Casanova: Luxuria - Matt Fraction (w) Fábio Moon (a)Image, $14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4863-0
Poor Matt Fraction. His early work on titles like Mantooth and Five Fists of Science showed intelligence, creativity and a unique new voice in comics. We knew he’d go on to bigger, better things. So, when he began work on Iron Fist and wrote those Thor one-shots that were seemingly soundtracked by Viking metal, it was exciting. Sadly, it wasn’t long before he got dragged down into pan-company crossovers and Greg Land began turning his X-Men comics into all-too-obvious porn tracings. One can’t help imagine that the decline was preceded with a trip to room 101 and a rousing chorus of “I love Big Brother.” Thank heavens, then, for Casanova.
Begun with Image as an experiment in form and publishing — a self-contained story every issue, with a $1.99 price point — it lasted 12 issues, covering two story arcs. Each arc was illustrated, beautifully, by one of the twin artists Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. And then it vanished for two years, only to be resurrected at Marvel’s Icon imprint, this time in full colour. This second collection arrives as the third story arc begins to make its debut on the spinner racks.Casanova captures everything that is great about Fraction’s writing: it’s smart, literate, endlessly inventive and, above all, a whole lot of fun. Casanova Quinn is a secret agent, living a second life in a parallel universe, where he works for an organization called E.M.P.I.R.E., run by his father. The big bad is an evil genius called Xeno, who runs W.A.S.T.E. and might just be Thomas Pynchon (and since he spends all his time covered in bandages, who’s to say otherwise?). Quinn is notably absent — lost in time — for most of this volume, giving the spotlight over to a blue-skinned alien, Sasa Lisi, who is searching for him in order to preserve the integrity of the multiquintessence…whatever that is. In this mind-bending plot, it takes all the best strands of the spy genre and smashes them together with Michael Moorcock sci-fi weirdness (that Casanova’s dad is called Cornelius is an obvious nod in this direction).
What’s brilliant about the narrative is that it has a stream-of-consciousness edge to it, that manic edge of creativity that comes from inventing an entire world and having it play by your rules. Much like those Hitchhiker’s Guide radio shows where Adams was literally making it up as they went along, it feels like we’re reading Fraction’s freeform experiments in storytelling. What saves it from being a mess, though, is his innate sense of structure, so that all the strange leaps in logic and bizarre plot twists hit the right story-beats, holding the whole thing together. In the end, all the loose-lying plot strands are tied-up and in its final few pages, it might just make sense after all. Fraction may be unafraid to experiment, but he’s still a consummate storyteller.
Also there to temper the weirdness is the art of Fábio Moon. His brushwork is self-assured enough to render even the wildest flights of fancy in a loose, stylish way that still gels with the story. Moon is a very different creature to Fraction, though, and while the weirdness of the story would have most artists turning to the dark and grotesque, he instead turns to glamour and high fashion. In Casanova, the women are all impossibly beautiful, the men immaculately tailored and, all the tech coated in a futurist sheen that places the book in an appropriately disjointed timeline. It’s hard to ignore the seductive nature of his art and, in a way, it’s what really sells the book. After all, what is a spy movie without sex appeal?
It’s refreshing when a comic has the substance to support its style — and vice-versa. It’s also a real pleasure to see mainstream creators get back to their indie roots and let their creativity run wild, indulging all their whims, with nary a thought for continuity or breaking someone else’s toys. It bears repeating: Thank heavens, then, for Casanova.
-- Gavin Lees
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