REVIEW: Borgias TPB

The Borgias are one of the most remarkable and legendary families in history, and their story normally hinges around; Pope Calixtus III, his nephew Pope Alexander IV, his son Cesare and daughter Lucrezia, mostly due to their family name being associated with greed, power, lust, and murder, ”” inspiring Machiavelli“s The Prince and Mario Puzo“s The Godfather.”“

Not that it should be any huge mystery, but right off the bat, you need to understand that Milo Manara is the artist for this book, so you know what you“re getting into here.Â I cannot stress that as a warning enough…Milo (Butterscotch) Manara is the artist in a book about the Borgias.

Actually this TPB is a graphic compendium of three books written byÂ Alejandro Jodorowsky;

I Borgia ”“ La conquista del papato: Borgia 1: Blood for the Pope (2004)
I Borgia vol.2 ”“ Il potere e l’incesto: Borgia 2: Power and Incest (2006)
I Borgia vol. 3, Borgia 3: Flames from Hell (2008)

Showtime reveled in the guilty pleasures of “The Borgias,”“ which took more than a few liberties with history, focusing more on the ethical dilemmas of the papacy, an used the sexually adventurous version as little more than a narrative device. So Milo Manara knows a little something about how sex and intrigue make history books come alive.

“The Borgias”“ will definitely spin the heads of historians for its transgressions, but the series lasted about 3 volumes and proved a hit with readers. Even before that volumes it was interesting that Showtime, commissioned a series based on the“The Borgias”“ as an epic depiction of sex, power, murder, incredible costumes, surprisingly good acting and more breasts and backsides than anyone could count. I mean seriously Showtime reveled in the guilty pleasures of “The Borgias,”“ which took more than a few liberties with history, focusing more on the ethical dilemmas of the papacy, and used the sexually adventurous version as little more than a narrative device. But none of that held a candle to Milo Manara’s depiction of the Borgias, who knows a little something about how sex and intrigue, and how to make history books come alive.

Though much of the sordid Borgia history was either written or concocted by their enemies, the onus is on the reader to do a little research on the Borgias history to know the real story among these real people, it“s easy to allow grumpy historians to ruin the mood by complaining about accuracy.Â We can only hope that Jodorowsky, and Manara have more collaborations in store for the future.

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(W) Alejandro Jodorowsky (A) Milo Manara
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics