{"id":33801,"date":"2025-09-12T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33801"},"modified":"2025-09-11T12:09:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:09:56","slug":"butterscotch-the-flavour-of-the-invisible-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/09\/12\/butterscotch-the-flavour-of-the-invisible-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Butterscotch (The Flavour of the Invisible)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Milo Manara<\/strong>, translated by Tom Leighton<\/strong> (Eurotica\/NBM) or (Catalan Communications)
\nISBN: 978-1-56163-109-4 (HB NBM) or 978-0-87416-047-5 (TPB Catalan)<\/p>\n

These books include Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

If the cover images haven\u2019t already clued you in, for some the graphic novels under review here will be unacceptable. <\/strong><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s you, please stop right now and come back tomorrow when there will be something you\u2019ll approve of but which will surely offend somebody else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today in 1945 Maurilio Manara – you can call him \u201cMilo\u201d- was born, and since I\u2019m feeling all grown up and continental today, here\u2019s a long overdue review of some milder masterpieces by one of the world\u2019s greatest graphic eroticists. <\/em><\/p>\n

Originally translated into English by Catalan in 1987, Butterscotch<\/strong> was re-released in 2002 under NBM\u2019s Eurotica imprint, but has since languished in that great big limbo-land of the inexplicably Out-of-Print.<\/p>\n

Manara has always been a puckish intellectual and whimsical craftsman with a dazzling array of artistic skills ranging from architecture, product design, filmmaking & animation, painting and of course an elegant, refined, clear-clean line style with pen and ink. He is best known for his wry and always controversial sexually explicit material – although that\u2019s more an indicator of our comics market than any artistic obsession. He\u2019s even drawn the X-Men<\/strong> – but mostly the women…<\/p>\n

After studying painting and architecture he became a comics artist in 1969, beginning with the Fumetti Neri<\/em><\/strong> series Genius<\/em>, and thereafter working on the magazine Terror<\/em><\/strong>. His life\u2019s goal came in 1971 as he began his \u201cadult\u201d career (see what I did there?) illustrating Francisco Rubino\u2019s Jolanda de Almaviva<\/em><\/strong> which led, four years later, to his first major work and success. Originally released as Lo Scimmiotto<\/em><\/strong>, The Ape<\/strong> was a bold and bawdy reworking of the Chinese tales of the Monkey King.<\/p>\n

By the end of the seventies he was working for Franco-Belgian markets where he is still regarded as an A-list creator. It was while working for Charlie<\/em> Mensuel<\/em><\/strong>, Pilote<\/em><\/strong> and L\u2019\u00c9cho des savanes<\/em><\/strong> that he created signature series HP and Giuseppe Bergman<\/em> for A Suivre<\/em><\/strong>. In 1986 he wrote and drew, in his inimitable blend of social satire, classicist bawdy burlesque and saucy slapstick, the incredible tale of the ultimate voyeur\u2019s dream in Il profumo dell\u2019invisibile,<\/em> translated here as Butterscotch<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

Our star is a rather brilliant, incredibly naive nerd-physicist who has invented a lotion that bends light rays around anything smeared with it. He also has an unnervingly innocent and utterly sexless fascination with prima ballerina Beatrice D\u2019Altavilla<\/em>… which is a pity as she is a heartless, sadistic power-mad monster… and the biggest slut in creation.<\/p>\n

Honey<\/em> is Beatrice\u2019s extremely liberated, licentious and hot-blooded associate (The Beatrice don\u2019t do \u201cfriends\u201d) and when she discovers a naked, semi-invisible man in the dancer\u2019s bedroom, she feels it her duty to show the innocuous stalker what his dream girl is really like. Sadly, there are none so blind as those who will not see, especially if we can\u2019t see them either, and her many and various attempts to open his invisible eyes lead to violence and a bizarre sexual co-dependence; what with divine Beatrice being far too virginal and perfect for that nasty, dirty stuff…<\/p>\n

As Honey perpetually and ever-more frantically attempts to prove the existence of her invisible man – whose cloaking lotion smells powerfully of butterscotch sweets – her already low position in the ballerina\u2019s entourage plummets and the abuses intensify. Finally, however, as Honey grows increasingly closer to the omnipresent, unseen (but so regularly felt) voyeur, she finally succeeds in exposing Beatrice\u2019s true nature, leading to a tempestuous climax nobody expected and some might not survive…<\/p>\n

Couched in Manara\u2019s beautifully rendered, lavish line-work, this witty, highly explicit, sexually charged tale casts fascinating light on what people can\u2019t and won\u2019t see around them. Absolutely for adults only, Butterscotch<\/strong> is a captivating exploration of love, obsession and misperception.<\/p>\n

Raunchy, funny and extremely hard to find, this is a book desperately worthy of a new edition.
\n\u00a9 1987 Milo Manara. English Language edition \u00a9 1987 Catalan Communications. \u00a9 2002 NBM. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Indian Summer<\/h1>\n

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\nBy Milo Manara<\/strong> & Hugo Pratt<\/strong>, translated by Jeff Lisle<\/strong> (\/NBM\/Catalan Communications)
\nISBN: 978-1-56163-107-0 (NBM TPB) 0-87416-030-2-8 (Catalan TPB)<\/p>\n

Hugo Eugenio Pratt (June 15th<\/sup> 1927 – August 20th<\/sup> 1995) was one of the world\u2019s paramount comics creators, and his enthralling graphic narratives inventions since Ace of Spades<\/strong> (whilst still a student at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts) in 1945 were both many and varied. His signature character – based in large part on his own exotic early life – is mercurial soldier of fortune Corto Maltese<\/strong>. You can learn more about him via our coverage of his UK war comics such as War Picture Library –<\/strong> The Crimson Sea <\/strong>please link to 30th<\/sup> July 2025.<\/p>\n

However, a storyteller of Pratt\u2019s vast creative capabilities was ever-restless, and as well as writing and illustrating his own tales, he scripted for other giants of the industry. In 1983 he crafted a steamy tale of sexual tension and social prejudice set in the New England colonies in the days before the Salem Witch Trials. This tale is timeless, potent and – naturally – out of print in English. In a world of digital publishing I find that utterly incomprehensible…<\/p>\n

Tutto ricominci\u00f2 con un’estate indiana <\/em><\/strong>(which was published as Indian Summer<\/strong> – although a more appropriate and illustrative translation would be \u201cAll things begin again with an Indian Summer\u201d) was brought to stunning pictorial life by fellow graphic raconteur Milo Manara.<\/p>\n

Remember his breakout series HP and Giuseppe Bergman<\/em> for A Suivre<\/em><\/strong>? The \u201cHP\u201d of the title is his pal Hugo Pratt…<\/p>\n

New England in the 17th<\/sup> century: The Puritan village of New Canaan slowly grows in placid, if uneasy, co-existence with the natives who have fished and hunted these coastal regions for centuries. When young Shevah Black<\/em> is raped by two young Indians, outcast Abner Lewis<\/em> kills them both. Taking the \u201cruined\u201d girl back to his mother\u2019s cottage in the woods, he introduces her to the entire family: mother Abigail<\/em> and siblings Jeremiah<\/em>, Elijah<\/em> and Phyllis<\/em>. They are a whole brood of damned sinners banished by Shevah\u2019s uncle, the so-pious Reverend Pilgrim Black<\/em>…<\/p>\n

The mother was once a servant in the Black household, but has lived in the woods for 20 years, ever since Pilgrim Black\u2019s father raped her. When Abigail fell pregnant, she was cast out for her<\/em> sin and her face still bears a sinner\u2019s brand. Aided by Indians, the reluctant mother built a cabin, and over the years had three further children. Her progeny are all wild creatures of nature; healthy, vital and with many close ties both to the natives (from personal preference and choice) as well as the truly decadent Black family (by sordid, unwelcome history and association)\u2026<\/p>\n

Now blood has spilled and passions are roused: none of those ties can prevent a bloodbath, and as the day progresses, many dark secrets come to light as the intolerance, hypocrisy and raw, thwarted lust of the upstanding Christians leads to an inexorable clash with the \u201csavages and heathens\u201d who are by far the most sensible and decent individuals in the place, with the pitifully isolated, ostracized and alienated Lewis clan stuck in the middle and betrayed by all sides…<\/p>\n

Beautiful, disturbing and utterly compelling, this thoroughly adult examination of sexual tension, religious hypocrisy, attitudinal eugenics and destructive, tragic love is played out against the sweltering seductive heat and primitive glories of a natural, plentiful paradise which only needs its residents to act more like beasts and less like humans to achieve a perfect tranquillity.<\/p>\n

Sadly, every Eden has serpents and here there are three: religion, custom and pride…<\/p>\n

Pratt\u2019s passion for historical research is displayed by the graphic afterword in which he not only cites his extensive sources – including a link to Nathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s novel The Scarlet Letter<\/strong> – but adds some fascinating insights and speculations on the fates of the survivors of the New Canaan massacre.<\/p>\n

Although there is a 1994 NBM edition, I\u2019m reviewing my 1986 Catalan copy principally because I own that one, but also because the Catalan copy has a magnificent four-page foldout watercolour cover (which I couldn\u2019t fit onto my scanner no matter how I tried) and some pretty amazing sketches and watercolour studies gracing Javier Coma\u2019s insightful introduction.<\/p>\n

This is a classic tale of humanity frailty, haunting, dark and startlingly lovely. Whatever version you find, you must read this superb story; and if any print or digital publisher is reading this, you know what you should do…<\/p>\n

\u00a9 1986, 1994 Milo Manara & Hugo Pratt. English language edition \u00a9 1986 Catalan Communications. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today marks the birth in 1897 of Walter B. Gibson, the magician turned author who wrote The Shadow<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Milo Manara, translated by Tom Leighton (Eurotica\/NBM) or (Catalan Communications) ISBN: 978-1-56163-109-4 (HB NBM) or 978-0-87416-047-5 (TPB Catalan) These books include Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. If the cover images haven\u2019t already clued you in, for some the graphic novels under review here will be unacceptable. If that\u2019s you, please stop right … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Butterscotch (The Flavour of the Invisible)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64,113,239,63,105,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adulterotica","category-comedy","category-drama","category-european-classics","category-mature-reading","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8Nb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33801"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33808,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33801\/revisions\/33808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}