The Complete Crepax: Dracula, Frankenstein, and Other Horror Stories

Erotic comics master Crepax, who died in 2003, never made much of an impact in the U.S. during his lifetime. Like so many bleeding-edge European artists, he was simply operating a few decades ahead of delicate American sensibilities. This deluxe collection leads the charge on introducing the Italian artist, and does it with guns blazing. This first of a planned 10-volume complete set of Crepax reissues offers a beautiful and extremely expansive introduction to the artist's work with little attention to chronology, instead collecting stories from across his long career. His adaptations of the classic horror novels Dracula and Frankenstein get top billing, but the real star of this massive tome is Valentina, Crepax's most beloved creation, an empowered figure of sexual liberation (inspired by silent film actress Louise Brooks) whose adventures operate on an otherworldly plane of reality. Crepax's rough but fluid black-and-white art marries Jazz Age excess with psychedelic science fiction, illustrating stories built on their own oft-confusing dream logic. The tales recall the work of avant-garde film makers such as Alejandro Jodorowsky, presenting sometimes baffling narratives that are idiosyncratically beautiful and well worth exploring. (Mar.)