When I would like to have done something myself it means that I really like that thing, that’s the case of Travel, a manga I’ve recently bought.

I really like the cover jacket, which hide in the inside a “secret” drawing.

Beside the good layout, that makes of this book also a nice object, the comic it self, if we can call it “comic”, is pushed to it’s limits, and it become something else, touching the edges of a pure art form.
The plot it’s completely without words and sounds, this privation makes the story be a sequence of uninterrupted actions, and even if there aren’t words to tell us which sounds or which thoughts are passing by the characters’ mind, we can figure it out on our own even stronger.
It feels like that the author Yuchi Yokoyama created a unique graphic language, where the lines of actions and the happenings trough the story intersect creating panels of pure abstraction.

The other recommendation, is also a manga, but in this case a very classic one, that I’ve just discover recently.
Oishinbo is a jorney into the culinary Japanese’s culture, where two masters of cooking challenge themeselfs in a series of cooking battles.
Trough this comic you can understand how important is the food in Japanese culture which is one of my favorites together with the Italian cuisine. This manga works as a real cooking book, in fact the detailed explanation of the dishes can aloud you to really make them.

Tags: manga, Review.

Yesterday I went to the Amsterdam’s presentation of the book All City Writers, in little words all you have to know about forty years of Graffiti in Europe and not only.
Andrea Caputo, the author of this book contacted me a couple of years ago, asking for a contribution. I have to admit I was a bit skeptic, like: “do we need another book about the subject?”.
So far All City Writers is one of the best graffiti book, not only for the contents, which are richness; there’s an incredible work of research behind the pages, but also for the way those contents are presented, in a thoughtful layout, clear and functional.
So, I had to reconsider my initial skepticism, this is a must have book, if you are interested on the subject and either if you just like very well done products.

And of course I had my copy signed by some of the old school Amsterdam’s buddies.

And if you want to know more about All City Writers, there’s a very nice web-site too:
www.allcitywriters.com

Tags: book, graffiti.

Comics are my favorite lectures, especially when I find this classic editions and I discover cartoonist like Carl Barks, he was one of the most productive and inspired Disney artist.

Tags: comic, Review.