Paolo SERPIERI

Style and content

The Morbus Gravis series is noteworthy for featuring explicit content in terms of both graphic violence and sex. Volume 3, Creatura, in fact, features near-totally explicit sexual penetration, and the three subsequent books feature totally uncensored penetration. The Heavy Metal reprints differ from the stand-alones by having censored **** portions via oversize speech/thought balloons. In vol. 5, Mandragora, several pages were simply excised. The series returned to a non-explicit depiction of penetration in such scenes with vol. 7, The Forgotten Planet.
Character

In most cases, Druuna's role is that of a willing sexual object, submitting to sexual advances of all kinds with little or no complaint, other than the occasional sad pout, though she has been raped on more than one occasion in the series. Serpieri claims that the character's approach to sexual pleasures is a challenge to Judeo-Christian mores on sexuality.[5]

In the album Druuna X, Serpieri asserts that he styled Druuna as influenced by Valérie Kaprisky's appearance in the film La Femme publique but because he had drawn so many Western comics in those days, in the first few pages of Morbus Gravis Druuna was portrayed with Native American facial features before reaching her current look.[5]

1980's Brazilian playmate "Ana Lima" is considered by many to have the most “real life” uncanny resemblance to the Druuna character.[6] Disputably however, others have also been named as having a strong physical resemblance to Druuna, including Valeria Marini and even Sofía Vergara amongst many others.[7]