#zc

EEK!!!!!!!! HOLA RENÉ ok im doing it in english in case anyone else is curious.

the works of zerocalcare dont have some sort of plot and are very much independent stories. all his works are autobiographical to varying degrees and other characters are based on multitudes of people he's met throughout his life and with real experiences tied together to form a good narrative. this means there is no Correct order to follow but i'll elaborate based on my system since ive read and watched everything hes made.

zero's first actual book was the prophecy of the armadillo and he's improved a lot since then. nonetheless its VERY good and its the shortest one hes written so as an introductory story id confidently point you towards that if youre planning on reading more books by him

with that said, by far the BEST zerocalcare book and the one which you can read most easily without knowing anything about him (and which id recommend for someone who only wants to read one book) is definitely skeletons. it's more of a thriller. as a fun fact a solid part of the third act didn't actually happen but instead was written to give it the best closure and its Very Good. cw for some eye trauma. everyone Please read it

after the first two books i mentioned above, my system goes: forget my name (more of a drama; VERY good but works best if you already know him), macerie prime + its sequel (a long work but it poses a lot of interesting questions and expands on a lot of characters), and FINALLY: it's there for me when you die. (the newest book. maybe his magnum opus by definition. you need to have read some things and watched tear along the dotted line)

other books that are less relevant maybe and you could read whenever, if at all: tentacles at my throat (pretty silly. mostly fictional. aged a little badly. it's fun though), all quiet on rebibbia's front (a book written throughout the early 2020s that’s much more real life based bc its just about zero's experience making his first show and world issues over those years. nice but different from his other novels) and his actual most famous book, kobane calling (zero has done a lot of journalistic comics and this is the biggest work of them. retelling his volunteer work with the rovaja calling organization to report on the kurdish resistance and the situation in syria)

on the shows, the best one is tear along the dotted line and its his most internationally well-known work. it was my first experience with his work so i recommend it wholeheartedly, but for an introductory experience it's a bit hard to get through at first. it's very short though and the payoff is insanely insanely good so i definitely consider it something you should get to. i'd watch it after having read a book or two:)