Tanpopo Volume 1 & 2 by Camilla d'Errico

Beautiful hard cover graphics novels in giant sized format. That's what you get when you purchase Tanpopo volume 1 & 2. I did this just last week. It took a little while for the local shop to get Volume 1 and I never buy a volume 2 anything if I don't already have number 1. Anyway, they got it and now I have it.

Collectively these two books are center stage as some of the most beautiful graphic novels I've ever purchased. Not only is the layout for cover and back beautiful, but volume two actually has two covers with two different sets of art work.

The story Tanpopo is inspired by several classic literary works from around the world. Camilla weaves them together to create a new story about a little girl who breaks free from the confines of the machine she has been attached to all her life. She is accompanied by a shape-shifting devil who gives her lessons in human emotion. She is pushed far.. too far? Among the two volumes you will find inspiration from Faust, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and 1001 Arabian Nights.

The images are hauntingly beautiful. Each panel would reveal the story simply in the emotional response it evokes regardless of the prose intertwined with the artwork. There are plans to have five volumes in total in the Tanpopo collection. I can't wait to see what is in store.