Jolanda #21 P.27 (July 1971) by Milo Manara (NSFW and Nude)

"Instead of a night of terror, it will be a night of happiness for us!"

Another legend present at Lake Como Comic Art Festival 2022 was the Italian Maestro of Erotics, Milo Manara. Despite spending hours and hours in line, my girlfriend and I were unsuccessful in getting something for ourselves - we did get a remark in a friend's book.

That kind of stung, so I did some research online. I quickly found most of the Manara pages at auction houses, dealers and some other venues like CAF, Ebay, Catawiki etc. However, for a page which features some nudity or worthwhile imagery, the price rose quickly.

Then I found the most obsure, German dealer website - straight from the 90s, where two pieces were for sale. I immediately pulled the trigger on this one - which you had to do by filling in an online form and then wiring the money via bank transfer. Yesterday morning, the piece arrived safely at my doorstep.

The page is an early work of Manara, on the long-running Italian strip, Jolanda de Almaviva. I have no clue on the context, but I loved the page and final panel a lot - for obvious reasons, if you want a Manara piece. That last panel translates to: "Instead of a night of terror it will be a night of happiness for us.".

While it's early Manara, it has everything you'd want from his work and more, and you can definitely see where his typical style originated from here.

Size is 10x14.