www.twoitalianguys.com
www.mangiaindustry.com
$13.95, 46 page hardcover

Two Italian Guys is a handsome looking book that is clearly a labor of love for one creator. It contains various stories, featuring an eclectic cast of nearly interesting guys. There’s the Contino Brothers and their brushes with organized crime, Lou Peppino – the chef with talking vegetables, and Joey Pazzo, whose name says it all, he’s full of crazy quirks that fuel his personality, like his odd preoccupation with whether ketchup comes in glass or plastic. The cardinal sin that Two Italian Guys makes isn’t the meandering plot lines or overused stereotypes about the mob, food culture, of attitudes toward women and different ethnic groups. Hey, I’m a proud Italian-American and I’m immune to the point that I enjoy gross stereotypes about being or knowing a “wiseguy,” and jabs at Asians, Slovaks, or Indians (dots, not feathers). No, the cardinal sin in Two Italian Guys isn’t that Yura includes these elements, it’s that they’re just not that funny. The humor didn’t work for me, your mileage may vary. There’s clearly a lot of effort being expended, but I found few results in the laugh department. For example, Yura painstakingly renders a full page “golden ticket” in the style of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, and adapts it to suit his Italian-American trappings, but then it just lays on the page unable to illicit more than a blank stare. I appreciate Yura’s energetic self-taught style and the inclusion of real landmarks, but for me the best parts were the recipes for pesto, linguine and clams, and the fascination with really good Genoa salami. Grade B-.