With Italy being one of the countries hit hardest by the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, comic book writer/artist Milo Manara has crafted new illustrations paying homage to the real-life heroes that have kept his home nation going amid the crisis.
The headliner of this series of drawings is one collection in particular that has been fashioned into an animation, depicting a physician seemingly overwhelmed by all going on in Italy -- and the whole world -- but, nevertheless, answers the call of duty, puts on her mask and ventures forth to face the virus. "'Courage,'" Manara caption the post on Instagram (translated from Italian). "Thanks to all the staff of all the hospitals in Italy and the world who are struggling on the front lines."
Manara's other illustrations honor women in various other professions Italians have come to rely on amid the pandemic, such as truck drivers, paramedics, sanitation personnel and members of the Carabinieri. In the captions of those posts (also translated from Italian), Marana continues to thank "those who work putting themselves in danger for our safety," saying "they are not invisible, but they risk a lot to save us."
Manara is primarily known for his work in Italian erotic comics, which dates back to the early 1970s. He gained more mainstream exposure in the '80s when his and Silverio Pisu's comic Lo scimmiotto (The Ape, in English) was serialized within the pages of Heavy Metal magazine. Manara went on to collaborate with the likes of Neil Gaiman on DC Comics' The Sandman: Endless Nights and Chris Claremont on Marvel Comics' X-Men: Ragazze in fuga, published in English as X-Women.