Here we are at a new chapter of the Nightmare investigator: Dylan Dog and “Anatomy of the Soul”, screenplay by Alessandro Russo and drawings by Sergio Gerasi.
A work that has a noir-style thriller feel to end with hints at the “World of Replicants”. A linear story that creates, page after page, that sense of suspense that leads the reader to wonder who the serial killer is and what the motivation is for these murders which at first sight have no common motivation but above all none of them are reported. . All this plot moves as a background to the investigation of Dylan Dog, who receives a visit from the young Lila, who says that her friend and colleague Carol, disappeared for a certain period and did not answer her calls, when she reappeared it seemed another person, before she was a smiling woman who had a good word for everyone, now she comes across as cold, detached….
Reading the Bonellian protagonist always creates that feeling of déjà vu, of stories already seen or read perhaps in other fields but which in any case do not bring anything original. Another element that could also be the character’s trademark, but which was literally boring, is the concept that all the clients end up in bed with him. If this is an expedient to fill a few more pages, I assure the Director of the newspaper that I will continue reading it even if he does not always include these scenes, sometimes placed without a logical sense, other times creating embarrassment and slowing down the plot.
In “Anatomy of the Soul”, it must be admitted that the narrative path was not banal, well thought out, the only weak point and that it was understood halfway through the comic who the murderer was but credit to the screenwriter, the twist but it arrived at the end.
Among various defects and flaws, I consider this issue one of the best I have read, even if I find Dylan Dog always on the margins of the story, it is not he who leads the events that revolve around it but it is the opposite, he too often passively suffers what happens . The demonstration is the final, it solves the case but in reality it is always defeated, something above the parties always manages to prevail. I would like to see him sometimes with the charisma and power of Charles Bronson’s “Night Assassin” but instead….