There are moments in history which are familiar to us all, thanks to history textbooks. Then, there are moments, often more dramatic and intriguing, which get obscured by the sands of time until a writer desperate for inspiration comes along. It's a fairly common occurrence across various media and the graphic novel is no exception to it, be it Frank Miller's 300 or Warren Ellis' Crecy or Alexandro Jodorowsky's Borgia.

Alexandro Jodorowsky, director of such skullfucking classics as 'Holy Mountain', 'El Topo' and 'Santa Sangre' has ventured into graphic novel territory with 'Borgia' and sure enough, the skullfuckery follows, albeit much more toned down compared to his film-work. Another aspect that is signature Jodorowsky are his strange peripheral characters - this is evident even in 'Borgia'.

Milo Manara, best known for his erotic comic series 'Click' has rendered 'Borgia' in a 6-panel format in his trademark water-colour finish artwork. Also, pay special attention to the term, "erotic", a term not to be loosely pandered around when talking about "History's first recorded Criminal Family", the Predecessors of the Mafia - the Borgia Family.

In the first book, "Blood for the Pope", we see the first of the Borgias, Pope Calixtus III failing at his attempts at immortality and dubious transition of his nephew, Rodrigo Borgia, a cardinal of Spanish origins to Pope Alexander VI, known as the most notorious pope in all of history. He was the patriarch to a legacy teeming with adultery, incest and murder fuelled particularly by his two children, Cesare and Lucrezia, the beginnings of which we see in the second book, "The Power and the Incest".

While Borgia is definitely an intriguing read, one cannot help but feel that this doesn't add much to an already fascinating basic story of heavy drama and political intrigue. However, it does play off a lovely balance between the erotic and the political. It also displays a high degree of historical accuracy without either overplaying or underplaying the audience's knowledge of the Rennaissance period.

Borgia is work in progress consisting (reportedly) of 4 books and the third volume "Burnt at the Stake" will be featured in the July 2009 issue of Heavy Metal. If the first two issues are anything to go by, then, the release of "Burnt at the Stake" should be an event to look forward to in the comics calendar for 2009.