Plus c'est la merde

October 31, 2007 7:39 AM

Plus ça change... (that's a 15941x261 pixel, NSFW-ish jpg).
posted by Wolfdog (46 comments total)

Yeah, except in the present day one, the hot chick is a dude.
posted by psmealey at 7:51 AM on October 31, 2007

Amazing.

Except for the NSFW parts, it reminds me very much of part of an encyclopedia I had when I was a kid. For some reason I only had the C volume, and they had very similar illustrations under "costumes."
posted by desjardins at 7:51 AM on October 31, 2007

Yeah, except in the present day one, the hot chick is a dude.
...in accordance with a theory first stated by S. Tyler, professor of historical extrapolation.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:52 AM on October 31, 2007 [3 favorites]

Damnit, how is it that no matter what time period everyone else is still having more sex than me?!
posted by photoslob at 7:52 AM on October 31, 2007 [7 favorites]

Amazing. Depressing but amazing.
posted by piratebowling at 7:56 AM on October 31, 2007

Is that Giuliani in the last frame? 9/11
posted by Mr_Zero at 8:01 AM on October 31, 2007

20th Century needs more flappers; less Nazis.
posted by psmealey at 8:02 AM on October 31, 2007

Boy, that artist sure likes drawing people doin' it from behind.

Who is the artist? The style looks similar to something I saw in a Sandman comic.
posted by schroedinger at 8:10 AM on October 31, 2007

Well that was uplifting.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:11 AM on October 31, 2007

Interesting, I wouldn't call it particularly great, the artwork is good, but the vision/purpose of the piece is a bit shallow, reducing things down to sex and war no matter where we are. And yes, I know that is what we spend time doing a lot of but it is such a gender typing (the main thing men do is kill and fuck, the main thing women do is fuck, willingly or not), narrow reductionist interpretation I get the feeling the artist never got over buying into how history is taught. These are important aspects of out past/present/future but they are not what we spend the majority of our time doing.
There is no great truth being drawn here, but that is not saying it is bad just very limited and good to keep in mind.
posted by edgeways at 8:15 AM on October 31, 2007 [3 favorites]

Rumpy Pumpy down the ages and a little bit of the old Claret for variety... Grand, just grand.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:16 AM on October 31, 2007

Boy, that artist sure likes drawing people doin' it from behind.

That could be his preference, but I think it might have to more to do with comparing humans to nothing but primal beasts.
posted by dopamine at 8:17 AM on October 31, 2007

Google tells me the artist is Milo Manara.
posted by zamboni at 8:17 AM on October 31, 2007

Why do people stop banging around the Enlightenment? Seems backwards to me...
posted by supercres at 8:17 AM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

For something that's so sexual, there is a noticeable lack of homosexual activity. Just sayin'.
posted by Destroid at 8:21 AM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of V for Vendetta.
posted by anthill at 8:22 AM on October 31, 2007

ish??
posted by DU at 8:22 AM on October 31, 2007

I wish it'd go forward in time, too, to robot wars and android sexbots and forward further when we turn to ethereal beings of light who fight and fuck by merging our glowing mists.
posted by Nelson at 8:23 AM on October 31, 2007

Ish? NSFW-ish? I click the picture to enlarge it and it goes right to some naked woman being double-teamed by what appear to be a Roman senator and some... other Roman guy.

Ish. HA.

But seriously, very amazing drawing. Not sure about the bull in the last panel, though. Any thoughts?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:24 AM on October 31, 2007

I liked how the sex turned really boring from the fall of the roman empire up until the reformation or so.
posted by uandt at 8:24 AM on October 31, 2007

Is that Giuliani in the last frame? 9/11

Joe Biden at last night's Democratic debate:

"And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any of the people here. Rudy Giuliani... I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else! There's nothing else! And I mean this sincerely. He's genuinely not qualified to be president." [video]

posted by ericb at 8:25 AM on October 31, 2007

Not sure about the bull in the last panel, though. Any thoughts?

Bull market -- NYSE.
posted by ericb at 8:27 AM on October 31, 2007

For something that's so sexual, there is a noticeable lack of homosexual activity. Just sayin'.

I think the homosexuals are the ones being murdered.
posted by Mr_Zero at 8:27 AM on October 31, 2007 [4 favorites]

The Wall Street Bull.
posted by ericb at 8:28 AM on October 31, 2007

So while the western world was warring and fucking, we can assume all the people in Africa, Asia, and the Americas were just chilling until their cameos in the 15th and 20th centuries.
posted by wilky at 8:31 AM on October 31, 2007 [8 favorites]

NSFW- "ish"???? I finally had to bail at the simultaneous bj-backdoor, but not before I had started asking myself, (a) "Where in heaven's name does this person work???", and (b) do you need a proofreader?
posted by Mike D at 8:34 AM on October 31, 2007

Yep, that's him, he did a bit in Endless Nights.
posted by schroedinger at 8:34 AM on October 31, 2007

The bull (before I noticed the horns I thought it was an oblique Princess Bride reference) looks to be vomiting up blood.

Perhaps a reference to the stock market?

Or is the fact that it's positioned in front of a character who bears a marked resemblance to Rudy G is meant to tie the two together? I tend to think he's full of bull myself...
posted by The Confessor at 8:38 AM on October 31, 2007

Oldie but goodie.
Milo Manara is an Italian comic book creator (writer and artist), best known for his erotic approach to the medium.

Manara's reputation for producing comics that revolve around elegant, beautiful women caught up in unlikely and fantastical erotic scenarios became solidified with work such as Il Gioco (1983, also known as Click or Le Déclic), about a device which renders women helplessly aroused.

Also: Milo Manara's website.
posted by bru at 8:46 AM on October 31, 2007

If it's supposed to be a parody of those reference chart timelines that hang on grade school walls all over the country, I think it has achieved wild success. And that is how I choose to interpret it. Plus it's better than anything I could draw.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:48 AM on October 31, 2007

The bull (before I noticed the horns I thought it was an oblique Princess Bride reference) looks to be vomiting up blood.


I thought this was a reference to mad cow disease.
posted by mayfly wake at 8:53 AM on October 31, 2007

Really missed a golden opportunity with that guillotine. Ahem.
posted by stinkycheese at 8:54 AM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite]

You people aren't familiar with Manara? Seriously? Butterscotch, Click, not ringing a bell?
And I doubt it's Guiliani, as Manara's Italian, and most people outside of the US don't know or care about ex-NYC mayors, regardless of how many smoking buildings or debris they were photographed in front of.
posted by signal at 9:09 AM on October 31, 2007

It's very Manara, yeah. Notice the lack of fat or ugly people. :)
posted by soundofsuburbia at 9:34 AM on October 31, 2007

Even his cave men are svelte, ligne claire motherfuckers! Damn that man! "Indian Summer" is pretty good, tho.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 9:36 AM on October 31, 2007

Oh, Manara. His Click is pretty good, but he gets trapped in the sort of softcore ghetto of too many "erotic" comix artists—he's better thought of a comic artist who includes sex, rather than an eroticist, but that's how his comics are sold.

He's an excellent draftsman though, and he's got an instantly recognizable style.
posted by klangklangston at 9:58 AM on October 31, 2007

That renaissance chick had a nice rack.
posted by wfc123 at 10:10 AM on October 31, 2007

wow, some of you didn't even get to the be-ruff-ed dp. (nsfw-ish).

Well, it's an interesting take, though it leaves an awful lot out.
posted by exlotuseater at 10:21 AM on October 31, 2007

So is this available in wallpaper border format?
posted by Mitheral at 11:40 AM on October 31, 2007

Well, that was a waste of almost getting fired.
posted by zebra3 at 12:29 PM on October 31, 2007

There's never been any gay sex in the entire history of humanity, according to this National Lampoon-esque art thing.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:25 PM on October 31, 2007

schroedinger - yeah, something about the faces (the eyes and lips, specifically) made me certain he was the guy who did the Desire story in Endless Nights. Good to see I can still recognize my comic book artists...
posted by ubersturm at 4:10 PM on October 31, 2007

Ethno— You missed Socrates fingering the kid.

(Oh, you meant consensual adult gay sex. Well, y'know, you're not Manara's target audience. Heteronormativism and all that.)
posted by klangklangston at 4:13 PM on October 31, 2007

Well, bestiality is probably underrepresented too, but one chooses one's battles.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:15 PM on October 31, 2007

The suit at the end (with the, uh, cough, wide stance) looked like Berlusconi to me.
posted by intermod at 9:36 PM on October 31, 2007

For those interested, the book these pages are from is called Bolero.

Is it just me or is there a scoop more hate than usual on mefi today?
posted by elphTeq at 12:40 AM on November 1, 2007