Dylan Dog 411: The Third Day, the review

The Sun always comes to illuminate a night that has lasted too long, which has turned out to be hard and full of nightmares. Thus the nightmares melt like snow in the sun and end as was inevitable also for this new trilogy of darkness by Dylan Dog, which for three months has accompanied us by reporting in the pages of our favorite monthly the nemesis of Mana Cerace created by Claudio Chiaverotti.

In fact, The Third Day closes this mini-cycle of adventures of the tenant of Craven Road, with a London in the grip of the murderous fury of Mana Cerace and her ancient love Kimberly Adams, close to him for the last tragic hug: Love and Death will be the true adversaries of the Dark. Will we be able to see the light?

Dylan Dog, the Third day

As we could see in the first issue of the Back to the Dark trilogy and in the second part The Eternal Night, the origins of Mana Cerace have been rewritten. We have known his adolescence, Kimberly's unrequited love, his already deviant and frightening personality and the encounter with the evil spirit of his father in prison, which offers him the legacy and immortality of the dark: to become Mana Cerace.



In this genesis written by Chiaverotti, we are told in some cartoons that Mana Cerace is defeated by Dylan when he is still a Scotland Yard police officer, but this new historical path does not want to completely deny the past of the old stories with the monster of the dark as the protagonist. The link with the past remains with the sharing of its victims, who also appeared in Dylan's historical books. Yet, for the entire duration of the three books, the need is felt to want to tell something new, to show Crane's monstrosity in a different light.

And this desire is realized precisely with the Third Day, the last act of this trilogy.



Read also: Dylan Dog 409, Back to the dark, the review

Previous issues have introduced Badland as a client, which as presented to us was easy enough to understand his role in the story. On the other hand, the true role of John Ghost in this new universe remains shrouded in mystery: in this saga surprisingly he takes the place of the deceased Lord Wells, helping the investigator of the nightmare, but it is not possible to understand when the two met, much less the end of the billionaire. However, the relationship between the two cannot be defined entirely friendly and remains quite edgy.

The story has a great rhythm, alternating tight scenes with splatter ones: the intention is to tell a story to traits almost pulp, old-fashioned, as if to want to pack a classic horror film without pretensions, where even the monster at the end cries and the edifying ending proves it. What is being staged, therefore, is a new version of Mana Cerace, who not only stops killing for the sheer sake of it, but is looking for redemption and that love that he never had.

Moving on to Dylan, our investigator, improvises and brings up that fifth and a half sense which, already in some books, seems to be proposed as a sort of telepathy joined to the old universe concluded with the number 400. Sensazioni, déjà vu of a past life ... in all probability it is a new recurring element of this new canon.

Mana Cerace gives birth

This cycle dedicated to Mana Cerace offers a complete picture of the character, highlighting a much more complex profile than it was shown in the past. The difficulty of this trilogy lies precisely in explaining all the traits of the monster of the dark, while continuing with a classic and unpretentious narrative. Quite an arduous undertaking.

We really enjoyed the apocalyptic atmosphere of a London dominated by darkness (it's amazing how a city shrouded in darkness or without electricity can change; here too there is a good contamination of the catastrophic films ed). Mana Cerace and her Kimberly become the undisputed protagonists, while all the secondary characters are very little detailed despite the three books available: the roles of Ghost and Dr. Hicks are clear, but perhaps they deserved more space. Will we see them again?

Read also: Dylan Dog 410: The eternal night, review

The monster in the end loses against everyone: with Dylan he can't get his revenge, love for him is denied by the very death of the woman he has always loved, his great love ever, and it becomes clear that forces such as love and death are far more powerful than Philip Crane's hatred and darkness.



The tables are once again designed by Piero Dall'Agnol - historic draftsman of the Il Buio register where Mana Cerace makes his first appearance - together with Francesco Cattani, yet once again there is a strong heterogeneity of drawings, some completely absent or blackened scenarios that could make it better (yes, even if the dark is the master), while in some scenes Mana Cerace is reproduced in a too minimal or hasty way. The cover made by Gigi Cavenago, gives us the best duel ever between Dylan and Mana Cerace.

If you are looking for an old-fashioned Dylan Dog, without many surprises even with that pinch of evolution that distinguishes the new canon , Chiaverotti will not disappoint you even this time. We join the council of the curator Roberto Recchioni, for a reading accompanied by listening to Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden published in 1992.

Dear returning and loyal ones from the Craven Road area,

Monday 7 December at 21:00 on sportsgaming.win Italia's Twitch channel of Pop Culture, we will talk about Dylan Dog, of the Mana Cerace trilogy that has just ended, but there will be many other things that have to do with the nightmare world!

https://www.twitch.tv/culturapopita

Don't miss it!

The third volume of Tiziano Sclavi's Tales of Tomorrow has arrived, available on Amazon