Sergio Toppi: Blues

Sergio Toppi is an Italian illustrator known mostly for his beautifully created comics. While he sometimes works in color (such as in La Légende de Potosi), what personally draws me to Toppi is his exceptional pen and ink work, and Blues is a perfect comic to highlight that. Blues is actually a collection of two stories written nearly two decades apart. The first in the book is titled "The Heir" and was written in 2007. The second is title "Blues" and was written in 1990. Both stories are iconic Toppi, dark, exquisite pen control, patterns and textures galore, and really clever panel layouts.

What's interesting is the difference in the amount of control between the two stories. While Toppi is considered a loose hand, "Blues" shows a more rigorous dedication to details, pattern, and proportion. "The Heir", meanwhile, shows a freer gesture; less commitment to exact proportions and more to exaggerated meaningful proportions. On some pages, you can tell that Toppi has not even erased some of the pencil marks, which creates a great sketch-y gritty quality. 

The Heir

Blues

I really love the way Toppi treated the eyes of this particular character.

Pros: This is a well bound, sturdy book with lovely print quality. Sergio Toppi is a masterful artist, and is certainly worth adding to any collection. This is also a prime example of his color work. It is a quick read with a lot to enjoy and learn from!

Cons: It's currently only available in french, so you may need a translator. On the other hand, it is still perfectly enjoyable without being able to read it. What makes Toppi more incredible is how legible the comic is even without the text.

How to Buy: This book is readily available... in the UK. To get this book will require importing it through a site like Amazon UK, or finding it through another party like Stuart Ng

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Sergio Toppi: La Légende de Potosi

Sergio Toppi is an Italian illustrator known mostly for his beautifully created comics. While most of his comic work is strictly pen and ink (as is seen in the other comic Blues), La Légende de Potosi exhibits some exemplary watercolor on top. Written in french for Mosquito Publishing, the 50 page one-shot comic is a wonderful example of Toppi's work. He can be easily recognized for his methodical silhouettes, loose patterned interiors, seamless character/background integration, and clever, conscientious page layout.  

This is one of my favorite pages. The high contrast, and the conflicting imagery of climbing a mountain while descending in the panels. From being allowed the whole page to rome, to being confined more and more tightly in a tiny frame surrounded by darkness. This creates a powerful feeling of doom and foreshadowing. 

The contrasting pages of red and green, interior and exterior, help differentiate the scenes. 

Sorry for the blurry resolution, but I love the texture of the root on the image to the right.

This guy is my favorite character of the comic. I am particularly fond of how the sleeves are articulated in large loose strokes that accentuate the fullness of the garb. Also, this is a great image to examine Toppi's control of contrast, loose versus tight. Despite the number of lines placed in the face, we are given space to recognize the face in the nose, lips, and eyes. How tightly controlled the face is, to how loose and bold the clothes are. 

Pros: This is a well bound, sturdy book with lovely print quality. Sergio Toppi is a masterful artist, and is certainly worth adding to any collection. This is also a prime example of his color work. It is a quick read with a lot to enjoy and learn from!

Cons: It's currently only available in french, so you may need a translator. On the other hand, it is still perfectly enjoyable without being able to read it. What makes Toppi more incredible is how legible the comic is even without the text.

How to Buy: This book is readily available... in the UK. To get this book will require importing it through a site like Amazon UK, or finding it through another party like Stuart Ng

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Moebius: 40 Days in the Desert B

Moebius' 40 Days in the Desert is glorious book of art that showcases exactly what Moebius does best: Create absolutely stunning line work and write a story that leaves us wondering what's going on, but not caring either way. 40 Days in the Desert is a a set of 70 images that are loosely tied together by a repeating character (or at least, what appears to be the same character) and a setting that is sometimes resembles a desert. Absent of text, the images are purely up to your own interpretation, but the beautiful work speaks all for itself. 

Pros: It's Moebius, that's all that need be said

Cons: It's paperback, so it's delicate

How To Buy: Out of Print in America, it can be imported for exorbitant fees or bought from Stuart Ng

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