ONE MORE IGNATZ

The first wave consisted of three books, this one actually being the first.

BAOBAB #1
Written and Drawn by Igort
Published by Fantagraphics

Igort’s entry into the Ignatz series is easily the most ambitious of the lot. Unlike the other two volumes, which focused on “one and done” stories, BAOBAB is a multi-chapter start to what appears will be a longer and more in-depth work.

The story takes place at the same time on two different continents during September, 1910. In the more focused story, we meet a young Japanese boy named Hiroshi and see him perform some of his youthful duties, which include visiting a sad woman who has lost her son and taking care of his grandmother. Across the world in South America, a man named Celestino begins working on his career as a cartoonist under the watchful eye of his depressed sister. There is only a thematic link between the two stories in this first section, but it allows Igort to spread his wings and show off his ability to adapt his art style to his characters.

Hiroshi’s story has a very distinct Japanese look to it, but not in the sense that it looks like manga; instead, it looks more like traditional Japanese art that you’d find in paintings from the late nineteenth century through the time period Igort is depicting. Celestino’s story has a much more European flavor to it with a dash to (the acknowledged on the back cover) Winsor McCay. What intrigues me is whether or not the two characters’ stories will merge somewhere down the road, and what those pages might look like.

Here’s where things get weird for me, though. While technically and artistically superior to the other two Ignatz books I’d read so far, I enjoyed BAOBAB the least. I never got as invested in the characters as I did in the other volumes, and I wasn’t yet compelled by anything in either storyline to see something transcendent somewhere down the road in the story. That’s obviously a function of this being a first chapter from a longer work, but it’s also a risk you take when you pace out your story as an artist and writer.

Now, let’s see where the second wave takes us.

/Mason