The man in black is running down stairs into a torture chamber run by the inquisition. In Venice. During the day.

The big problems with this are as follows:

1. Venice doesn’t have basements. All of the buildings are built directly above water level.

2. Torture in Venice was outlawed except during the period between midnight and 4am. This is clearly not that time.

3. The torture chamber in the Doge’s Palace (the only place in Venice where torture was allowed) was at the top of the building, directly under the roof, not downstairs.

4. The church/inquisition was not empowered to torture people in Venice. The state took care of heretics as well as civil criminals.

Except for those minor nitpicks (yes, I took the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge’s Palace, thank you), this is a great little story with a nice little moral about censorship.

(Heavy Metal issue #116, Summer 1988 – Page 43 Your Death is My Life by Manara)