Oh boy. This episode of the story started out uncomfortable and went downhill from there. The main female character is forced to look slutty for a part she doesn’t want, forced to strip naked for an abusive man with a riding crop and, when she escapes, she is naked and has to look for her clothes.

Which brings us to this point. Two or three men find her naked next to a cafe and start to harass her. Next thing she knows, she’s surrounded by lustful men who aren’t shy about attacking her. The middle tier on this page is actually very difficult to read.

I want to say that Manara has really captured the regrettable male impulse (especially in mob format), but that’s undermined by the fact that her only survival strategy is to play along and act like none of this bothers her in the slightest.

Serious cringefest. 

(Heavy Metal issue #94, January 1985 – Page 31 An Author in Search of Six Characters by Manara)