Carnivora

Druuna #4

by Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri

new, read once and then bagged

Genres: Comics, Erotica, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Bande Dessinée, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri is an Italian comic book writer and illustrator, noted for his works of highly detailed renderings of the human form, particularly erotic images of women. He is best known for his work on the Druuna erotic science fiction series.

Reviews

[Carmine R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nello spazio nessuno sente urlare

Spettacolare tripudio di frattaglie e sangue elargito a cascate: Ridley Scott, David Cronenberg e Lovecraft vengono completamente rimasticati per allestire un teatrino grondante merda e sperma a fiotti.
Druuna - avvezza a girare mezza nuda per farsi stuprare meglio da qualunque cosa respiri - finalmente acquisisce una carica drammatica che diventa parte attiva per la vicenda narrata, beffardamente ricamata su una manciata di cliché ereditati in egual misura dalla fantascienza e l'horror del passato.
Finale oggettivamente riuscito e, arrivati a questo punto, la domanda sorge spontanea: perché, caro Serpieri, hai letteralmente scialacquato un progetto così vincente sulla carta?

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Bladerunner was crossed with The Thing and filmed as a porno you'd get a close approximation of this latest instalment of the Druuna saga.

In Carnivora, Serpieri has captured an erotic nightmare in graphic form. It kicks off with pregnancy horror as pregnant Druuna is captured and given a Caesarean by some terrifying mutant doctors. She wakes up only to be gang-raped by a group sadistic mutants who morph into monster-form mid coitus. She wakes again to be sent on a mission by Shastar her dead boyfriend. He united with the mind of Lewis (God) to become a telepathic being of pure energy and has now merged again with the rescue ship's computer. Druuna runs into the other female officer Terry and they discover the most of the crew is being slowly cocooned and consumed by tentacular mutant bio-matter - Then they run into Terry and Roger and we learn that the Terry with Drunna is in fact a mutant clone. Indeed the mutating bio-mass can clone anyone and just like in Blade Runner the replicants have no idea they are not the real deal.... In order to prove Druuna is not a replicant she is sent to be tortured and gang raped by mutants Prolats who apparently will kill replicants instantly but only rape humans. She escapes only to seduce the ship's captain but then he encounters his clone and gets consumed by mutant bio-slime.

Shastar appears again for some much needed plot exposition after all the sex and death and sex. So the ship is on the border of a mirror universe/chaos Lovecraft dimension which seems to be where the mutants have come from and the replicants are our negative selves. The solution which makes no sense to me is to break through the barrier into the other dimension which will apparently make the ship time travel back to before any of this happened. The world is reset but the doctor lands a philosophic bomb shell for the ending asking if they had in fact failed and were all replicants and just don't know it....

I'm not quite sure what to say to this one. The art is as ever amazing and I have to say that perfect as she is, Druuna is overshadowed by the freaky mutant body horror which is fantastic. There's loads of sex, and weird body horror and it really is an erotic nightmare in book form.

Druuna's ignorance, nativity, frequent nudity, sex scenes and enjoyment of gang rape are a bit wearing and offensive for female readers. However I loved the horror element of this one which is ramped up and I also loved the whole replicant story line and sucker-punch ending, plus the glorious art goes without saying.

[78sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bei den Druuna Comics bin ich oft am Ende immer noch ziemlich verwirrt und ich habe den Eindruck ich kann mich in diese wirklich extrem verrückte und abstrakte Welt einfach nicht gut genug hineindenken. Und trotzdem kommt mir dieses Wirre und die ständigen Wendungen immer so genial vor. Das die Proto hier so gut wie nie oder nur sehr spärlich bekleidet ist, wirkt teilweise schon ziemlich billig, aber naja. Die erotischen Szenen sind wie immer sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig und werden wohl auch nicht von jederman als erotisch empfunden werden. Hier spielt wieder viel Gewalt, Verwirrung und Macht eine Rolle.
Der Zeichenstil ist einfach etwas ganz besonderes und hat extremen Widererkennungswert. Ich mag diese abgefahrene utopische Welt.

[Andre Piucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Não resta muito tempo, mas devo relatar tudo do começo... A partir daquela mulher!"

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serpieri digs even deeper into worldbuilding and adds an even heavier dose of sci-fi concepts. It seems almost as if Serpieri had watched Ridley Scott's Blade Runner prior to writing the story for "Carnivora" given the similarities. There's also bits of simulaton theory and subjective realities mixed in to lend towards some interesting storytelling segments. This volume of Serpieri's erotic sci-fi space opera follows Druuna as she gets caught up with trying to determine if those around her are replicants or original beings. The pretext for a lot of the sex scenes require a high level of suspension of disbelief, but I do appreciate Serpieri getting somewhat more creative this time around (even if it is biting the premise of Blade Runner).

Overall a decent story that is bogged down by an unnecessarily dense amount of prose, but has absolutely fire artwork by Serpieri.

[Alessandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Come sempre, niente da dire sui disegni di Eleuteri Serpieri, che rimane sempre un maestro del disegno, a ogni livello. Per quanto concerne la storia… beh, qui è tutto un altro discorso. Non c’è molta linearità, anzi, quasi nessuna. Sembra tutto un collage di temi cari alla fantascienza, mescolato con uno spruzzo di horror, ma senza una direzione precisa. E la protagonista… splendida a vedersi per come è disegnata, ma assolutamente fuori di testa come dialoghi. Boh… diciamo che la serie avrebbe grandi potenzialità, ma che a disegni assolutamente splendidi non si accoppia una storia altrettanto bella.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nave onde Druuna está e foi salva da cidade dos mutantes encontra-se no limiar de outra dimensão e a única forma de salvar a nave que foi invadida por uma criatura que cria clones carnívoros tipo “the thing” ou “alien” é atravessar essa dimensão e ir atrás no tempo.
Mas após isso ser feito pelo doutor da nave será que são todos normais ou viraram todos clones.
Mistério de novo.

[Jose Fernando Murayary Ibañez · Rating 5 out of 5]

una historia que no caduca en interés, aunque te queda un cierto sabor amargo, esperando que la historia avance, Definitivamente, Druuna, es un personaje interesante pero a veces raya un poco de inocente

[Jenika Ioffreda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five stars for the art, one star for the story and two for the world building, so I give three stars as a mix of the three. Sex, monsters and violence are not really my cup of tea, but still the beautiful art made me turn the pages.

[Marc Bosch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los “otros” cruzan al otro lado del muro y poco a poco acaban con todo lo humano y lo salvaje, en definitiva, todo aquello que somos. Serpieri fue antes que George R.R. Martin, Jung antes que Serpieri y el inconsciente colectivo antes que... bueno en realidad ha estado ahí desde siempre...

[İlteriş · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting read. An erotic novel mixed with sci-fi horror with some elements are taken from Bladerunner/Do androids dream of electric sheep? and The Thing.

[Al Capwned · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same tropes as the previous ones and very obvious influences.