Inspiration from comics : Ranx (NSFW)

Warning : I should probably warn you that though I have kept most of the hard pictures out of this post, the Comic I'm about to talk about contains some adult material some may not appreciate.

During my review of the comics I have that prove to be inspirationnal for my hobby, I managed to completely miss one of the most evocative : RANX

I have no idea how I overlook that one but trust me, if a comic defines the 80's aesthetic and culture, it's that one (IMHO, YVMV...).

Ranx is an Italian-french comic whic was published in the early 80's in Italia and later in Heavy Metal. The graphic style is recognisable amongst thousands thanks to Liberatore's use of Pentone pens and his style employs many of the codes of his time.

The most fascinating bit about this comic is that it takes place in the late 80's/early 90's but many elements of the universe are clearly futuristic. The first one is obviously the fact that the hero, Ranx, ia an android built with the parts of a Rank Xerox copier but his technology seems to be quite advanced as he can hack sound systems, record TV shows for his girlfriend and things of the sort.

Like many comics of its time, the world of Ranx is a parody of the world in which it was written. Like you would expect in 2000AD publications like Judge Dredd or others or what you can find in the Incal and most of the Jodoverse, you can find all the features of our modern world exagerated to the extreme. Violence is ever present, sex is everywhere, drugs and rock and roll probably being the lesser evil of all in all that mix.

So easy to charge your batteries up when you're an android...

The fight scenes are usually very brutal and fast, ending in pools of raw meat and blood all the time.

The universe bears all the aspects of a perfect cyberpunk setting.

One of the many aspects that may seem uncomfortable with this comic is that the hero who seems to be built like a full grown man (the pictures leave no doubt about it) dates a 12 years old girl who just behaves as an adult. Scenes of them both taking drugs (she's on cocaine while he shoots himself with PVA glue) are not uncommon and the passions scenes are just as awkward. Thing is, even the very small children form gangs in this universe and one of the most feared gang leaders is a vicious 3 year old girl. A sort of way to sow how violence, sex and drugs were coming sooner and sooner in kid's life... (and remember that this was written in the early 80's).

3 year old Gang leader about to meet her dealer with her fellow gangers aged from 12 to 14...

Of course humour is ever present and you get surreal scenes like the one where Ranx downloads the whole Fred Astaire anthology to become the best dancer ever...

As I said, look at the date below and you'll see the scene takes place in 1988 when the picture could easily lead you to believe it takes place 50 years after that...

Those like me who are huge Frank Zappa fans will surely have noted that Ranx bears a striking resemblance with Frank on the cover of "The man from Utopia" (1983) :

Oh and just in case you were wondering :

The answer's YES :

As the story moves on, the poor android gets more and more trouble from his girlfriend and while a technical error in his programm automatically sets him into berserk mode, the very same bug makes him desperately in love with the girl and unable to harm her even if most of his limited soul wants otherwise...

The futuristic side is a little more visible in later tomes as Ranx is being rebuilt and as you can follow the adventures of the president who needs to change bodies because of a disease he caught (something you can find in Jodorovski's Incal too).

Probably one of the best part and also one of the most frightening too is that on many occasions you can see how the distorted and exagerated vision of the 80's is still under our modern reality. You get that with the fatties in Judge Dredd and the gainers in modern society who do all they can just to gain weight (not muscle) and many other concepts (people living in ever driving flats because there's no place left anywhere else). On many aspects, their satyrical vision of violence and human cynism is spot on and it's funny to see even some details are completely dwarfed by our own world :

So here we are, I know this comic is not easy to find in English and I sincerely hope a new edition will let those of you who can't read italian or french enjoy this treasure of a comic.

For me it has all I can ask of an 80's based cyberpunk world, you'll probably understand why I feel the need to populate the grimdark places of the 40k universe with hookers and drunks now...