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Campisi: The Dragon Incident: The Complete Series
"Sonny Campisi is a small-time fixer for the mob-controlled neighborhood of Green Village. If you don't pay your gambling debt, he'll come and collect. If you get a little rough with one of ""the girls," he gets a little rough with you. But when a dragon flies into town and Sonny is the one who's tasked with getting rid of it, it's a problem unlike any he's ever faced, and a chain of events begins that will affect everyone who lives in that neighborhood. Especially Sonny.
From James Patrick, the writer of KAIJU SCORE, and breakout artist Marco Locati, CAMPISI is a genre-mashing comedy-thriller that plays like one part Get Shorty, one-part Dragonslayer, and all parts absurdly wonderful!
This volume collects the entire friggin' series, issues #1-4."
From James Patrick, the writer of KAIJU SCORE, and breakout artist Marco Locati, CAMPISI is a genre-mashing comedy-thriller that plays like one part Get Shorty, one-part Dragonslayer, and all parts absurdly wonderful!
This volume collects the entire friggin' series, issues #1-4."
120 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 11, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 22, 2022
Right, I have notes.
1. Our main character (the titular Campisi) works for local mafia, who regularly kill off people. Campisi doesn't do the killing, and he doesn't like his boss, but he still works for him - that makes it almost impossible for me to like him.
2. The author seems to try to solve this unlikeability problem by showing people in the neighbourhood being very fond of Campisi, but rarely showing how he actually helps him. It doesn't convince.
3. Campisi is supposed to be funny and witty, but he almost never is, although we get a few characters telling us Campisi is funny. There's an especially egregious bit where a highly intelligent dragon tells Campisi he has a clever mouth on him - I flipped back and reread a couple of pages, he really hasn't. He tends to be slightly sarcastic, in that way movies think is clever, but he's not witty or particularly intelligent.
4. I hope you like crime characters that talk in a way not that far removed from "I-a like-a the paa-staa fazuuul-a!".
5. There's a dragon that is wreaking revenge on the bloodline of people that have killed most of his kin in the past. If the New York neighbourhood doesn't give up that person, the dragon'll burn down the whole neighbourhood. It says something that I was instantly on the dragon's side.
6. Towards the end,
7. The art works pretty well, but gets too muddy and indistinct during action scenes. The artist makes blood look like black fungus, which also confused me to start with.
8. Campisi tells the neighbourhood people to not mention the dragon flying over. Presumably there are social media at the time of this story, and there is no way this 'incident' wouldn't be all over those.
9. Where is the government in all this? This is a world where dragons, kraken and other monsters regularly show up, and somehow it is up to local crime families to deal with them? Surely there would be a governmental system in place? A dragon flies over a New York neighbourhood and the authorities don't notice?
10. The title is terrible. Nobody knows who Campisi is, and it isn't a name that's interesting or speaks to the imagination.
(Picked up a review copy through Edelweiss)
1. Our main character (the titular Campisi) works for local mafia, who regularly kill off people. Campisi doesn't do the killing, and he doesn't like his boss, but he still works for him - that makes it almost impossible for me to like him.
2. The author seems to try to solve this unlikeability problem by showing people in the neighbourhood being very fond of Campisi, but rarely showing how he actually helps him. It doesn't convince.
3. Campisi is supposed to be funny and witty, but he almost never is, although we get a few characters telling us Campisi is funny. There's an especially egregious bit where a highly intelligent dragon tells Campisi he has a clever mouth on him - I flipped back and reread a couple of pages, he really hasn't. He tends to be slightly sarcastic, in that way movies think is clever, but he's not witty or particularly intelligent.
4. I hope you like crime characters that talk in a way not that far removed from "I-a like-a the paa-staa fazuuul-a!".
5. There's a dragon that is wreaking revenge on the bloodline of people that have killed most of his kin in the past. If the New York neighbourhood doesn't give up that person, the dragon'll burn down the whole neighbourhood. It says something that I was instantly on the dragon's side.
6. Towards the end,
7. The art works pretty well, but gets too muddy and indistinct during action scenes. The artist makes blood look like black fungus, which also confused me to start with.
8. Campisi tells the neighbourhood people to not mention the dragon flying over. Presumably there are social media at the time of this story, and there is no way this 'incident' wouldn't be all over those.
9. Where is the government in all this? This is a world where dragons, kraken and other monsters regularly show up, and somehow it is up to local crime families to deal with them? Surely there would be a governmental system in place? A dragon flies over a New York neighbourhood and the authorities don't notice?
10. The title is terrible. Nobody knows who Campisi is, and it isn't a name that's interesting or speaks to the imagination.
(Picked up a review copy through Edelweiss)
May 31, 2022
omg this graphic novel was so damn funny, got me giggling multiple times !!! i’m so damn bad at reviewing comics so bare with me 😩
i really enjoyed the dragon presentation in this book. the idea itself wasn’t really original and also the reason for it being in Green Village in the first place, BUT i really liked the way it looked and what it had to say.
our main guy Sonny Campisi was one hilarious lad who loved solving problems and in such a short period of time, i grew to love his sense of humour and wanted him (and the dragon) to be okay at the end !
as i said, it’s not really original and it all wrapped up rather quickly, but i picked it up wanting something light and quick to read and this just made my day with all the jokes and sarcasm written there. i just really wish it was longer 😩
if you love reading graphic novels and want something fast paced, easy and entertaining, i highly recommend picking this up !!
i really enjoyed the dragon presentation in this book. the idea itself wasn’t really original and also the reason for it being in Green Village in the first place, BUT i really liked the way it looked and what it had to say.
our main guy Sonny Campisi was one hilarious lad who loved solving problems and in such a short period of time, i grew to love his sense of humour and wanted him (and the dragon) to be okay at the end !
as i said, it’s not really original and it all wrapped up rather quickly, but i picked it up wanting something light and quick to read and this just made my day with all the jokes and sarcasm written there. i just really wish it was longer 😩
if you love reading graphic novels and want something fast paced, easy and entertaining, i highly recommend picking this up !!
April 7, 2022
Make a supposition, in this case monsters of legend are real, noted in history, and unsurprising.
Extrapolate.
Enjoy.
Extrapolate.
Enjoy.
March 13, 2022
Oh dear. In Green Village all matter of crime can be allowed – especially when it's the organised crime of Italians being loan sharks with menaces, and so on. But what they will never, ever allow to happen is one of the last of the dragons (eloquent, English-speaking dragons, capisce?) turning up and demanding the head of a descendant of the warrior who historically fought to make them extinct – a descendant nobody seems to have even heard of... Now, there might just about be a good book with the Mafia vs Dragons being the USP, but this isn't it. The whole affair is swathed in a limp lilac or limper peach wash, meaning it's really quite grim visually, and with classic dialogue like "Ain't no lizard gonna hold my neighborhood hostage." "Yeah, Gary. We'll show him." it's a welcome relief to get to the end blurb and find it was supposed to be a comedy. In fact it was just a relief to get to the end of this crud, which left the impression the creators are barely past puberty. One and a half stars, whatever Gary might think.
July 9, 2022
CAMPISI is a light-hearted slice-of-life inside a small borough of a major metropolis (NYC, maybe) where organized crime runs the town. Naturally there are rivalries to be expected when two crime families are in such close proximity to each other. Sonny Campisi is a member of the Rossi family, a wise-cracking "fixer" who carries a baseball bat but prefers to resolve problems more diplomatically. He's got a heart, and a keen sense of community and the importance of neighborhood fixtures. The senior Rossi has passed on, and Rossi Jr. is not so benevolent when enforcing family matters.
Right there is enough for the makings of an interesting crime drama spiced with humor. Introduce a fantasy element and things get even more interesting. A dragon, last of his race and bearing a centuries-old grudge, enters Green Village and sets up residence in the upper-level stories of a high-rise under construction. He's looking for the descendent of the family that wiped out the dragons many years ago. He won't destroy the town as long as the descendent is delivered to him.
This development upsets the Rossi crime family, who were making plans for the annual rib festival / cooking competition. Sonny gets the call to make the problem go away.
The story moves forward at an engrossing pace as Sonny tries several methods to "fix" the problem and save the city. He eventually arrives at a compromise with the dragon, but it comes with a cost (albeit a satisfactory one for me).
The only issue I have is with the work of artist/colorist Marco Locati, who favors some off-beat color choices (monochromatic and dichromatic hues) along with some sketchy penciling that makes it sometimes hard to discern exactly what is happening, especially in some action panels.
I'd give this 3.5 Star Rating, if I knew how to manage that on the Goodreads star chart. It's definitely better than average, but four stars is a stretch.
Right there is enough for the makings of an interesting crime drama spiced with humor. Introduce a fantasy element and things get even more interesting. A dragon, last of his race and bearing a centuries-old grudge, enters Green Village and sets up residence in the upper-level stories of a high-rise under construction. He's looking for the descendent of the family that wiped out the dragons many years ago. He won't destroy the town as long as the descendent is delivered to him.
This development upsets the Rossi crime family, who were making plans for the annual rib festival / cooking competition. Sonny gets the call to make the problem go away.
The story moves forward at an engrossing pace as Sonny tries several methods to "fix" the problem and save the city. He eventually arrives at a compromise with the dragon, but it comes with a cost (albeit a satisfactory one for me).
The only issue I have is with the work of artist/colorist Marco Locati, who favors some off-beat color choices (monochromatic and dichromatic hues) along with some sketchy penciling that makes it sometimes hard to discern exactly what is happening, especially in some action panels.
I'd give this 3.5 Star Rating, if I knew how to manage that on the Goodreads star chart. It's definitely better than average, but four stars is a stretch.
September 8, 2022
I’d have rated this higher if I liked the art more. I truly don’t like the art at all.
Ages ago, dragons roamed the Earth minding their own business. Now, they are few but still known, still powerful. Kraken also exist, and both have recently been seen in other cities.
Sonny Campisi is from Green Village, which makes me think of a place like the Bronx. The organized crime piece was exactly what James Patrick was going for. Sonny is a mobster, but dedicated to his neighborhood. He cares more about the people than his reputation, and I like him. He works for Mr. Rossi Junior who doesn't care about the neighborhood people though, and Sonny ends up reaping the repurcussions of that as time goes on.
Then a dragon from the Clan of the West comes. This wants revenge on the descendant of Luthermore, a person who betrayed the clan. Sonny goes to talk to the dragon, and the joke about Rolexes falling off a truck in issue 2 is hilarious.
Sonny learns who the Luthermore really is and tries to bargain with the dragon. It doesn't take much for the reader to know that isn't going to fly. When Sonny figures out how to appease the dragon though, Rossi Junior has his hands so tight around his money and power that it all comes crashing down.
There maybe isn't a happy ending, but there is some hope. Including for the reader that there will be a sequel?!
There is a lot of extra info at the end via a 4th grade book report (one the teacher is super harsh on), an artist interview, and variant covers.
Ages ago, dragons roamed the Earth minding their own business. Now, they are few but still known, still powerful. Kraken also exist, and both have recently been seen in other cities.
Sonny Campisi is from Green Village, which makes me think of a place like the Bronx. The organized crime piece was exactly what James Patrick was going for. Sonny is a mobster, but dedicated to his neighborhood. He cares more about the people than his reputation, and I like him. He works for Mr. Rossi Junior who doesn't care about the neighborhood people though, and Sonny ends up reaping the repurcussions of that as time goes on.
Then a dragon from the Clan of the West comes. This wants revenge on the descendant of Luthermore, a person who betrayed the clan. Sonny goes to talk to the dragon, and the joke about Rolexes falling off a truck in issue 2 is hilarious.
Sonny learns who the Luthermore really is and tries to bargain with the dragon. It doesn't take much for the reader to know that isn't going to fly. When Sonny figures out how to appease the dragon though, Rossi Junior has his hands so tight around his money and power that it all comes crashing down.
There maybe isn't a happy ending, but there is some hope. Including for the reader that there will be a sequel?!
There is a lot of extra info at the end via a 4th grade book report (one the teacher is super harsh on), an artist interview, and variant covers.
May 21, 2022
Dragon stories always become my favourite. Mixed that with mob gangster story? I think it is interesting idea, even when I dont know how that will happening.
Our MC supposedly is a morally grey mob hitman I think. He also protector the neighbourhood. I saw his internal conflict in this two main roles and the author give a good job to show that. Sadly, the worldbuild kinda loose and lack explanation. I want to know how this fantasy creatures survives its fate and why occasionally come to this small village.
Thanks netgalley for providing my copy.
Our MC supposedly is a morally grey mob hitman I think. He also protector the neighbourhood. I saw his internal conflict in this two main roles and the author give a good job to show that. Sadly, the worldbuild kinda loose and lack explanation. I want to know how this fantasy creatures survives its fate and why occasionally come to this small village.
Thanks netgalley for providing my copy.
May 20, 2022
If you've ever thought "I would love to combine a mob movie with dragons" then this comic is probably for you. Sonny Campisi is a fixer for the mob that controls his small town. But then, a dragon shows up asking for the town to turn over someone or face destruction. It is up to Sonny to figure out who the dragon is there for while dealing with the mafia politics it eventually involves. I loved Marco Locati's dynamic art and James Patrick wrote a very enjoyable story over the four issues.
April 28, 2023
The story came together at the last minute, but it wasn’t a great read. The presence of the dragon seemed a little half-baked. And the art was a little hard to follow.
June 1, 2024
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews