Znort!

February 15, 2006 1:21 PM

RanXerox is a science fiction graphic novel series by Gaetano 'Tanino' Liberatore and Stefano Tamburini. "Ranxerox in New York" ran in the magazine Heavy Metal back in 1982. The series follows the adventures of the intensely violent robot named "RanXerox" and his pre-teen girlfriend Lubna. Still somewhat underground in popularity despite the game, the desktop theme, the t-shirt, the podcast (there were rumblings of a movie). The stories are dark satire. The adult artwork made it sophisticated enough to ban in some countries. (Some images NSFW, babelfish can help translate pages)
posted by Smedleyman (22 comments total)

More links:

Interview (In Italian)

More on Liberatore

And a comic encyclopedia article. (also in Italian)

That podcast is funky. I've always thought "Not Now John" by Pink Floyd with the clockwork feel of it more suited to Ranx.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:26 PM on February 15, 2006

Wow. I had an issue of Heavy Metal at one point that had an installment of this. Really crazy stuff. I forgot about it. Thanks!
posted by brundlefly at 1:29 PM on February 15, 2006

Hmm, RanXerox looks like he might have inspired Batou from Ghost in the Shell.
posted by bobo123 at 1:33 PM on February 15, 2006

Man, this brings back memories. I read Heavy Metal religously around the time RanXerox was running in it. There were some other great artists in HM at that time too, like Moebius, Bilal, and Royo.

I wonder if it is still any good.
posted by bashos_frog at 1:54 PM on February 15, 2006

I miss my Heavy Metal subscription.

*sniff*
posted by daq at 1:59 PM on February 15, 2006

I remember reading this like it was yesterday, really good stuff. I'm going to enjoy this link in full later on but the appetizer was delicious!
posted by fenriq at 2:02 PM on February 15, 2006

Ranx has always reminded me of Stephen King. I think it's the jaw.
posted by NationalKato at 2:06 PM on February 15, 2006

bobo123, that's an excellent point. I was trying to pinpoint who he reminded me of, and that's totally it.
posted by shmegegge at 2:20 PM on February 15, 2006

Hmm, so the moral of the story of RanXerox is that... even ugly people can be sadistic bastards?
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:44 PM on February 15, 2006

I was a regular (underaged) HM reader back then, before the mags decline. I always found the art in RanXerox to be so ugly it turned me off of the series. I know it was ugly with a purpose but still, it puts me off.
posted by acetonic at 3:30 PM on February 15, 2006

posted by squarehead at 3:49 PM on February 15, 2006

I feel old. Yes, I too read Heavy Metal when ranXerox ran. Unfortunately, Heavy Metal slowly turned into a fairly lousy mag. Or else I grew out of it. Not sure which.
posted by neek at 3:54 PM on February 15, 2006

*Znort*
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:07 PM on February 15, 2006

squarehead wins, with a nice dose of eponysteria to boot.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:08 PM on February 15, 2006

Ah, memories of youth... Ranx comics. My favorite quote, "Glue? I'm not going to sniff it. I'm going to shoot it."
posted by rhymesinister at 4:55 PM on February 15, 2006

Ohh yeah. This due was the shit. And the shit was bananas!
posted by washburn at 5:14 PM on February 15, 2006

I understand that Liberatoire's art was all created with watercolor markers, a nearly unimaginable feat. There were also English-translated NBM editions of both HM stories.
posted by mwhybark at 7:03 PM on February 15, 2006

Wow, thanks for the trip down memory lane. I'd totally forgotten about the awesomeness of Heavy Metal in its youthful glory.
posted by slatternus at 7:55 PM on February 15, 2006

BTW, on the subject of vintage Heavy Metal, we had a chance to watch Enki Bilal's Immortel directed by the man himself. It wasn't terribly good, but it had some moments and it really did feel like stepping into an old issue of Heavy Metal. Worth checking out.
posted by slatternus at 7:59 PM on February 15, 2006

Wow I had no idea there was a Bilal flick. I have been thinking about his Hunting Party since sunday.
posted by mwhybark at 9:00 PM on February 15, 2006

There was also a Zappa album cover featuring Frank as RanXerox: The man from Utopia. The back shows the same scene from behind, but I can't find an image right now.
posted by boogieboy at 11:59 PM on February 15, 2006

At 14, Ranxerox was the Heavy Metal cartoon most certain to freak me the fuck out.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:35 AM on February 16, 2006