Chimera #1
By Lorenzo Mattotti
32 pages Black and White, 2-color cover,
8 1/2” x 11", with jacket
$7.95

Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti's lush Chimera begins with lovely thin brushstrokes and sparse compositions of innocent children watching the sky. The creatures they envision in the clouds take over the narrative (stealing it actually), and as night spreads out over the landscape the ink strokes grow dense and sometimes impenetrable. The Chimera here seems to be the hybrid creatures of imagination and nature. A simple concept perhaps - but Mattotti's gorgeous brushwork imbues the story with mythic power. An expressive work printed on thick drawing paper, with a smell that reminds me of childhood coloring books.

available from Fantagraphic Books