A review by dosymedia
Sharaz-De: Tales from the Arabian Nights by Sergio Toppi

4.0

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.