I am a huge Sukia fan, and I have been ever since the first issue I read, where Sukia and Gary find themselves in Camelot. Recently I made a nice big order from a favourite ebay seller of mine, paperissima123, for several more issues chronicling the adventures of surely the oddest couple in comics.
I decided to scan some of the covers I liked most of all, since they are usually the most compelling reason to buy them. Even if they have little or nothing to do with what happens inside, a cover's role is really to entice a potential buyer into making a purchase. With the way fumetti were produced, I would imagine that it happened similarly to the Silver Age of comics, wherein a cover would be done separately from a comic's interior story and only tenuously related...or, sometimes, the cover was done first, then the story inside developed afterwards, attempting to tie them together.
I left the best for last, it's true. But I hope you'll accompany me on this journey through some of the best Sukia covers of the entire series.
SUKIA 95 - IL TESORO DEL FARAONE
The cover to this one features a really handsome Gary with really fantastic hair for being out in the desert, where there are winds and high heat to contend with. He looks especially fetching in his little adventurer's outfit, and the mummy pursuing him is just stunning. However, the mummy may actually just be motioning towards Gary like a Price is Right girl, to show off how fashionable he thinks our plucky sidekick is. Sukia, meanwhile, pops up and looks over her shoulder with some surprise. Is she nude? Who knows! This is one of those covers where clearly the artist had a complete, coherent idea and then seems to have belatedly thought 'well, this *is* called Sukia, so we'd better put her somewhere on the cover or people won't recognise it'.In my imagination, Sukia is sunbathing, clasping her bikini top to her chest as she looks over her shoulder. It at least explains her somewhat exasperated expression.
The story turned out to be more of a romance beyond time, rather than horror-action, but the scene on the cover did appear, though not as the cover depicted it. A perfectly fine story, even so.
SUKIA 97 - LA REGINA DEGLI AZTECHI
Queen of the Aztecs? That would be Gary. No, really. The story inside is rather wacky in parts, and it's not wholly fulfilling, especially since it's a story that took over two volumes to tell. It has its moments though, and it's an entertaining read.But the real star here is the cover: Gary and Sukia are both smokin' hot on it, which is always a plus! Gary's hair, as always, is perfect, his expression is attractive, and he shows off his hot bod. Sukia, meanwhile, has dramatic windswept locks and an expression that is pure sex. Though inexplicably clad in a bikini, she always seems to be wearing a bikini, lingerie, or nothing at all in most of her covers.
I like the fact that they're holding hands. There is really something special about the relationship between a gay guy and his hag, and that's captured really nicely most of the time in Sukia. They're not always nice, they're not always even nice to each other, but they're as close as two people can be without being actually sexually interested in each other. Honestly, nobody's nice all the time. Everyone has clashes, and nasty moments, everyone has weird turns, and on a more practical note, one person writing a comic with the deadlines fumetti could have, for ten years, cannot always produce gold. I still like Sukia and Gary's relationship. I think it's fantastic.
SUKIA 98 - PUPAZZI DI NEVE MOLTO MASCHI
This cover is a delight to me. What's more, it's actually pretty subtle. The first time I saw it, I didn't notice...but then I noticed, and that made it all the more hilarious. I'll give you a hint: they're probably not looking where it might seem, at first.Once again, Gary and Sukia are holding hands, though their reactions are hilarious, given what kind of people they are. Is it eagerness that they are both conveying? It's certainly not horror! Their skiing outfits are adorable too. Gary's purple is stylish, Sukia's red is so very appropriate for her, sexy and eyecatching.
Quite a corncob pipe there.
The story inside is actually a good one, with Sukia avenging Gary, who was injured by a particularly wicked little Machiavellian. Not to worry about Gary, though; he stayed around the pool, which was packed with hot gay guys and featured party tricks such as sticking a finger up one's own hindquarters, which Sukia reacted to with amusement.
SUKIA 109 - LA SIRENA
The story was odd, but the cover really does a great job of reflecting the relationship between Sukia and Gary. I know, there I go again, but it gives me no end of delight to see a guy-hag relationship done well. Sukia is overjoyed with her new mermaid lower half, and Gary's looking back at her with a 'Oh Sukia, you silly thing' expression on his face. 'Oh well,' Gary's thinking, 'if it makes you happy, then go for it girlfriend.'SUKIA 88 - IL VIRUS DELLA FROCIAGGINE
Sukia looks fierce. Gary's nonchalance and cute little curve of his hip both delight me, as does his casual smoking, like a femme fatale from classic Hollywood or something. The studs peppering the landscape aren't unwelcome either! This cover really makes me chuckle, it's just so ebullient and playful.The story inside is strange and dwells on tertiary characters too much. It revolves around a man who has invented a kind of bacterial entity to basically make people into really camp homosexuals. There is a great part of the story, though, where Sukia and Gary go out to see some shows in the gay part of town. I just love that stuff. It's little, and slight, but it really develops them as characters I can enjoy.
SUKIA 81 - L'UCCELLO A TRANSISTOR
The story is continued from a previous book, in which a star named Peter O'Coole made his appearance. Well, it turns out he's a robot! Gary discovers this when having sex with him, where he accidentally breaks off Peter's...peter. The rest is a combination between tragedy (Peter self-destructs eventually) and comedy (Gary still has the penis!) but it's a pretty interesting tale.The cover is a mixture of hilarious, sexy, and fun, with Gary and Sukia's familiarity and closeness conveyed by the situation. Sukia's lingerie is unbelievably hot...as far as I'm concerned, stockings with suspenders are the height of sexy elegance.
Also, it's pretty fabulous to have a dildo with wings on the base. I mean...it's already pretty elegant, pretty fancy to have one like it is otherwise. But the wings really elevate it to a higher echelon.
SUKIA 108 - IL CENTRATTACCO
As usual, Sukia is almost naked and her clothes are falling off even then. And as usual, she has really nice underclothes. I can only imagine that the purple garment is Gary's jacket, because he seems to be suited to purple, but one never knows. It could be Sukia's blouse, but since she seems perpetually content at running around in her lingerie on every cover, I tend to be of the opinion that she probably just left the house in a bra and panties. The two look so perfectly playful here, it brings a smile to my face. As the hot footballers undress in their locker room, Sukia and Gary watch with giddy relish.The story inside is screamingly funny, with Gary trying to get a job as a janitor so that he can watch the athletes in the nude. When one proves unreceptive to his advances, he and Sukia manage to put hands on a powerful aphrodisiac. After Gary spikes the champagne, the match that follows is, for lack of better word...a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
This story made me laugh more than any Sukia story so far. It was great!
SUKIA 52 - L'ALIENO
The story inside is kind of pedestrian, especially for Sukia. However, this is my favourite Sukia cover of all time.Sukia screams, fangs bared, as a horrifying monstrosity from beyond space threatens her with its many protruberances. The Earth becomes smaller and smaller through the window. And Gary looks on with an expression of mild concern that says nothing so much as 'Oh my'.
I really can't express enough how I laughed when I saw this cover for the first time. I had to have it. I'm delighted that my copy actually came sealed in an original bag so that I could capture this stunning cover. It is, bar none, the most amusing cover of Sukia that I have ever seen.
It embodies everything about Sukia that I love so much: the tongue-in-cheek quality, Sukia and Gary being naked as often as possible, outrageous antagonists, and utterly mad situations.
I hope you've enjoyed this little trip as much as I have.
And so, as we part ways, I leave you with one of the most amusing panels from Sukia's adventures. Yes, that's right: when Sukia attends a dinner party, the social games include...a sack race.
A vampiress in a sack race.
I can only assume that Gary refused to participate because he originally misunderstood that the race would be 'in the sack' and was elsewhere at the time.
Meanwhile, Sukia has lost her freaking mind.
I love it.
