Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Gabriel Ba
Published by Image Comics
A win by Casanova has officially become predictable here at the offices of The Factual Opinion. All the requirements of being the best comic book on the stands are here: Densely plotted narrative? Check. Entertaining, sharply written dialog? You got it. Imaginative and innovative art? It is Gabriel Ba, what do you think?
Fraction and Ba, as has been dealt with in these pages before, are only in danger of losing the storied respect we see so fit to extend them when they stop using comic books to tell intelligent and entertaining stories, stories that would fall short in any medium--and with each issue of Casanova, they've continued to astonish. In a current climate where the best writers not only seem destined for Hollywood, but even seem like their work might be better in that field, Fraction and Ba are currently putting out a comic book that, if it maintains it's current level of quality, could be used as an excellent example of the kind of story that can only work as a comic book. Like Grant Morrison's current run on All Star Superman, Casanova would fail to impress on the big screen, and it's powerful conciseness would come across as illegible in a novel format. Simply put, Casanova # 4 is the kind of story that you can only read in a comic, and it's the kind of story that a whole lot of people would enjoy--and, as sales figures are starting to roll on in the first issue, it looks like a whole lot of them are. Is it just because of the cheap format? The one-issue, one-story approach?
Not at all. It's because it's the only place where you'll get to read about a really cool guy beating up a meditation guru, hanging out with robot-making crime lords and carrying on the sexiest incestual relationship the world of fiction has seen since Brotherhood of the Wolf. It is unlike everything else on the stands, and for once, that uniqueness is actually being paralleled by being readable as well. If this keeps up, The Factual Opinion may have to start publishing a second place winner, just so that you, dear reader, don't imagine us to be on some advertisers payroll.
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