Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘A Man’s Skin’ is a fast-paced gender-bender graphic novel that could’ve been so much more, but is surprisingly not as wild or experimental as some readers might expect it to be. But okay…
Set somewhere in Renaissance Italy, ‘A Man’s Skin‘ by Hubert is a graphic novel that follows Bianca, a young lady from a wealthy family, betrothed to Giovanni, a merchant only a few years older than her. While everyone thinks Bianca is lucky to be engaged to a handsome young man, she is unhappy about not knowing anything about him. Through incredible luck, Bianca learns from her godmother that the women in her family have been passing down “a man’s skin” from one generation to another, a magical costume allowing the wearer to look and perform authentically like a man. Known as Lorenzo, Bianca is thrilled to wear the skin, as it enables her to befriend Giovanni and finally get to know him. However, wearing a man’s skin throws Bianca deep into the vulgar, sexual world of men, where she eventually becomes friends with Giovanni but learns he prefers men over women.
The illustrations in A Man’s Skin by Zanzim are colorful, cartoonish, and deceptively simple, lending a playful tone to an already fantastical tale of a woman transforming into a man. Bianca’s transformation into Lorenzo goes far beyond mere Renaissance cross-dressing, it’s a magical metamorphosis that allows her to fully embody a man, convincingly enough to deceive Giovanni completely, even in bed. Naturally, this leads to Bianca feeling confused, hurt, angry, and emotionally shattered; after all, she manages to win over her future husband, but only as a man. And once they marry, her problems are far from over.
Hubert comically contrasts Bianca’s double life with the religious fanaticism of her brother Angelo, a Christian priest who constantly preaches about sin and aggressively campaigns against premarital sex, extramarital affairs, and sodomy. There are strong clashes throughout the novel between the puritanical churchgoers and the more liberal French bourgeoisie. Although Angelo harbors a strong hatred for women, is completely misogynistic, and as hinted by Bianca herself, he is probably in the closet himself.
While becoming Lorenzo allows Bianca to experience the freedoms of being a man in a patriarchal, she surprisingly limits herself to exploring the city only in Giovanni’s company. She does, of course, indulge in a few wild escapades, like posing naked (as Lorenzo, which to her feels like a costume) for a renaissance painter, or causing mischief among religious fanatics, but her world largely revolves around Giovanni. First, she tries to befriend him; then she falls in love with him while wearing a man’s skin; and eventually, she marries him as herself, doing her best to make the marriage work. As Lorenzo, Bianca is able to see first-hand the double-standards of society against women, so ironically, becoming a man helps her become a feminist. In the end, she does find her footing, running her household by her rules, but her journey there could’ve been far more exciting.
Overall, “A Man’s Skin” is an entertaining journey through a fictionalized France, one teetering at the edge of moral conservatism and sensual liberation, where tradition and desire wrestle on most pages.
Rating: 4 on 5.
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