Sharaz-de: Tales from the Arabian Nights Hardcover – January 1, 2013

The media could not be loaded.  This is a large-format coated paper print. The black is very black. Mr. Toppi's pen and line drawing style is very delicate. The square-cornered book looks more atmospheric, and the cover illustration is particularly mysterious! In order to study and commemorate the master, I have collected 2 copies. This time I found an old version that was sold, and I bought it immediately. Master classics are recommended!

At Emerald City Comic Con 2015 one of the artists I showed my portfolio to suggested I check out the Italian artist Sergio Toppi, saying "I think he's doing what you're trying to do here". I browsed through this book at the BOOM! studios convention booth and was impressed by how keenly the artist was able to pick up on my artistic sensibilities. Toppi's work is incredible blend of detailed line art and abstract forms - reminiscent of two of my favorite artists, Gustav Klimt and Gustave Dore. 2 of the 12 fables are in full watercolor, the rest are black and white. Each page looks like it should be a poster print. The drawback to this is that, at least in this collection, the storytelling is sacrificed for the sake of the image. Without the text and dialogue, one wouldn't be able to follow the story, which is a big problem in the world of comics/graphic novels. Thankfully, Archaia has printed this and another book  The Collector  in English, hopefully with more to follow.As for the story itself, it is essential a sample of tales taken from the  The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 (Penguin Classics) , which I haven't read yet. It's the same source as the popular story of Aladdin and while that story doesn't appear in this book, there are a fair number of malevolent djinni's that make appearances. These are basically similar to Grimm's Fairy Tales, made more exotic to most Western readers by their setting. This isn't a book to give kids who loved the Avengers films, but rather something for more mature readers who love strange literature that isn't plot or character driven. Probably the most similar thing I know of in "mainstream" comics is what Mike Mignola is currently doing with  Hellboy in Hell Volume 1: The Descent .

I never knew about Toppi until he passed away last year and an artist that I know mentioned it. As soon as I saw some of his work by doing a Google search I had to add whatever I could to my collection. I'm not a big fan of purchasing stuff in a foreign language because I like to read as much as I like to look. And in the case of Toppi, you don't get much story without the text due to the graphically stylized nature of his work. Luckily there were two tomes being published in English and were available for preorder at great prices so I went ahead and did so. I finally received this, the first one, the day after christmas and was ecstatic. It's everything I had hoped it would be. A nice hardcover binding with a matte finish and thick pages with just the right gloss to really make the artwork pop, at a great price with beautiful artwork and engaging stories. I'm a big fan of black and white comics when they are as engaging to look at as this, but was glad there were some color sections to show off Toppi's amazing watercolor work. The stories themselves and they way they are told are very European or Heavy Metal comics style, which is a good thing in my mind, but if you don't like that, buy just for the artwork and you may find you do. Archaia did a great job with this and I'm really excited to get the other book I ordered. I hope they end up doing more translations of Toppi's work to publish in English speaking countries as I know I will be right there ordering every one.

Reading Toppi is a trip. I would say that if you're already in love with his artwork, then you'll want this book. If you've seen a little and are intrigued then you'll be doing yourself a real treat in getting this. The line work, use of negative space, abstractions, composition, it's some of the most enjoyable you'll find anywhere. Most of the work is black and white, and very energetic. There are color pages, and they're gorgeous, yet less iconic than his pen work.The storytelling isn't the strongest, but it supports the images, and it isn't super heroes in tights... not that there is ANYTHING wrong with that. I love the genre. What I mean by the comparison is that what the stories really have going for them is that they are not the same old thing.I would recommend 100% for anyone interested in Sergio Toppi, fans of pen and ink illustrations, less mainstream comics, art students or enthusiasts, or anyone who just wants a cool book to look through or have out on the coffee table.

It's not by chance that Walter Simonson himself writes the foreword on this book. And you can go and ask Bill Sienkiewicz.Italian artist Sergio Toppi had a singular, unique voice. His sense for layout has been "invoked" by many, but never imitated.And now, thanks to Archaia, american readers will be able to know and enjoy it. Do yourself a favor and get this book, but do yourself a double favor and get it somewhere else if you want it in good condition. I tried three times and Amazon's terrible packaging service managed to ruin it all three.Amazon's answer to this too frequent problem? Putting the book under review, as if there were something wrong with their stock, when what they should be "reviewing" is their unprofessional and highly inefficient packaging department.

Amazing artwork, a lot of intense, complex inking with renderings of non-European peoples with tons of mystery/atmosphere/dramatic use of negative space. It's Arabian nights, so it's a series of standalone short stories, many of them acting as short morality plays, telling of the consequences when you stray from doing good. They're thought-provoking, and while not many of them were happy stories, they were more contemplative than downers. I liked to read one story before bedtime.

An amazing find - Toppi deserves to be much more widely known within the comics world. Apparently, he's been an important influence on big names such as Walt Simonson, Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean, and one can see why. The artwork is luscious, predominantly free-flowing full-page layouts with relatively little panel structure, and his mastery of the flow of storytelling in the comics form is effortlessly great. The draughtsmanship is top-notch, and he uses negative space superbly, combining solid blacks and whites with passages of fluid detail. (A couple of stories are in colour -for my money, the b&w ones work better, and thankfully they're the majority here.)In most of the stories, there's a temptation to linger over the amazing artwork, and the storytelling is solid and well-crafted. One story stood out for me above the others, in which he suddenly seems to shift a gear in his choice of techniques, following an entirely "silent" opening page with several that make some dramatic contrasts between the words and pictures, illustrating the main character's decline from riches to bankruptcy in a highly symbolic way, and subsequently playing with the scale of different characters when they interact with one another. Utterly masterful (and, as this chapter occurred halfway through the book, slightly disappointing that he didn't repeat the experiments further on).The stories themselves are a representative selection from the source material, ranging from cryptic to savage. He doesn't overdo or sensationalise the sex and violence in these stories, but the book is definitely not suitable for children, more because of the bleak and unforgiving tone of its tales than excessive graphic content.

Masterful style and intelligent use of graphic storytelling conventions.

A wonderful book from one of the greatest artists! Very good quality and fair price for a book this size and full of amazing art. The delivery was fast and smooth too.

Sergio Toppi is a great artist and storyteller with a distinctive style. This is his best work. And this is a great edition of his magnum opus.

Astonishingly beautiful. Excellent condition.