Zerocalcare gives us his “Two Cents” on life The third Netflix series by the Italian comic artist is arriving soon

How much is this? Peanuts, just two cents. An expression that has become part of everyday language, often used to describe what’s left in one’s pockets, sometimes in the Anglo-Saxon sense of “my 2 cents” when offering an opinion on a fact or topic. Zerocalcare has been giving his 2 cents on Netflix for five years now through his animated series, though he had started much earlier through his work as a comic artist. Whether it was with Tear Along the Dotted Line in 2021 or This World Can’t Tear Me Down in 2023, the Netflix shows have revealed an increasingly visceral and profound side of the creator, one he draws upon when editing his stories, whether they are meant for the printed page or for drawings brought to life through animation.

Life in "Two Cents"

With every work by Zerocalcare, there is the feeling of getting to know him a little more, of uncovering another fragment of who he is each time. It almost feels like growing close to a man who, as his Armadillo-conscience often points out, is trapped inside a tower of solitude, yet who has found through storytelling and images a way to communicate and reveal himself.

By the time we reach his third collaboration with the platform, the feeling is that of reuniting with a friend whose personality, habits, and humor we already know well, ready to ask ourselves what he will want us to learn about life this time. Because even though we are sure he would think he is nobody to teach us how to live in the world (he would probably say he still hasn’t figured it out himself), through his works Michele Rech has revealed something about himself and the world around him, which, especially with Two Cents, often represents the precarious condition of a generation that has had its seatbelts removed and has been asked to crash headfirst into existence.

The series, like the previous ones but even more so, focuses on the Millennial generation, which has been asked to do everything (study, earn a degree, complete internships, apply for mortgages, settle for less) without ever receiving the promises made to them in return (a stable job, a home of their own, financial security that contributes, at least in part, to mental stability). It expands even further than the previous two titles, weaving a little bit of everything into the narrative: there is not just one storyline to follow, but many different threads that Two Cents brings into play.

There is the debt an old friend must repay, the toxicity of relationships, the acceptance of a changing life with the introduction of responsibilities and children. A vast pool in which the protagonist Zero must try to stay afloat, while with his usual storytelling style he makes us laugh and then sends us spiraling into the abyss a second later; never wanting to burden the viewer with his anxieties, but hoping that, if those same worries weigh on the soul of whoever is watching, perhaps the load can at least be shared.

A story about humanity

The result is a series that remains consistent with the previous ones, neither less hopeful nor less disillusioned. Zerocalcare draws from reality to create works that always retain a certain authenticity, taking inspiration from his own experiences and those of the people around him, only to later reshape them into fiction. The Almodóvar of comics, judging by the Spanish master’s latest film Amarga Navidad, internationally titled Autofiction.

A practice the comic artist uses in a way that ends up feeling more real than reality itself, creating a bridge where his pen, animation, and connection with the audience all converge. An audience that continues to welcome and love him, as demonstrated by the event organized by Netflix for the launch of the show, with the entire Circus Maximus in the heart of Rome transformed to present the first three episodes. An estimated crowd between ten and fifteen thousand people, all blades of grass forming one great field: the human one that Zerocalcare continues to live and tell stories about, and whose thoughts we are once again ready to hear through his Two Cents.