Wish You Were Here

(Fantagraphics, 2005-2006, 2010)
™ and © Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

The third book in Fantagraphics’ Ignatz series (see also Baobab and Insomnia) presents the series’ most coherent, intelligible story yet.

Uncle Gil takes his nephew Andrea along to meet an old friend who’s recently been released from prison. Gil and Andrea drive along a desolate coastal landscape as Gil recounts the story of his wayward youth and the events leading up to his friend Valerio’s arrest.

Italian writer/artist Gipi draws sharp contrasts between exuberant young Andrea’s guileless innocence the tragic void left by Valerio’s corruption, while Uncle Gil inhabits an ambivalent middle position.

— Leland Burrill

From the Comics Buyer’s Guide:

Among the initial offerings from Fantagraphics’ fledgling Ignatz line, this effort is probably the finest. Ignatz is a new line of comics by both American and foreign creators whose format is kind of an amalgamation of an American comic book and a European graphic novel.

Italian creator Gipi’s story features a former gang member named Gil, whose brutalization by police during his gang days is told through flashback via a story to his young nephew. The boy’s outing with his uncle takes a turn, however, when Gil gets a call from one of his former and similarly victimized friends.

Through Gil’s account, one will readily understand why a story about friends from a gang could be subtitled The Innocents. As youths, Gil and his friends repeatedly found themselves being harassed by local law enforcement that presumes guilt all too easily by virtue of the fact that they belong to a gang, despite no crime having been committed by them (at least, per Gil’s account). In 32 simple pages, Gipi’s character is nonetheless likeable: a tough feat in most introductory stories.

— Jim Johnson

Jump to issue:

Notes

Writer

Artist

#1

August, 2005
Cover Price: $7.95
1 copy available for $2.50

Gipi