Man [sic] thru history. NSFW; looks Manara-inspired to me. No obvious credit; it may even be Manara. Interesting, but probably ultimately neither insightful nor transgressive.
Via Pharyngula.
Posted by Greg at March 23, 2007 2:11 PM
Thanks for the link but I'd have to agree not particular inspired. It seems more like the artist is trying to titillate rather than make a convincing or compelling statement.
If it is Manara--and at least one Pharyngula reader asserted such, without citation--then "trying to titillate" is quite likely to actually be the artist's convincing or compelling statement.
Mostly, I just enjoy the opportunity to use the word "transgressive" like I actually know what I'm talking about.
BTW, definitely NC-17 and not work safe, just FYI.
That's what "NSFW" means, Chris.
My bad, didn't see it there for some reason.
Anyway, I agree that it's Manara, or someone doing one helluva Manara riff. It's too bad that it has all the pointless sex in it, because otherwise the beautiful artwork and great costuming would make for a cool poster.
There's actually a pretty good thread over at Pharyngula, where it's pointed out, for example, that this is a white man's history, and that everybody in history is apparently skinny and beautiful.
Oh, there's no question it's Western (and white) Centric, but the beautiful people thing doesn't bother me at all. That's what Manara (or his imitator if it's not him) does, and he does it very well. It's part of what would make it a great poster sans the pr0n.
I'd love to see someone like Sergio Aragones do the same illustration with a couple more tiers to make it non-white-centric and to do with not-all-beautiful characters.
Is the sex pointless? The history of mankind (or Western Civilization, anyway) is fraught with sex and violence, and this illustrates both quite nicely.
Typical that only the sex apparantely keeps it from being "a great poster", but the violence is a-okay.
I liked. I really, really liked. Sex and violence are interconnected throughout History.
It's definitely Manara. I bought it a few years ago--it's not a poster, but rather a picture book. I read it not so much as THE history of man, but the progression of one tribe and the people they encounter. It's clever and titillating, but not meant to be taken as serious social commentary, if you ask me.