve species (racial) purity. However, something goes very wrong at the date's end and Leslie realizes her dreams are more than just dreams. She's pulled into a world of schemes, magic, and history that will either segregated her world further or free it.
I want to say upfront that the art is so damn good. Mirka Andolfo's art is a cross between anime and 90s and early 2000s anthropomorphic furry cartoons. The characters are so expressive and each one has their own look. I loved the way Leslie looked, and Kahl and Trish looked great too. Andolfo used all the correct colors to set the scenes and portray the emotions embedded in them. It reminded me a lot of the Sky Doll: Decade comic series. I would more than love to pick up another one of Andolfo's works just for her art.
The story focuses on, as the title may imply, what is natural and unnatural love. Natural being different-sex and same species and unnatural being anything that's not. All of it does for the sake of improving the population. The writing was sometimes blunt with this message and sometimes it was subtle. It really couldn't decide how to deliver it. At times the dialogue suffered from this related issue too. This is an adult comic, hence the nudity and rather tame sex scenes (it's furries so that might drive some people away), but the way the characters spoke sometimes, especially in certain dire scenes, came off kind of juvenile. Like, it sounds like the characters would deliver their thoughts in a way you would see in a modern YA novel or in a kid's cartoon. Usually adult works that deal with such serious issues, while still being direct, use slightly more sophisticated language to talk.
In terms of characters, they were mostly fine. Leslie was an endearing character but sometimes she just felt so self-defeating it made be a bit annoyed. She does get stronger though. Kahl was alright as well, if not little on the edgy side and a bit of a Gary Stu at times; though he has his flaws and own endearing backstory. Carol and Trish were the highlights of this story. I loved Trish's personality and friendship with Leslie and Carol's moments were just so defining and cool. I loved Carol's backstory and how it tied into the main antagonist; their backstory really filled out the worldbuilding too. I don't have much feelings on Derek. He was a good friend to Leslie but some of his character development is rushed and we really don't see much of him and his boyfriend together. Everyone else is fine.
In a few places the story feels rushed. Mostly the middle part and the ending. While I wouldn't say things are neatly resolved, showing in the ending and the fact that a sequel series is coming next year (2022), the main conflict does just suddenly end due to the "I can believe in myself," act. Leslie does not actually say or think this verbatim, but it's pretty much the gist.
All in all, a pretty decent comic with some rough edges that could be worked out. Maybe the sequel will improve upon it.
This isn't the kind of book that I would typically enjoy, but Unnatural really took me by surprise. The consistency of great plot twists and absolutely fantastic illustration work included here meant that I found myself pretty taken with this.
Although some may find the anthropomorphic elements a strange creative choice, Mirka Andolfo undoubtedly spins an intriguing story in this book - one that includes a clever balance of both dystopia and magic to create a gripping mystery.
It's definitely a book for mature readers as it can be visually a little risque, but it never once crosses the line into grossness or crassness. It's actually more fitting to the romantic elements of the book - if you can imagine an 'R' rated Disney animation you'd not be too far off.
Overall, I personally found this to be a wonderful book. The illustrations and colouring are phenomenal and the plot twists made this pretty hard to put down throughout. It's definitely one I'm also pleased to have enjoyed in oversized format and I'm happy to hear the series is returning later in 2022!
Erano anni che desideravo leggere questa storia e finalmente è giunto il momento: mi sono divorata l'omnibus in pochissimo tempo, complici i bellissimi disegni. La storia è affascinante, ha anche delle belle riflessioni di fondo (discriminazione, diversità e omologazione sociale)... anche se ritengo che con una lunghezza maggiore alcuni elementi della storia sarebbero potuti essere approfonditi meglio.
Adquiri esse quadrinho pela curiosidade de como a autora italiana Mirka Andolfo, já conhecida do público global por seu trabalho com a Mulher-Maravilha, Ms. Marvel e congêneres, se sairia numa série autoral. Mais que isso, com os temas se baseando em eroticidade e o estilo furry de fazer histórias em quadrinhos. O veredito é que temos um quadrinho empolgantíssimo, como uma perseguição à porquinha Leslie que deve, segundo a profecia, se unir ao lobo Albino e arrasar toda a Terra. Mas, depois de assinar impunemente seus amigos mais queridos sob a influência do terrível Albino, ela só quer fugir e assim encontrará ajuda onde menos esperava, numa terrível trama de muito sangue animal. Neste mundo, vale destacar, os animais são proibidos de copular interespécies ou ainda com indivíduos do mesmo sexo. Essa proibição gera um desejo irresistível em Leslie de transar com um lobo. Mas a verdade por trás dessa vontade é ainda mais terrível e as consequências disso tudo mais ainda. Uma baita história em quadrinhos de aventura, erótica, cheia de reviravoltas e com uma belíssima arte. Super recomendo.
This was something a little bit different for me. I first came across Andolfo through her other comic series, Mercy. Because of this, I knew that I was going to like the artwork, at least. In regards to the story, I didn't have too many expectations, or assumptions. What I found was that the story was pretty good too. The story deals with a lot of themes which are very relevant in today's environment, but for me, the best part was the artwork; Andolfo has a great way of using colour, and bringing each character to life.
je suis plus ou moins mitigée sur ma lecture- ce n’était pas ce à quoi je m’attendais et ça a un peu tout cassé je l’avoue… je pense que c’est une histoire que je vais oublier d’ici quelques semaines malheureusement : je n’ai juste pas accroché avec celle-ci, bien qu’elle était intéressante et bien montée. les illustrations étaient cependant magnifiques, tout comme l’alliance des couleurs !!
This was a fun sexy read with gorgeous artwork by Andolfo. The characters are part animal part human, the story is fastpaced and lighthearted, a pig girl dreams of a wild wolf, but having sex with other genders is not aloud. This starts a adventure thats partly fantasy and parts dystopian. quick and fun.
I rarely re-read things, even when lots of mediocre and naff new books are clearly not as good as one old friendly success. But in returning to Unnatural for the whole shebang I did re-read from page one, partly because I had adored the first book, and partly because all the Andolfo books I've read since this one have been very forgettable, or much worse. And what I found was a bit of a let-down, as I was right in my thinking, that all that was good about Book One was absent from Book Two. And as for the third chunk...
We start with a gorgeous, buxom little pig called Leslie, and everything that makes her life so hellish is what makes the reading so brilliant. She's in a world of anthropomorphised animals, of all kinds – but the Big Brother-type government is adamant people should not mix sexually. Inter-species sex is deemed a stain on the future success of all the species involved. As soon as she's twenty-five she is forced to enter a match-for-breeding programme, else cough up no end of taxes in order to stay single, asexual and a non-breeder. The programme sends her on a blind date with another pig, but the fact she eventually finds the evening not running anything like she thought it would might be a problem – and it might have something to do with her copious wet dreams about a hunky albino wolf...
Did I say problem? Well, this book's hugest, most inescapable one, is that the brilliance of the opening, where our beauty's lot is writ large by the society around her, just disappears from the page, to be replaced by the most risibly woolly fantasy hokum. The dilemma she was facing is exchanged for something else much less interesting (and, let's face it, something much harder to follow), and for all I dislike books plugging wokeness and gender-mangling bollux, the way the parallels of Leslie's world could be seen in ours every day was much more important and much more enjoyable.
And the issue is I still can't really define what replaces the social commentary and world-building (and cutesiness) I loved. It becomes some kind of charged fantasy with the relationship with the albino wolf becoming a completely bonkers battle of wits, added to which none of the other characters are what we first thought, and I'd long lost the plot. Seriously, I'd have given Book Three in this series a single star, so impenetrable and so far off the beginning it was. And by the time Leslie was in yet another revealing, figure-exaggerating costume, even I began to feel a little dirty.
They do say not to meet your heroes, but I don't think they tell you often enough to read something new, and even if you liked a book – nay, loved it – to not go back, in case it's sullied by its sequels. And that's true, for I would still adore Book One for what it did with an original Orwellian concept and the most loveable of characters, but Book Two was a bit iffy in where it went, and Book Three was a complete pudding – a trifle, and a trifling nonsense. It's almost irrelevant then to say the fabulous extras promised by this HC omnibus are just the cover gallery and one pin-up. The fact the creator is carrying on with her creation in the future is further twisting the knife.
I have already reviewed Volumes 1 and 2 on previous occasions but , this time, I've read the lot. my previous reviews : This is quite entertaining as Leslie, a anthromorphised pig, is having erotic dreams. In her world, they are only allowed to mate with the same species - lots of different species are included. The premise behind the plot is carefully laid out and characters are developed. However murder, sexual adventure and nudity appear and the volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. The artwork is reasonably clear and fun and the end result is quite enjoyable and I look forward to see how it develops.
Leslie, Karl and Saya end up looking for Tijoux as many explanations ensue about all the main characters, good and bad. There are instances of betrayal, nudity, death and torture. The plot advances at a fair pace and the artwork continues to be clear and daring. Quite good series and there’s more to come. In the digital edition, some of the dialogue is hard to read because of the choice of colours used.
In the omnibus edition, we can read how the story concludes (for now). It's entertaining enough.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Started out as a three star read but ended up a four star read. It was slow to start but then when it took off, it took off and I gobbled it all up. An interesting commentary on society with fantastic art, these anthropomorphic animals live in a dystopian society that I would describe as Zootopia meets a watered down Gilead from Handmaid's Tale (reproduction program? same-species propaganda? anti-same-sex sentiments?) and then a wild cult enters the scene and chaos abounds with white wolves and shamans and less than ideal parents.
The world of "Unnatural" was horrifying, and attention grabbing, but the actual storyline was a bit cliche and quirky to me. That being said I did enjoy it. It kept my enthralled and I was intrigued to see where these characters would end up and the mystery at the heart of it. If you are looking for a dark, sexy, and beautiful drawn graphic novel that is a grown up version of Zootopia than you should check out this series.
I am pleasantly surprised with this comic! The story is well fleshed out, I love all the emotional heart strings the story pulls on. Bigger societal issues are brought to light through this comic while also involving a bit of supernatural and magical realism. Maybe I would have preferred some more relationship development between our main characters and a bit more eroticism, but that’s just being a bit picky. I would definitely recommend this comic!
Tavole grandi a colori che valorizzano il tratto dell'andolfo. Storia che condivide un bel messaggio. 4 stelle perché il finale mi è sembrato abbastanza affrettato e non mi aveva convinto al 100%, per il resto ottimo
Sono stata rapita dalla premessa, ma ancora di più dai disegni, il problema è che.. non mi è piaciuta la piega della storia dopo l'ottavo capitolo, è tutto così affrettato e anche un po' troppo confusionario...
Huh, this was different than I was expecting; much darker and grittier. I'd read other things by this author because I liked the art style but this story just wasn't my jam.