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Ranx #3
Ranx 3: Amen
Graphic novel
48 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2002
About the author
Stefano Tamburini
31 books11 followersBorn in Rome, Tamburini started writing in 1974. His first comic series, Fuzzy Rat, was published in an independent Rome-based magazine, Combinazioni. From 1975 to 1977 he worked for Stampa Alternativa, designing books and leaflets. He also founded the magazines Cannibale (1977) and Frigidaire (1980). Tamburini is primarily known as co-creator of the character RanXerox with Tanino Liberatore. Along with Andrea Pazienza, he is considered one of the best Italian comics authors of his generation. He died in Rome in 1986 of a heroin overdose.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 16, 2018
Le pongo un cuatro por ser la más floja de las ters y deambular sin rumbo pero aún así con grandes momentos y un dibujo excelente.
November 1, 2021
Story = *
For a HUGE fan of this duo and of Ranxerox in general but I am disappointed in this ridiculous story. It's literally overkill that's just gross and not even funny. Half of it I don't even understand because the attempts at making fun of religion and government are also overblown and don't work.
Art = ****
The art is Libertore -a stud- but it's not his best work. It's very messy
For a HUGE fan of this duo and of Ranxerox in general but I am disappointed in this ridiculous story. It's literally overkill that's just gross and not even funny. Half of it I don't even understand because the attempts at making fun of religion and government are also overblown and don't work.
Art = ****
The art is Libertore -a stud- but it's not his best work. It's very messy
October 10, 2026
For clarification, I’m writing about Heavy Metal’s 1996 English translation, Ranx 3: Amen!. It’s worth noting that the book’s more unsavory aspects are toned down in the English release.
Sadly a steep decline from the promise of #2. The art is still great, but a little messy and more painterly which I’m not sure I like compared to the carved marble look of the 1st and 2nd books. Sometimes a panel or page will inexplicably return to form but the overall look has slumped a bit… but that’s the least of our concerns here. My real gripe is with the writing. The original author passed away far too young, and Ranx, as you would expect, was caught in a limbo for many years. He was dragged back into print in the mid ‘90s with another author on board to help finish the story… and it’s not great. The language, while perverse in the previous installments, seemed realistic- and at its worst just came off as mediocre translation- but in this one it just shatters your suspension of disbelief. It’s like a preteen trying to come up with the worst sentence they can without knowing what half of the words mean, and it’s like this the whole time. This makes the book’s other problem a lot worse: it’s just way too convoluted. A new character appears every page, the macguffins don’t even make sense, and you spend the entire book feeling like a tourist looking for directions… it’s just bizarre.
AND THE LETTERING.
I think the ‘90s reprints I’m reading were originally published in English as hardcovers in the 80s, save for #3, which did not exist at the time. But when they reactivated the Ranx team for the last hurrah, republishing the first two and introducing the third, they didn’t quite pull out all the stops… the beautiful hand lettering of the originals, painstakingly formatted to look natural in pre-existing bubbles that held entirely different text of all shapes and sizes, has been replaced with this GOD AWFUL DIGITAL LOOKING LETTERING with NO CARE AT ALL given to making it look proper. It’s garish, rarely centered properly, contrasts poorly with the art, and makes the whole affair look cheap (a feat, considering the quality of Liberatore’s art).
#2 is better!
Sadly a steep decline from the promise of #2. The art is still great, but a little messy and more painterly which I’m not sure I like compared to the carved marble look of the 1st and 2nd books. Sometimes a panel or page will inexplicably return to form but the overall look has slumped a bit… but that’s the least of our concerns here. My real gripe is with the writing. The original author passed away far too young, and Ranx, as you would expect, was caught in a limbo for many years. He was dragged back into print in the mid ‘90s with another author on board to help finish the story… and it’s not great. The language, while perverse in the previous installments, seemed realistic- and at its worst just came off as mediocre translation- but in this one it just shatters your suspension of disbelief. It’s like a preteen trying to come up with the worst sentence they can without knowing what half of the words mean, and it’s like this the whole time. This makes the book’s other problem a lot worse: it’s just way too convoluted. A new character appears every page, the macguffins don’t even make sense, and you spend the entire book feeling like a tourist looking for directions… it’s just bizarre.
AND THE LETTERING.
I think the ‘90s reprints I’m reading were originally published in English as hardcovers in the 80s, save for #3, which did not exist at the time. But when they reactivated the Ranx team for the last hurrah, republishing the first two and introducing the third, they didn’t quite pull out all the stops… the beautiful hand lettering of the originals, painstakingly formatted to look natural in pre-existing bubbles that held entirely different text of all shapes and sizes, has been replaced with this GOD AWFUL DIGITAL LOOKING LETTERING with NO CARE AT ALL given to making it look proper. It’s garish, rarely centered properly, contrasts poorly with the art, and makes the whole affair look cheap (a feat, considering the quality of Liberatore’s art).
#2 is better!
May 20, 2024
Bom, pelo menos eu tenho olhos e sou alfabetizado né... Infelizmente acabo tendo que ler umas coisas assim por conta de clubes de leitura às vezes? Sim, mas a situação poderia ser pior
January 14, 2013
Erm, so technically I have read this book. I flipped through the pages in sequence and read each word in order. I mean, I think. But like, what? I'm pretty sure it's one of the most unintelligible messes I've ever read. Sad note to end on for an amazingly gorgeous and disturbing series.
July 14, 2013
Débil cierre para la trilogía original, quizás afectada por el obligado relevo de equipo. Un guión desorientado y en donde sobran los parches argumentales terminan afectando lo que pudo ser una entretenida aventura.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews