The Collected Toppi Vol. 1: The Enchanted World Book Review

Posted By yonghow on April 12th, 2022

Warning : The following post contains nudity/adult content.

I was alerted to the amazing work of the late Italian comic artist/illustrator Sergio Toppi by one of my readers, who gave his highest recommendations. I have seen the artist’s books in and around bookstores, but was otherwise unfamiliar with his work hitherto. While I have tremendous respect for any and all artists with superb draughtsmanship, those that specialize in detailed and intricate cross hatching like Katsuya Terada and Bernie Wrightson fascinate me the most, and now I can add Toppi to that list.

This hardcover volume The Enchanted World is the first in a seven-volume library of works by the artist and contains eleven tales of high fantasy in English for the first time, previously collected as Black & Tans, Krull, and A Minor God.

The Collected Toppi Vol. 1: The Enchanted World Book Review

I want to thank the reader who gave me the recommendations to check out Toppi’s stunning work; this is but the first of his 7 volumes of collected work, and I’ll likely have to pick up all of them slowly, one at a time. Recommended.

The Collected Toppi Vol. 1: The Enchanted World details :

– Dimensions – 9.1 x 0.7 x 11.9 inches
– hardcover, 168 pages
– Full color/B&W, in English

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Tags: art book review, comic, comics, draughtsmanship, drawing, graphic novel, Illustration, Sergio Toppi, The Collected Toppi Vol. 1: The Enchanted World Book Review, The Enchanted World, Toppi

Posted in Book Reviews, Drawing, Illustration, Manga/comics

4 Responses to “The Collected Toppi Vol. 1: The Enchanted World Book Review”

Coffee
April 13th, 2022 at 2:53 am

Toppi is an exceptional artist, his layouts are incredible, the way in which he can fuse elements together on a single page, the way all of his faces have a terrific personality, and his endlessly varied linework make for some truly captivating comics.

I actually discovered Toppi browsing the public library once, I stumbled upon Sharaz-De Tales from the Arabian Nights. It’s unfortunately out of print, but I think it’s Toppi at his best, that book has some really fantastic layouts. His work always makes me excited about what comics can do as a medium, separate from other media like animation. I really underappreciated artist, I’m glad you discovered him!
(also, I have this, but I have yet to obtain the rest of the Collected Toppi series, which I hope to do before it goes out of print.)

ATOM
April 13th, 2022 at 6:01 am

@Coffee

If you read french, or if it’s amply sufficient for you to appreciate Toppi’s unique visual experience, most of his works are edited by the french publisher Mosquito:

http://www.editionsmosquito.com/auteur-1.html

Me too, Sharaz-de is my favorite. It is available on their website or through amazon.

Coffee
April 13th, 2022 at 7:28 am

@ATOM

I unfortunately don’t read French. Hopefully I’ll be able to collect the English editions while I still can. Although, I’m not opposed to collecting comics in a language I don’t read. I do have some Moebius albums in French, for example.

Marc McKenzie
April 14th, 2022 at 9:51 am

I’ve seen a couple of volumes of The Collected Toppi at the book distribution center where I work. Flipped through one and I was very impressed with what I saw. I will certainly pick up a couple of volumes when I can.

Thanks for posting this review!