The Marriage of Irina Valienko
by Sicomoro
from Heavy Metal magazine, July 1996
First of all, I want to alert readers to fred's HM fan blog. it provides frequent reviews of recently issued Heavy Metal magazines, and as of early February, was profiling issue No. 311.
The reviews thoroughly cover each issue, giving sufficient detail to understand what each comic or feature is about, but not disclosing spoilers. Given that contemporary issues of Heavy Metal now cost $14 (yeep !) consulting fred's blog prior to purchase is recommended.
'The Marriage of Irina Valienk', by the Italian artist Eugenio Sicomoro (b. 1952), which appeared in the July 1996 issue, has a bleak quality that, combined with excellent art, calls to mind vintage Heavy Metal comics such as Chantal Montellier's 1996. For a myriad of reasons, when they decided to get grim and nihilistic in their material, those European artists could do it very well, indeed.
And the denunciation of the Soviet-era Communist / Socialist system is effective in an understated manner that, in my opinion, contemporary comic book writers and artists intent on delivering political criticism could benefit from emulating. (One artist who certainly does so is 'Lazy Square', aka Alex S.).
