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Sharaz-De: Tome 1
A set of tales inspired by the Arabian Nights by European comics master Sergio Toppi, exploring a barbaric society where the supernatural is the only remedy to injustice, as Sharaz-de, captive to a cruel and despotic king, must each night spin tales to entertain her master and save her head from the executioner. Featuring tales filled with evil spirits, treasures, risk, and danger, but ever at their center the passions of gods and men.
159 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
20 people are currently reading
714 people want to read
About the author
Sergio Toppi
210 books107 followersSergio Toppi was an Italian illustrator and comics author from Milan.
Toppi's art style is known for its sophisticated compositions and an unmatched ability with hatching.
Young Toppi left his medical studies in the early 50's to pursue a career in illustration, which lasted until his death at age eighty. His illustrations were featured in many Italian newspapers, magazines and books.
Toppi also developed a comics career since the middle of the 60's. His body of work in comics is mostly composed of short stories on a wide range of subject matters, often in a historical or fantasy setting. Toppi's stories appeared in a number of Italian comics magazines, from the ones devoted to kids such as Il Corriere dei Piccoli and Il Giornalino, to those targeting a more mature or larger audience, like Sgt. Kirk, Linus, alter alter, Corto Maltese, L'Eternauta, Comic Art, Orient Express. For the latter magazine Toppi created in the 80's his only recurring comics character, called Il Collezionista (The Collector).
Toppi's art style is known for its sophisticated compositions and an unmatched ability with hatching.
Young Toppi left his medical studies in the early 50's to pursue a career in illustration, which lasted until his death at age eighty. His illustrations were featured in many Italian newspapers, magazines and books.
Toppi also developed a comics career since the middle of the 60's. His body of work in comics is mostly composed of short stories on a wide range of subject matters, often in a historical or fantasy setting. Toppi's stories appeared in a number of Italian comics magazines, from the ones devoted to kids such as Il Corriere dei Piccoli and Il Giornalino, to those targeting a more mature or larger audience, like Sgt. Kirk, Linus, alter alter, Corto Maltese, L'Eternauta, Comic Art, Orient Express. For the latter magazine Toppi created in the 80's his only recurring comics character, called Il Collezionista (The Collector).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
May 1, 2013
I'm an artist and the son of an artist. I don't have a lot of work to show for the title—being mostly employed in web design, I only have a little bit of illustration work for online magazines still extant. But my father, he was a career artist in the real sense—in the sense that he produced physical objects of art. Ceramics and Chinese brush painting. The point is: we're both all about the aesthetic value of human creations, no matter the medium. He likes my work and I like his and whenever one of us runs into something sublime, we Facebook each other and say: "Hey. Look at this. It is worth your time."
So minutes after cracking open and flipping through my edition of Sergio Toppi's Sharazde: Tales from the Arabian Nights, I had placed an order for a second copy—this one to ship to Europe where my father lives. I didn't want him to see scans of Toppi's work online. I didn't want to message him photographs of these drawings (though I couldn't resist an Instagram in his honour). No, he needed to behold this gorgeous collection of art in person and I would not wait for him and my mother to fly out to visit in the summer. I needed to share this now. Or as close to now as shipping to Europe could approximate.
And I wasn't disappointed. His reaction very much mirrored my own. He was just as blown away and gob-smacked as I was. Being a genuine surfer hippie from the genuine surfer hippie days, the word "stoked" might have held some play as well. There was joy, there was adulation, and there was awe. In short, Toppi's work received from my father (and from myself) exactly the reaction his work deserves.
Because, oh man.1
The only other comics reviewer I actively read remarked on the fittingness of having Walter Simonson introduce the book. Simonson's best work is clearly influenced by Toppi—much of his Mighty Thor seems a marriage between Toppi's visual topography and Kirby's brute dynamism. But while Simonson is all about the excitement of the actions in which his characters revel, Toppi is quiet and reserved. His work (at least here represented) is reflective and considerate. His drawings are mysteries and evoke the sacred even more deeply than Craig Thompson's attempts in Blankets .
I've been describing Sharaz-De in terms of its art and even think of it primarily as an art book—something to display for guests—rather than as a comic book or graphic novel. It has a story and it has writing, but those things really seem mostly in place to provoke Toppi to draw something interesting and amazing and earth-shatteringly beautiful. Honestly, I may never read the book's story ever again. And that's fine and I don't mind. I certainly don't feel slighted. This is an amazing book and worth every penny I spent on it.
Part of my ambivalence toward the book's narrative aspect may be that it's an adaptation of a kind of literature I generally avoid: the fable. Toppi is adapting some of the stories of Scheherazade, the ken of which have long filtered into our societal consciousness. Even if one is unfamiliar with the tales of the Arabian nights, the structure and morals are ubiquitous. Characters who are dishonest, ungrateful, and oath-breakers meet untimely and often terrible ends. If you make a promise to a strange being who gives you wonderful fortune with a single stipulation, whatever you do, don't blow it where that stipulation is concerned. These fables are common across cultures—so if you've read European or Asian fables, you know the drill as well. Just desserts figure prominently.
Toppi doesn't do any astounding narrative acrobatics with these fables. They are told in rather straightforward tone. They are there and they are faithful and not much more. But as I said, who cares when they were the genesis for such wild visual imaginations. I've included some scans with this review (as is my wont), but please don't imagine these do anything near to approximating what you'll see in Sharaz-De. It'd be like a guy carrying a faxed photo of his girlfriend in his wallet. These scans are merely sad facsimiles of the crisp printing that inhabits the paperscape of Archaia's lush, large book.
I've read that Archaia is using Sharaz-De as a test case to prove whether or not there's an American market for more of Toppi's work. I hope, almost desperately, they'll sell well enough to merit future editions. I can guarantee that if I still have a discretionary income, then I will own each and every one of these.
Because, oh man.
A Note on the Political
As with any transmission of an ancient Arab work by a European's pen, there will be questions with regard to the looming spectres of Orientalism and appropriation. The concerns are valid so far as they go, and Toppi does lean somewhat on Orientalist trappings, but not nearly so much as we might expect from a work that came out of the 1970s. More, the mystery and foreign grandeur of his work in Sharaz-De seems to mirror his own penchant for making every story mysterious and foreign. Even a cursory survey of his work shows that Sharaz-De is not unique in its wild landscapes, wandering attires, and exotic figures—these are common traits across his oeuvre. While not perfect in its portrayal of these people and their culture—more because of wild reinvention than misrepresentation—I felt that Toppi acquits himself pretty well on Sharaz-De.
This reinvention does bring up the question of appropriation and the right of appropriation. And here's where I say that I'm torn on the whole appropriation issue. And here's where I begin a big ol' excursis. Good thing the review's over and this is just an end note, huh?
While I'm never happy for people to feel they've been wronged and I like to sympathize and do what I can to show them my compassion, I believe reappropriation is not only intimate to the human experience but actually Good. Reappropriation is one of the ways that members of humanity and human communities naturally interact. I visit your house and I see something I really like in the way you decorate the walls in your living room and I go home and incorporate some of those ideas into my own visual landscape. This is how cultural expression naturally works, regardless of power balance. I'll incorporate your good ideas into my creative expression whether you're my boss or I'm yours.
I don't have any problem with this on the face of it. Sharing culture is good and builds community. I think, though, that with the rise of concepts of intellectual property, people and cultures have more and more grasped onto the idea that they own "their" practices and visual markers. Because I don't actually believe in intellectual property,2 it's a hard sell for me. I also think it's hubris and naivete to believe that what you or your culture has produced is all yours—as if it wasn't created through the appropriation of other cultures' intellectual/visual products.
Rather, I see three responsible ways for Good People to deal with reappropriation.
1) Be compassionately invested in world community. The big problem (as I see it) with exocultural appropriation is when it's done by nationalists, people wholly invested in their own community with no interest in the community of others. This is even worse when the appropriating community is oppressing the appropriated culture. The problem then isn't primarily the appropriation but oppression. Evidence: I've yet to find an Asian who was angry at Avatar the Last Airbender's use of distinctly Asian cultural cues, 3 even though the show was forged by a couple of white American males. Why? Because the show and the creators were as respectful as anything.
2) Recognize cheesiness when you see it—and then avoid. Hot Topic is (or was... do they still exist?) the modern American youth's highly commercialized reappropriation of punk cultural cues. They've branded and marketed particular aesthetics that punk culture once used (and may still use, I don't know) to distinguish itself. Hot Topic is so very not punk. And it's obvious to anyone who'd care to notice.
3) When you encounter an individual who is upset by your appropriation of some of their cultural cues, dialogue with them. Discover what you can do to mollify their concerns. Explain that you realize that what you've appropriated doesn't mean the same thing to you as it does to them and explain (not excuse) why you've done the thing you've done. Listen to their complaints and reasons why they're uncomfortable. Learn from each other. Foster community.
That's my off-the-top-of-my-head response. And goes some way toward describing why I don't think we should be bothered by Sergio Toppi's version of the Scheherazade.
Footnotes
1) I'm trying hard here not to open the book for reference because I'll lose way too much time falling again into Toppi's illustrations. It's really an amazing world he's created.
2) It's complicated and I'm still working out for myself what that even means.
3) Which doesn't mean there aren't any, but I think the general thought is that ATLA gets appropriation right.
_____________
[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]
So minutes after cracking open and flipping through my edition of Sergio Toppi's Sharazde: Tales from the Arabian Nights, I had placed an order for a second copy—this one to ship to Europe where my father lives. I didn't want him to see scans of Toppi's work online. I didn't want to message him photographs of these drawings (though I couldn't resist an Instagram in his honour). No, he needed to behold this gorgeous collection of art in person and I would not wait for him and my mother to fly out to visit in the summer. I needed to share this now. Or as close to now as shipping to Europe could approximate.
And I wasn't disappointed. His reaction very much mirrored my own. He was just as blown away and gob-smacked as I was. Being a genuine surfer hippie from the genuine surfer hippie days, the word "stoked" might have held some play as well. There was joy, there was adulation, and there was awe. In short, Toppi's work received from my father (and from myself) exactly the reaction his work deserves.
Because, oh man.1
The only other comics reviewer I actively read remarked on the fittingness of having Walter Simonson introduce the book. Simonson's best work is clearly influenced by Toppi—much of his Mighty Thor seems a marriage between Toppi's visual topography and Kirby's brute dynamism. But while Simonson is all about the excitement of the actions in which his characters revel, Toppi is quiet and reserved. His work (at least here represented) is reflective and considerate. His drawings are mysteries and evoke the sacred even more deeply than Craig Thompson's attempts in Blankets .
I've been describing Sharaz-De in terms of its art and even think of it primarily as an art book—something to display for guests—rather than as a comic book or graphic novel. It has a story and it has writing, but those things really seem mostly in place to provoke Toppi to draw something interesting and amazing and earth-shatteringly beautiful. Honestly, I may never read the book's story ever again. And that's fine and I don't mind. I certainly don't feel slighted. This is an amazing book and worth every penny I spent on it.
Part of my ambivalence toward the book's narrative aspect may be that it's an adaptation of a kind of literature I generally avoid: the fable. Toppi is adapting some of the stories of Scheherazade, the ken of which have long filtered into our societal consciousness. Even if one is unfamiliar with the tales of the Arabian nights, the structure and morals are ubiquitous. Characters who are dishonest, ungrateful, and oath-breakers meet untimely and often terrible ends. If you make a promise to a strange being who gives you wonderful fortune with a single stipulation, whatever you do, don't blow it where that stipulation is concerned. These fables are common across cultures—so if you've read European or Asian fables, you know the drill as well. Just desserts figure prominently.
Toppi doesn't do any astounding narrative acrobatics with these fables. They are told in rather straightforward tone. They are there and they are faithful and not much more. But as I said, who cares when they were the genesis for such wild visual imaginations. I've included some scans with this review (as is my wont), but please don't imagine these do anything near to approximating what you'll see in Sharaz-De. It'd be like a guy carrying a faxed photo of his girlfriend in his wallet. These scans are merely sad facsimiles of the crisp printing that inhabits the paperscape of Archaia's lush, large book.
I've read that Archaia is using Sharaz-De as a test case to prove whether or not there's an American market for more of Toppi's work. I hope, almost desperately, they'll sell well enough to merit future editions. I can guarantee that if I still have a discretionary income, then I will own each and every one of these.
Because, oh man.
A Note on the Political
As with any transmission of an ancient Arab work by a European's pen, there will be questions with regard to the looming spectres of Orientalism and appropriation. The concerns are valid so far as they go, and Toppi does lean somewhat on Orientalist trappings, but not nearly so much as we might expect from a work that came out of the 1970s. More, the mystery and foreign grandeur of his work in Sharaz-De seems to mirror his own penchant for making every story mysterious and foreign. Even a cursory survey of his work shows that Sharaz-De is not unique in its wild landscapes, wandering attires, and exotic figures—these are common traits across his oeuvre. While not perfect in its portrayal of these people and their culture—more because of wild reinvention than misrepresentation—I felt that Toppi acquits himself pretty well on Sharaz-De.
This reinvention does bring up the question of appropriation and the right of appropriation. And here's where I say that I'm torn on the whole appropriation issue. And here's where I begin a big ol' excursis. Good thing the review's over and this is just an end note, huh?
While I'm never happy for people to feel they've been wronged and I like to sympathize and do what I can to show them my compassion, I believe reappropriation is not only intimate to the human experience but actually Good. Reappropriation is one of the ways that members of humanity and human communities naturally interact. I visit your house and I see something I really like in the way you decorate the walls in your living room and I go home and incorporate some of those ideas into my own visual landscape. This is how cultural expression naturally works, regardless of power balance. I'll incorporate your good ideas into my creative expression whether you're my boss or I'm yours.
I don't have any problem with this on the face of it. Sharing culture is good and builds community. I think, though, that with the rise of concepts of intellectual property, people and cultures have more and more grasped onto the idea that they own "their" practices and visual markers. Because I don't actually believe in intellectual property,2 it's a hard sell for me. I also think it's hubris and naivete to believe that what you or your culture has produced is all yours—as if it wasn't created through the appropriation of other cultures' intellectual/visual products.
Rather, I see three responsible ways for Good People to deal with reappropriation.
1) Be compassionately invested in world community. The big problem (as I see it) with exocultural appropriation is when it's done by nationalists, people wholly invested in their own community with no interest in the community of others. This is even worse when the appropriating community is oppressing the appropriated culture. The problem then isn't primarily the appropriation but oppression. Evidence: I've yet to find an Asian who was angry at Avatar the Last Airbender's use of distinctly Asian cultural cues, 3 even though the show was forged by a couple of white American males. Why? Because the show and the creators were as respectful as anything.
2) Recognize cheesiness when you see it—and then avoid. Hot Topic is (or was... do they still exist?) the modern American youth's highly commercialized reappropriation of punk cultural cues. They've branded and marketed particular aesthetics that punk culture once used (and may still use, I don't know) to distinguish itself. Hot Topic is so very not punk. And it's obvious to anyone who'd care to notice.
3) When you encounter an individual who is upset by your appropriation of some of their cultural cues, dialogue with them. Discover what you can do to mollify their concerns. Explain that you realize that what you've appropriated doesn't mean the same thing to you as it does to them and explain (not excuse) why you've done the thing you've done. Listen to their complaints and reasons why they're uncomfortable. Learn from each other. Foster community.
That's my off-the-top-of-my-head response. And goes some way toward describing why I don't think we should be bothered by Sergio Toppi's version of the Scheherazade.
Footnotes
1) I'm trying hard here not to open the book for reference because I'll lose way too much time falling again into Toppi's illustrations. It's really an amazing world he's created.
2) It's complicated and I'm still working out for myself what that even means.
3) Which doesn't mean there aren't any, but I think the general thought is that ATLA gets appropriation right.
_____________
[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]
March 5, 2016
These reimagined tales plucked from the Arabian Nights are intriguing, but the real attraction is Sergio Toppi's astonishing artwork. He combines design and storytelling in a way that eliminates the need for panels while still propelling the reader through time and space. His drawings are exquisitely detailed and expressive, balancing shadow and light, culture and costume, hallucination and reality.
The episodic narrative sort of evaporates at the end, but I've rounded up my rating for "Sharaz-De" because sometimes story isn't everything. Some of Toppi's artwork here even dwarfs Moebius. It's hard to imagine a comix fan who wouldn't come away dazzled.
The episodic narrative sort of evaporates at the end, but I've rounded up my rating for "Sharaz-De" because sometimes story isn't everything. Some of Toppi's artwork here even dwarfs Moebius. It's hard to imagine a comix fan who wouldn't come away dazzled.
March 11, 2025
Purtroppo devo dire che come trasposizione non mi piace.
I fatti che avvengono nella cornice della storia mancano di motivazioni, che, per quando discutibili, in "Le mille e una notte" non mancano. E questo rende alcuni personaggi marionette che obbediscono a una trama precostituita, invece che essere loro a darle forma e farla andare avanti (mi riferisco in particolare al sultano Shahriyar).
Inoltre, le tavole hanno uno stile grafico che non disprezzo in sé, ma trovo poco adatto a un fumetto. O, almeno per me, è stato davvero molto difficile (caotico, confusionario) da leggere.
Però mi ha fatto venire voglia di leggere per intero "Le mille e una notte" e trovo che riesce comunque a rendere una certa suggestiva atmosfera.
I fatti che avvengono nella cornice della storia mancano di motivazioni, che, per quando discutibili, in "Le mille e una notte" non mancano. E questo rende alcuni personaggi marionette che obbediscono a una trama precostituita, invece che essere loro a darle forma e farla andare avanti (mi riferisco in particolare al sultano Shahriyar).
Inoltre, le tavole hanno uno stile grafico che non disprezzo in sé, ma trovo poco adatto a un fumetto. O, almeno per me, è stato davvero molto difficile (caotico, confusionario) da leggere.
Però mi ha fatto venire voglia di leggere per intero "Le mille e una notte" e trovo che riesce comunque a rendere una certa suggestiva atmosfera.
Read
March 2, 2025Why go to therapy when you can simply cut some heads?
August 19, 2015
Sharaz-De is an adaptation of The Arabian Nights, or The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, with someone we recall is named Scheherazade. It has an alarming premise of sex and violence. Shahryār discovers his wife is unfaithful, killing her. He travels to his brother's house, finds his wife is unfaithful, and she is killled. Shahryār decides to have sex only with virgins after this, whereupon each morning after he kills them so they will never have the chance to be unfaithful. Nice story, eh? Then, improbably, after all the area virgins are killed, Sharaz-De decides she wants to marry this guy (!) and starts telling him stories to make herself valuable to him. She finishes each story at dawn, and each morning Shahryār agrees to allow her to continue to live. Lucky her, eh?
The stories are a mix of fable, Fairy tales, Islamic philosophy, songs, from various countries. I read them when I was young i a big hardcover book, but couldn't remember having read many of the stories here. Some characters in the tales are familiar to modern audiences, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba, and the stories have been a huge influence on literature, but I generally have found the stories forgettable. I supposes it's because fables and fairy tales are not my favorite forms of literature. They focus on fate, destiny, maybe something to do with the knife that Sharaz-De elected to face every morning, and aspects of Islamic poetry and philosophy run through the tales.
The reason to read this is the art, which is worth looking at even if you skip the stories. A few of them are watercolored, but the black and white are perhaps even more impressive. The fantasy stories really take a back seat to the art, but that they are fantasy gives Toppi the chance to wildly invent. And that he does, though as one the introduction mentioned, Toppi is a master of two things you might not associate with fantasy: his use of white space, and his talent for drawing clear and individualized faces that betray just the right emotions subtly. Worth picking up just to see one of the European comics masters (Toppi died at 79 in 2012) at work. It's a great gift to have these in translation.
The stories are a mix of fable, Fairy tales, Islamic philosophy, songs, from various countries. I read them when I was young i a big hardcover book, but couldn't remember having read many of the stories here. Some characters in the tales are familiar to modern audiences, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba, and the stories have been a huge influence on literature, but I generally have found the stories forgettable. I supposes it's because fables and fairy tales are not my favorite forms of literature. They focus on fate, destiny, maybe something to do with the knife that Sharaz-De elected to face every morning, and aspects of Islamic poetry and philosophy run through the tales.
The reason to read this is the art, which is worth looking at even if you skip the stories. A few of them are watercolored, but the black and white are perhaps even more impressive. The fantasy stories really take a back seat to the art, but that they are fantasy gives Toppi the chance to wildly invent. And that he does, though as one the introduction mentioned, Toppi is a master of two things you might not associate with fantasy: his use of white space, and his talent for drawing clear and individualized faces that betray just the right emotions subtly. Worth picking up just to see one of the European comics masters (Toppi died at 79 in 2012) at work. It's a great gift to have these in translation.
March 13, 2025
Graficamente è pazzesco, un bianco e nero d'impatto che occupa tavole e tavole in maniera particolareggiata. Ogni pagina è disegnata meticolosamente e con uno stile unico.
Il Lettering e i balloons sono veramente brutti però... Anche senza contare i balloons troppo gonfi e il testo non centrato, errori orribili, mi sono trovato più volte a pensare "possibile non avessero un font migliore da usare" ?
Uno dei caratteri principali del racconto era la descrizione (ipotiposi) vivida e fisica di oggetti, animali e luoghi, esercizio letterario di facile gioco per il disegno, direte voi; Toppi rende giustizia alla tecnica consegnandoci disegni particolari e curati di animali, oggetti e personaggi (anche di sfondo) che giocano con le ombre e le forme dei fondali, si mischiano mantenendo la loro unicità.
Sulla qualità dei dialoghi o del testo non posso esprimermi senza esprimere un giudizio verso Le mille e una notte come testo, ma filologicamente parlando dovrei entrare in un vespaio di attestazioni, date e culture (indiana, araba, egiziana, iraniana, persiana) di cui molto poco so e di più ignoro. Dico solo che il testo è esattamente quello che si penserebbe di udire dalla bocca di Sherazade.
Il che ci porta alla grande pecca: la protagonista della cornice e nostra narratrice è pressoché assente.
(Perlomeno in questa parte uno di due).
Per quanto concerne la storia essa è disegnata come una testa parlante e basta, e il suo rapporto/dialogo con il re, che nel finale dopo innumerevoli notti dovrebbe istruire, conquistare e redimere, ricordiamolo, si limita a poche linee di testo fra una storia e l'altra. Se il titolo del fumetto è Sharaz-de perché non mi mostri la scaltrezza della nostra protagonista che ogni notte riesce a gabbare, con la complicità della sorella, questo sciocco monarca? La linea di testo alla fine di ogni capitolo mi basterebbe per una raccolta di racconti, per un fumetto no.
Non chiediamo certamente di disegnarci una odalisca nella danza del ventre, super-apprezzato l'intento di Toppi di rimuovere la patina Ottomana dal racconto, ma almeno di rendere giustizia grafica ad una grande eroina quale Sherazade è.
Il Lettering e i balloons sono veramente brutti però... Anche senza contare i balloons troppo gonfi e il testo non centrato, errori orribili, mi sono trovato più volte a pensare "possibile non avessero un font migliore da usare" ?
Uno dei caratteri principali del racconto era la descrizione (ipotiposi) vivida e fisica di oggetti, animali e luoghi, esercizio letterario di facile gioco per il disegno, direte voi; Toppi rende giustizia alla tecnica consegnandoci disegni particolari e curati di animali, oggetti e personaggi (anche di sfondo) che giocano con le ombre e le forme dei fondali, si mischiano mantenendo la loro unicità.
Sulla qualità dei dialoghi o del testo non posso esprimermi senza esprimere un giudizio verso Le mille e una notte come testo, ma filologicamente parlando dovrei entrare in un vespaio di attestazioni, date e culture (indiana, araba, egiziana, iraniana, persiana) di cui molto poco so e di più ignoro. Dico solo che il testo è esattamente quello che si penserebbe di udire dalla bocca di Sherazade.
Il che ci porta alla grande pecca: la protagonista della cornice e nostra narratrice è pressoché assente.
(Perlomeno in questa parte uno di due).
Per quanto concerne la storia essa è disegnata come una testa parlante e basta, e il suo rapporto/dialogo con il re, che nel finale dopo innumerevoli notti dovrebbe istruire, conquistare e redimere, ricordiamolo, si limita a poche linee di testo fra una storia e l'altra. Se il titolo del fumetto è Sharaz-de perché non mi mostri la scaltrezza della nostra protagonista che ogni notte riesce a gabbare, con la complicità della sorella, questo sciocco monarca? La linea di testo alla fine di ogni capitolo mi basterebbe per una raccolta di racconti, per un fumetto no.
Non chiediamo certamente di disegnarci una odalisca nella danza del ventre, super-apprezzato l'intento di Toppi di rimuovere la patina Ottomana dal racconto, ma almeno di rendere giustizia grafica ad una grande eroina quale Sherazade è.
September 2, 2019
Sharaz-De'yi ilk okuma planıma aldığımda Şehrazad Öyküleri yani 1001 Gece Masalları ile haşır neşir olacağımı düşünmüş, her şeyin çok tanıdık geleceğini varsayarak endişelenmiştim. Ancak Sergio Toppi'nin çizgileri tüm bu duyguların önüne geçti ve beni benden aldı. Eserin, öykülerin bilinirliğine rağmen müthiş bir akıcılık, çizgilerde basit işlenişe rağmen komplike bir derinlik var. Sadeliğin ulaşılması zor mükemmelliği adeta. Kendi yolundan yürüyor. Dört yıldız verdim çünkü çizimlerin abideviliği yanında öykülerin bilinirliği söz konusu. Özgün bir metin olsa çok çok daha fazla puan vermek kaçınılmaz olur. Bu arada Flaneur Yayınları'na bu eseri dilimize armağan ettiği için teşekkür etmek lazım.
May 1, 2021
Fantastic. Gorgeously designed graphic tales of the Arabian Nights. Eleven stories told here, adapted by Toppi for oversized graphic novel page format. Themes of lust, greed, patience, desire, and redemption permeate this book. Toppi's inked black and white and painted color artwork is phenomenal. A must for Fantasy readers as well as anyone interested in 'comic book' design/layout.
December 30, 2021
Надзвичайної краси малюнки та захопливі історії, знайомі ще з дитинства, роблять цю книгу особливою. Любов з першого погляду.
May 6, 2020
Reviewed for Books and livres
Déjà, j'aime beaucoup les contes des mille et une nuits. J'aime les contes, à la base.
Mais là, illustrés magnifiquement par Toppi - l'influence de Klimt se fait encore plus sentir, c'est un véritable festival pour les yeux. Su-perbe !
Déjà, j'aime beaucoup les contes des mille et une nuits. J'aime les contes, à la base.
Mais là, illustrés magnifiquement par Toppi - l'influence de Klimt se fait encore plus sentir, c'est un véritable festival pour les yeux. Su-perbe !
December 26, 2021
Я очікував і не прогадав. Чудовий стиль ілюстрацій - скетчочий та дуже живий. Надихнув мене. Та й історії теж непогані.
August 5, 2016
If I were to have any criticism on this book, it'd be that the amazing art distracts from the story.
December 27, 2017
Beautifully illustrated stories taken from the Arabian Nights; there's some deftness to the writing too but the images are almost enough to tell the narrative on their own.
Better review soon.
Better review soon.
May 13, 2015
A Idade de Ouro Islâmica deu ao Mundo uma lufada de ar fresco no obscurantismo medieval, incluindo diversos clássicos de literatura, onde, para o mundo ocidental, as Mil e Uma Noites tomam o papel principal. Contudo, Toppi não reconta as histórias de Sindbad, Ali Baba ou Aladino. Ao invés, coloca Sharaz-de (Xerazade) a contar histórias a Shahriar (uma por noite, um pouco à semelhança do original) onde entram personagens que, não tendo o objectivo de serem lembradas por si só, servem de mote a uma série de histórias de intuito moral, onde uma perspicaz Sharaz-de (servindo de protótipo da mulher perfeita) leva Shahriar a adiar a sua execução para que volte a contar uma nova história na noite seguinte.
A moral das histórias inventadas por Toppi é condizente com o tipo de invocações morais que o mundo ocidental atribui ao mundo islâmico (não sei se correctamente), pois cada cultura interpreta, à sua maneira, os legados de outrem.
Para mim os contos são bem elaborados, incluindo por diversas vezes a acção dos chamados génios ou djinns, de cujo imaginário não me parece inverosímil tendo em conta a extensa experiência de miragens no deserto por parte daquele povo (tal como a literatura norte-europeia inclui unicórnios e elfos no seu imaginário devido à densa cobertura vegetal existente em tempos e a fenómenos de nevoeiro não raros nesses países, que levaram o imaginário das populações a tentar justificar de alguma forma o incompreensível).
Voltando a Toppi, declaro que o seu traço reflete singularmente a ambiência oriental da sua influência literária. Não raro o autor apresenta as personagens como se já estivessem a movimentar-se no enredo, adicionando fluidez à leitura e reconstruindo os padrões clássicos de narrativa em novela gráfica de forma efectiva, optando por uma sequência narrativa mais solta. Deste modo o ilustrador oferece uma obra de arte em cada página, cuja sequência pode (e deve, pelo menos uma vez) ser apreciada dispensando a leitura da narrativa.
A moral das histórias inventadas por Toppi é condizente com o tipo de invocações morais que o mundo ocidental atribui ao mundo islâmico (não sei se correctamente), pois cada cultura interpreta, à sua maneira, os legados de outrem.
Para mim os contos são bem elaborados, incluindo por diversas vezes a acção dos chamados génios ou djinns, de cujo imaginário não me parece inverosímil tendo em conta a extensa experiência de miragens no deserto por parte daquele povo (tal como a literatura norte-europeia inclui unicórnios e elfos no seu imaginário devido à densa cobertura vegetal existente em tempos e a fenómenos de nevoeiro não raros nesses países, que levaram o imaginário das populações a tentar justificar de alguma forma o incompreensível).
Voltando a Toppi, declaro que o seu traço reflete singularmente a ambiência oriental da sua influência literária. Não raro o autor apresenta as personagens como se já estivessem a movimentar-se no enredo, adicionando fluidez à leitura e reconstruindo os padrões clássicos de narrativa em novela gráfica de forma efectiva, optando por uma sequência narrativa mais solta. Deste modo o ilustrador oferece uma obra de arte em cada página, cuja sequência pode (e deve, pelo menos uma vez) ser apreciada dispensando a leitura da narrativa.
August 19, 2015
I read this one in the spring and forgot to review it but then saw a goodreads friend had just read it and it sparked my memory. A beautiful retelling of the Arabian Nights that manages to capture the high stakes intensity in a way no other version I've read has done. Toppi's "Sharaz-De" singularly evokes the king's emotional pain as well as his immature, self-centered cruelty, while still offering a sense of romance and expansiveness (night after night unfolding in endless stories told by Sharaz-De to captivate, educate, and, in a sense, tame him.)
The art is dramatic, big, mostly black and white, which makes the use of color all the more wondrous.
Sometimes I found the drama to be a bit heavy. The story and art can wrestle with each other for the spotlight, and I couldn't always absorb them both simultaneously. In that way it felt almost more like an adult picture book than what I consider to be sequential art/graphic fiction, which gives me a lot to think about. All in all, in content and style, it offers a through-provoking and rich experience.
The art is dramatic, big, mostly black and white, which makes the use of color all the more wondrous.
Sometimes I found the drama to be a bit heavy. The story and art can wrestle with each other for the spotlight, and I couldn't always absorb them both simultaneously. In that way it felt almost more like an adult picture book than what I consider to be sequential art/graphic fiction, which gives me a lot to think about. All in all, in content and style, it offers a through-provoking and rich experience.
February 2, 2018
Li os dois volumes de uma tacada só. Sergio Toppi parte de um material que em si já é primoroso e consegue torná-lo melhor ainda. Primeiro, pela seleção das histórias, desprezando as mais conhecidas e adaptadas, e jogando luz sobre algumas pequenas joias. E depois, pela forma como transpõe essas histórias para o papel. Cada página é uma pequena obra-prima. Mas minha parte preferida são os epílogos mostrando o que estão fazendo os habitantes de Bagdá nas auroras em que Sharaz-de consegue adiar por mais um dia a sua execução, borrando as fronteiras entre fantasia e realidade.
October 30, 2014
The artwork in this piece was truly spectacular!! I would recommend this book for the art alone as it is the visuals in this novel that create the lyricism and poignancy of the story.
October 9, 2017
Beautiful art
November 24, 2022
Sergio Toppi is someone I frequently see described as one of the greatest artists ever to have worked in comics, and now, finally having read something by him, I can absolutely see why. His artwork is elaborate, intricate, wild and expressive. It eschews straightforward realist representation in favour of story-serving abstraction – never approaching what would be considered “cartoon”, but nonetheless evocatively stretching forms and figures and including rich visual metaphors. Each spread is a flawlessly composed unit, often lacking any conventional panel borders at all, and always deftly guiding the reader's eye across the page. Most of Sharaz-De is in black and white, with stunning chiaroscuro contrast and generous use of negative space, but the two chapters in colour look no less amazing, their shifting palettes creating a dreamlike, otherworldly quality.
Unfortunately, to put it bluntly, the stories in Sharaz-De don't come close to living up to the art. They're based on the famous collection of Middle Eastern folktales One Thousand and One Nights, though I have no idea how faithfully. In any case, the stories have a nice sense of magic and wonder, but they’re quite formulaic and unremarkable in their structure and actual narrative, generally involving supernatural beings delivering comeuppance to wealthy men for their hubris, greed or selfishness. They're enjoyable enough as escapist "comfort food", but their plots are predictable and the endings are often unsatisfyingly abrupt.
Someone who reads comics first and foremost for their stories may be disappointed here, but anyone looking for impressive comic art should be more than satisfied. Toppi is without doubt right up there with Alberto Breccia and Philippe Druillet as a master of free-wheeling, boundary-pushing visuals.
Unfortunately, to put it bluntly, the stories in Sharaz-De don't come close to living up to the art. They're based on the famous collection of Middle Eastern folktales One Thousand and One Nights, though I have no idea how faithfully. In any case, the stories have a nice sense of magic and wonder, but they’re quite formulaic and unremarkable in their structure and actual narrative, generally involving supernatural beings delivering comeuppance to wealthy men for their hubris, greed or selfishness. They're enjoyable enough as escapist "comfort food", but their plots are predictable and the endings are often unsatisfyingly abrupt.
Someone who reads comics first and foremost for their stories may be disappointed here, but anyone looking for impressive comic art should be more than satisfied. Toppi is without doubt right up there with Alberto Breccia and Philippe Druillet as a master of free-wheeling, boundary-pushing visuals.
December 6, 2023
Both the stories and the illustrations in this stunning graphic novel are delightful, but the highlight for me was the backstory on how this book came to be translated into English. The foreword from a modern day graphic novel writer about discovering the works of Sergio Toppi and having to go to conventions and obscure bookshops is a sad reminder of what could have been. I wish Sergio Toppi could have gotten the international recognition he deserved.
The story is that of Scheherazade and the 1001 Arabian Nights. Two sons of a king have a fallout, which leads to one prince becoming a serial killer (hey, I'm not going to shy away from the horror of the story) to exact his revenge on the female sex. He forces a woman to marry him each day, then has her executed at sunrise. Sharaz-De is clever and entices him with stories. Each night, after a good story, he decides not to execute her till the next day.
The stories are indeed quite dark and most have more of a fable feel than fairy tale. Some are slightly more happy than others, but these are not feel-good tales. The illustrations really evoke emotion and look like they are emerging from simple lines of ink.
The story is that of Scheherazade and the 1001 Arabian Nights. Two sons of a king have a fallout, which leads to one prince becoming a serial killer (hey, I'm not going to shy away from the horror of the story) to exact his revenge on the female sex. He forces a woman to marry him each day, then has her executed at sunrise. Sharaz-De is clever and entices him with stories. Each night, after a good story, he decides not to execute her till the next day.
The stories are indeed quite dark and most have more of a fable feel than fairy tale. Some are slightly more happy than others, but these are not feel-good tales. The illustrations really evoke emotion and look like they are emerging from simple lines of ink.
May 13, 2020
I picked it up in exactly the right time and mood: in these uncertain times when time itself seems to have lost its meaning, being taken on a journey to 1001 Nights by someone whose artistic vision is so delightfully timeless was an absolute treat. Is it Martian or Persian? Is it African or metaphoric? It is rich and evocative for sure, and you decide the rest. I read it in a very poetic Russian translation, and the text was a sing-song recognizable like old tales, and stylized almost to the point of dissolving in the pictures. And the illustrations, gosh. So beautiful and layered, and so easy to get lost in, and yes, such a blend of imagery that is neither here nor there, but kind of timelessly everywhere.
I usually ignore the forewords by translators, because they often verexplain things or divulge“more information about penguins that I care to know” but here, I appreciated as a chance to have a conversation along the lines of “Did you feel this way about it? Yeah, me too”
Absolutely delighted that I have this book on paper on my shelves.
I usually ignore the forewords by translators, because they often verexplain things or divulge“more information about penguins that I care to know” but here, I appreciated as a chance to have a conversation along the lines of “Did you feel this way about it? Yeah, me too”
Absolutely delighted that I have this book on paper on my shelves.
April 25, 2020
Obviously the thing to talk about is the amazing artwork, as the tale of Scheherazade is a pretty well known classic.
The art reminded me of so many things, from the concept artists Ian McCaig and Dermot Power, who worked on the Harry Potter and Star Wars films, to Jack Kirby’s designs (particularly his Julius Caesar designs), as well as Dave McKean and Brian Froud, who capture fantasy in two very different ways. I particularly loved the designs of the judges and holy men, as well as that of the evil king. I was, however, really put off by the fact that two issues were randomly in color. I will admit to not enjoying that.
The stories were pretty fun however. I particularly enjoyed both the tale of the djinn who turned the man into a dog, as well as those about the merciful general and the dwarf.
Particular highlight for me was the line about the spittle from a foul dragon, as well as the iguana-esque art that accompanied it.
The art reminded me of so many things, from the concept artists Ian McCaig and Dermot Power, who worked on the Harry Potter and Star Wars films, to Jack Kirby’s designs (particularly his Julius Caesar designs), as well as Dave McKean and Brian Froud, who capture fantasy in two very different ways. I particularly loved the designs of the judges and holy men, as well as that of the evil king. I was, however, really put off by the fact that two issues were randomly in color. I will admit to not enjoying that.
The stories were pretty fun however. I particularly enjoyed both the tale of the djinn who turned the man into a dog, as well as those about the merciful general and the dwarf.
Particular highlight for me was the line about the spittle from a foul dragon, as well as the iguana-esque art that accompanied it.
January 8, 2026
Tempo fa una persona mi consigliò di dare uno sguardo alle opere di Sergio Toppi perché secondo lei il suo stile ben si adattava ai miei gusti. Aveva pienamente ragione.
Adoro la Sharaz-de di Toppi non solo per il tratto così particolareggiato, arabescato ed al contempo essenziale (soprattutto nelle tavole a china dotate di maggiore forza ed incisività rispetto a quelle a colori), per la costruzione delle tavole originale e fuori da molti schemi, per questo gioco di tratti, linee e cerchi che rendono vivo un personaggio al di là di ogni immaginazione; l'adoro soprattutto per il suo simbolismo, per le figure metaforiche e oniriche, per la narrazione fabulistica ed evocatrice, per questo nascere e morire di un disegno nell'altro, della parola nella figura, in un moto circolare che come il vento fluttua di pagina in pagina...
October 8, 2019
Master draftsman, Sergio Toppi, tells several brutal stories concerning the cruelty of petty kings within his Arabian fantasy that are framed by the tale of a woman who spins stories nightly to stop such a king from murdering the young women of his kingdom. Though the original One Thousand and One Nights has a great variety to its tales, Toppi chose those that were united by their subjects’ depraved natures and while that gave this album a cohesiveness, it also became monotonous. The artwork, however, still feels fresh after four decades and contains the emotional range that was missing in the written text. So, while Sharaz-de is impressive within its own right, for me it better served as a teaser to Toppi’s original works which I hope will be more balanced.
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June 24, 2017Extraordinary artwork, but uninspired storytelling. There are roughly half a dozen tales from The Arabian Nights here, mostly ones in which foolish or greedy people meet some horrific fate. There is no real resolution to the frame story about Scheherazade and her king, either. I found the artwork so stylized and static that it was more a series of moments from the story, rather than a partner to the storytelling in the way characteristic of the best graphic novels. After a while, I began to page through the stories more quickly, finding there was little to distinguish one story from the next.
February 23, 2020
A set of tales using the framing device as set forth in the 1,001 Nights. These follow a similar format as the classic text with men being plagued by the whims of Jinn, or not heeding the advice of Jinn and thus dooming themselves. What stands out here from the story is the incredibly jagged art of the author. Each line of each pattern spins around in a discordant tone to create an incredible image, imitative of order being rendered from chaos. You could easily spend an hour admiring each page.
August 30, 2020
Esasen bin bir gece masallarını sevmem, masallar Şehrazat'ın can korkusuyla Şehriyar'ın yıkıcı ve batasıca erkeklik gururu arasındaki tehlikeli bir balanstan ibarettir. Ama Toppi'nin deseni işi bambaşka bir boyuta taşımış, her paneli ayrı sanat eseri, baktıkça daha önce göremediğin detayları görüyorsun. Kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
December 4, 2022
Un lavoro autoriale di straordinaria sensibilità artistica. Dalla sceneggiatura emerge il tema dell'uomo atavicamente rovinato dai vizi e dalla lussuria (tutto coerente con lo stile dei racconti delle Mille a una Notte), ma è lo stile grafico a strabiliare con immagini oniriche, astratte e sfumate che si rifanno all'espressionismo della scuola figurativa tedesca.
August 4, 2019
I actually can not remember when I read this but since I started reading The Collected TOPPI Volume One: The Enchanted World it triggered the memory of how INSANELY AMAZING the work of Sergio Toppi is.
November 3, 2020
no words can describe the joy of drowning in the endless scribbles that fills these pages and going over and over how the frames are arranged seamlessly taking the yes in a wonderful journey that makes you forget all about the story being told!
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