Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri was born on February 29th, 1944 (a leap year), in Venice, Italy. Serpieri was something of an artistic prodigy as a child. He received a classical education in figure drawing at Rome's Fine Art Academy, then apprenticed under artist Renato Guttuso.
Serpieri struck out on his own in 1966, and spent the next decade as an artist drawing and painting – even painting frescoes. He experimented with expressionism, but by the mid-1970s, Serpieri felt the need to tell stories in a way that abstract art couldn't.
Serpieri Tries Out Comics
In 1975, it was suggested to Serpieri that he try making comic books – specifically, the European style of comics called bandes dessinées in France and Belgium (or fumetti, in Serpieri's native Italy).
Serpieri hesitated at first. But as he recalled later, Serpieri's fine arts background had prejudiced him against comic books, until he realized how many talented artists were already working in the medium.
Serpieri's early comics focused on the western genre, as Serpieri and his brother had enjoyed re-drawing western comic books while growing up. Serpieri created short stories about the American West, such as "The White Indian" and "The Medicine Man," for a variety of European magazines in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri's Druuna
But Serpieri's biggest success came when he tried his hand at science-fiction. In 1985, he created Morbus Gravis, an AIDS allegory set on a ravaged planet. The comic starred Druuna, a curvaceous heroine who resembled the Native American women Serpieri had drawn earlier.
Morbus Gravis's formula of mutants, violence, and graphic sex was a hit, and Serpieri continued the Druuna series with Morbus Gravis II (or Druuna,1987). Problems with censorship caused Serpieri to switch publishers, but Druuna returned regularly after that in Creatura (1990), Carnivora (1993), Mandragora (1995), Aphrodisia (1997), The Forgotten Planet (2000), and Clone (2003).
Druuna's adventures were even adapted into an M-rated video game in 2001, Druuna: Morbus Gravis, though it got poor reviews.
Serpieri's Druuna in America
Serpieri became famous in America when the Druuna stories were translated and published in Heavy Metal magazine, which later reprinted them in book form. The American edition of Carnivora won a Harvey Award in 1995.
But Druuna was often censored by Heavy Metal. In a 1999 interview with French comics magazine Bodoï, Serpieri complained that in American comics, every time he drew a naked man, his privates had to be covered up with a speech balloon – otherwise it would be considered pornography.
Serpieri claimed never to have self-censored, even though later Druuna books like The Forgotten Planet and Clone had toned-down sex scenes. As he told the Druuna Homepage in 2000, "it turns out that in [these stories], it was not necessary to add erotic scenes. I do not draw erotic scenes to fill pages, they should be justified."
Serpieri After Druuna
After finishing Clone, Serpieri collaborated with Jean Dufaux on Hell (2007). Serpieri's new series is set in a Renaissance-style version of Venice, but it still bears some of the master's trademarks, such as monsters, violence, and a buxom (though redheaded) heroine.
Heavy Metal's publisher, Kevin Eastman, has said that he expects the second installment of Hell sometime in 2010, though it may be later. Nevertheless, it's likely that Serpieri's fans will find his latest comic to be worth the wait.
Luke Arnott - Luke Arnott has a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Western Ontario, where he is currently enrolled in the ...
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