Argentine classic – review of the comic book “Living Steel”

The imagination of Mazzitelli and Alcatena

The creators of the Living Steel met in the 1990s thanks to Scorpio – a comic book magazine published in Argentina in 1974-96, which now has cult status. It published things that were already classics of Argentine comics or were yet to become. The magazine focused on artistic freedom, which in turn released a lot of energy and crazy ideas. It is from Scorpio that comes from, among others, Mort Cinder published by Non Stop Comics with drawings by Alberto Breccia (the one from the Cthulhu Myths ).

The demand for artistic freedom and unrestrained imagination undoubtedly appealed to Mazzitelli and Alcatena. Living Steel aesthetics is a mixture of Japanese elements, Dali, medieval miniatures with their grotesque humor and many other inspirations. You will even find a Thai shadow theater here, and the muscles of the main character will remind you of Xenomorph. If you look closely, you will find inspirations from the folklore of South America, which for the European reader is not easy to extract from the richness of these boards. I think that he is responsible, among other things, for the associations with the Alien universe – the famous Palenque bas-relief, “a man in a spaceship”, already fascinated the team gathered for the DuneJodorowsky, which later became part of the Ridley Scott project, among others. My last association is also Little Nemo with his circus secession.

As for the script, at first glance we are dealing with a simple story – two heroes, a hero and his sidekick, travel the world in search of a cure for the former problem – melting. Unhappy Hark is a steel, indestructible warrior, but from time to time he melts into a powerless pool of silver. He was by no means born with this condition – he was transformed as a result of an experiment by a mad alchemist. The magician also created the second protagonist of the comic, the cat harlequin Hybrid. This surreal Sancho Panza tries to care for his errant knight, but often fails in search of riches. It is with him that we will visit the castles of ambitious scientists or small-town studies of curiosities. It is also the main source of humor; is a cynical little puppet with a sharp mind. Also look at Harek’s face – his unhappy faces also do not always slide down to pathos.

Mazzitelli envisioned a vast land populated by mages, sages, beggars and champions – knights to represent their city-states in wars fought only as duels between giants. As we read, we will be flooded with a multitude of associations – it will start with fantasy and classic fairy tales, move on to the stories of Don Quixote and Gulliver, and finally – Far Eastern parables. Two friends will encounter bizarre, terrible, tragic and funny characters straight from medieval maps inhabited by Blemia (headless people with faces on their torsos) and other “spooks”, as they are called in Jakub Jankowski’s translation. Evil wizards will appear, some resemble Don Pedro, who was also styled as a musketeer, although these Alcatens also resemble matadors.

How not to overdose

Scorpio has released 30 episodes of Living Steel , and you can find all of them in the Mandioka edition. The story of Harek and Hybryd meanders through subsequent lands, first in search of a cure for melting, then – the meaning of life. The creators sometimes give their heroes a breather to develop stories about supporting characters, show us the duels of scientists and the adventures of the mad creator of spawns, “daddy” of the two protagonists. Don’t read everything at once, you are overdosing on aesthetic richness, and this can tire you out. I find my quiet week with Mazzitelli and Alcatena very successful, although lowering the pace would probably add depth to it.

Living steel , despite a great, succinct introduction by Diego Accorsi (editor of another Argentine comic book magazine Comiqueando ), will probably leave you unsatisfied. On Alcatena’s archival blog, you can see his newer works, many of them strongly inspired by Japanese woodcut. Most of the developer interviews are only available in Spanish, although the cartoonist worked for DC and Marvel (on Conan the Barbarian ). Scorpioit still comes out in Italy, so you will probably find something in this language about its history. As you can see, it’s not easy to find materials – I’m even more glad that Mandioka took up the classics of Argentine comics. I am waiting for more – I dream of a study or a collection of interviews … I am also counting on Jakub Jankowski, who has already translated so many comics that he may want to share at least anecdotes from his work.