Casanova #1

The whole time I was reading this book I could not help but see the world of the Umbrella Academy. With Gabriel Ba providing art on both titles, and the fact that both Gerard Way and Matt Fraction both use an assortment of strange hard sci-fi characters, it was hard for me to understand if Casanova took place in it's own brand new world.

I re-read the second half of the book to understand the story more and started to feel a bit more comfortable with the comic of the day as it's own entity, but Ba's art is so distinctive and story defining that I have a hard time separating the Umbrella Academy and Casanova. Casanova, the title character, looked a bit like the Kraken from Umbrella Academy, too. I enjoy Ba's art, but it may be hard for me to ever accept it into other stories and publisher's books.

Casanova #1 was an interesting enough story for me to care about. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for this book; however, by the time a reader gets through the end mini-story (with art by Fabio Moon) from within the first story that Fraction puts together, the reader will realize that the book has it's charm and a reason to pick up the following issue.