Matt Fraction begins album two in midst of the adventures of his jet set acid trip vaguely spyish thrill joy of a masterpiece. This time it's without his trusted co-pilot of the first seven issues, Gabriel Ba. It's to the credit of both Moon and Fraction that the change of artist is barely felt and the beat marches on. The second album (Fraction refers to the first seven issues as album one, and this is album two) begins with the title character Casanova Quinn sitting in a hospital bed feeling like death. From there, things explode into an orgy of action, crosses, double crosses, and comic meta-moments. This is everything you found lecherous and dangerous in the James Bond films puked out through an hallucinatory kaleidescope of post-modern comic writing. If there's a sex, drugs, and rock and roll book out there, Casanova is it.
Fraction's baby is nothing if not a complete assault on the senses, one that's bound to bounce your brain around like the bell in a rattle. Fabio Moon, as previously noted, picks up perfectly where Ba left off, keeping perfect pace with Fraction's virtuoso scatological mind flip of an adventure.
This is a book that you just feel cooler for having read. And this is the first issue of the new arc. You don't really need to have read the first seven issues to jump in and enjoy these waters. But if you are so inclined, the hardcover collecting the first seven issues is out in all it's beauty and definitely worth the price tag.
Casanova is one of those “duh” indie books that you pick up consistently and without even giving it a second thought. If you like smart, sexy, lunatic, and clever then you will like Casanova.
