Written by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by Gabriel BaFrom the writer of Marvel’s smash hit FEAR ITSELF and the artist of the best-selling book Umbrella Academy comes the FULL-COLOR rebirth of the coolest comic of all time — CASANOVA IS BACK and NOW YOU can see what everybody’s been talking about. THIS ISSUE: The world’s sexiest and savviest superspy kills his way from dimension to dimension in a high-stakes, action-packed adventure that cannot be described in a mere human “solicitation.” !!! 32 ALL-NEW FULL-COLOR PAGES. PREORDER THIS BOOK! IF YOUR RETAILER CAN’T READ YOUR MIND, YOU CAN’T READ ‘CASANOVA.’
Yeah, I guess reboots are swell and all, but what I really want in any given comic experience is less a title that gimmicks its way into my collection and rather one that just looks so fantastic I can’t possibly in my right mind skip out on it. A comic that is so full of everything wonderful about comics that it makes me forget about my worry and my strife and envelopes me in a universe constructed by creators who have mastered their craft.
Oh, hey, Casanova. What’s up?
Let’s dance after the cut.
I was not an avid comic reader when Casanova first came out. While I found the collection of Luxuria in a shop on sale and devoured it after the fact, I missed out on what I can only assume was a massive frenzy of excitement for those who collected the book as it originally came out. Written by a fresh young creator with two fantastic artists, the book was a pop-infused exploration of the medium, love, genre fiction, music, sex, spies, art, sci-fi and more in a way that only comics could deliver. Then came the reprints of the last year, recolored and delivered to my open and waiting arms, and I couldn’t be happier to devour both volumes up like a starved child left in a desert to die. It was glorious in every sense of the word.
And now, for real this time, Casanova is back.
The wonderful thing about comics in general is that, unlike other forms of entertainment, there are just some things that just can’t be displayed anywhere else. Comics are such a unique medium in that the creativity placed onto the page can often be so pure and refined to the point of soul crushing beauty, that when we’re given a book that embraces everything comics should be in an unbridled orgy of creativity, it’s something to be applauded and cherished. That is, in a nutshell, what Casanova is: Matt Fraction at his most unbridled, his least constrained, firing on every cylinder imaginable. When you put Fraction’s unfiltered mind at the illustrious pen of Gabriel Ba, you are given the must buy issue of the week, regardless of your previous experience with the series.
Casanova: Avaritia finds our lovable rogue Casanova Quinn destroying alternate universes as he searches for a mysterious device in each universe, repeating patterns as he goes and watching the suffering of millions as he is forced to do his civic duty. The issue is full of alternate versions of our heroes as Casanova hops from time and place to place and time, all on an epic quest to battle against the forces of WASTE in the never-ending battle of good vs. evil that he has been thrust into. Cas’ smooth criminal behavior never fully covers up his apathy and growing disillusionment with the entire endeavor, and all of these emotions eventually come to a head in the climax of the book as one of the alternate universes reveals a tragic secret that was alluded to in the previous volume.
It is without a doubt that you will find any comic book on the stands as open and inviting as Casanova – Avaritia. While you can assuredly find books that are “new reader friendly” in a world full of dense mythology that has been hacked to bits, there is no book out there that fully utilizes the entire medium in such a raw and artistic fashion as Casanova – Avaritia. Everything about the book screams at you in the most pleasing tone as Fraction and Ba present a story on a level entirely of it’s own. What Fraction’s main superhero work lacks in abject freedom, Casanova makes up for in truckloads; this is the type of work that made Fraction such an original and celebrated name in the industry in the first place, with musical influence bleeding from every edge. It’s a comic that sings a passionate love letter to the medium a time when it is needed the most, and it revels in it’s pop glory.
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To pick a specific example, nothing is more telling of the book’s musical influence than Luther Desmond Diamond’s performance in Paris, featuring the lyrics “We’re all so tired, everybody wasting away; secluded, terrified, expecting wonders.” It’s at this point that fuses Fraction’s inspiration and work together in a very poignant fashion with all laid quite bare, taking all the influence and emotion given to him by the greatest songwriters of yesterday and tomorrow and taking his own spin on it, snuck in in an oh-so-clever fashion that rewards the reader who takes more than a few quick glances at the page. This is as musical as a comic could possibly be, and a shining example of Casanova’s most vibrant feature.
The closest analogy I can think of to Fraction’s writing here would be Jason Statham in Crank, racing around a city like a mad man performing increasingly absurd stunts in order to keep himself alive. Casanova is quite literally a very intricately and meticulously plotted piece of fiction, but unlike a book that reads like a well laid out chessboard in which the moves all favor the victor from the start, to the untrained eye Casanova reads like Fraction has smashed the board, allowing the pieces fly in every direction. When you get to the end, though, all of those pieces have still managed to fall into the right places just enough to wow you multiple times before the issue is through. Featuring the most universe hopping I’ve seen in any title, Casanova moves from page to page faster than you can turn, and you’re given one of the most engaging reads on the stands in as pure a form of imagination as money can buy.
As much as the comic is Fraction’s brain baby, though, it is given life through the vibrant and stylistic pen of Gabriel Ba. As much as any author could possibly create a shrine to an artist’s talent, Fraction has done so for Ba, allowing Ba to fully exercise his mind’s eye in a book where every page features a shining example of what makes comics and sequential storytelling so special. From a visual aspect, Casanova is quite simply one of the most beautiful books released this week, with inspiration to be seen from every angle imaginable. The book is as if Jack Kirby’s eye for details and Andy Warhol’s sense of style made a baby and let it travel through time to embrace the world of sequential art. Ba’s extraordinary sense for details coupled with Cris Peter’s color make the book come to life in vivid form, and the way Ba has brought Fraction’s imagination to life sings hymn of it’s own to his talent. There are few who can express themselves as creatively in the visual medium as Ba and his twin brother, and having them back to work on Casanova is Christmas come early (even for a Jew like myself).
However, more than anything that can be said with words, sometimes a picture has the uncanny ability to say what nothing else can. With that in mind, I present to you my favorite page of Casanova – Avaritia #1:
That is how you comic, ladies and gentlemen. If that doesn’t instantly jump out at you at you, then I just don’t know what else to say.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Daaaaaaaaaaance syndrome
Granted, that page makes more sense if you’ve read the pages leading up to it, but it is nevertheless a shining example of comic storytelling that simply could not exist in any other medium as well a stunning way to play around with preconceived notions of sequential art that heck, it doesn’t matter if you’ve read the pages leading up to it. It’s still a fucking awesome page, one I’d love to own.
