Torpedo 1936, Volumes 1-6

Torpedo 1936, Volumes 1-6 

By E Sánchez Abulí & Jordi Bernet with Alex Toth (Catalan Communications)
ISBNs vary – just rev up your search engine!

This classy crime satire has an impeccable pedigree. Originated by European strips legend Enrique Sánchez Abulí and designed and drawn (for the first story, at least) by American comics god Alex Toth, it relates the life and misadventures of cheap hood and freelance hit-man Luca Torelli, an Italian immigrant clawing his way to the middle of the gangster heap in the evocative New York City of the 1930s, that owes much more to films such as Scarface and Chinatown than to shoddy reality.

The mannered and hypnotic stylisations of Toth were replaced by the visceral line and brushwork of Jordi Bernet as the ignorant and vicious thug went on to star in a veritable gore-storm of graphically violent and sordidly sexy comic tales and text stories (all collected in the six volumes cited) that, with blackly humorous wit, venerate the savage charisma of this mythic era.

There is loads of sex, lots of nudity, buckets of violence but never the truly Big Score in the life of this dim and evil loser, but such is the ability of the creators that the reader finds it terribly difficult not to sympathise with this despicable “can’t-get-an-even-break” sad sack who often appears to be the world’s most homicidal Mr Bean clone.

Sharp writing (well-translated) and truly beautiful art (especially the women and cars) make this a must-read series for fans not only of such series as 100 Bullets or The Losers, also anyone who loves a bad-ass gangster and a damn good laugh.

© 1982 Enrique Sánchez Abulí, Alex Toth & Jordi Bernet. All Rights Reserved.