Friday at Zenda. Friday of comics. On this occasion, Friday brings us The Little Vampir: The Power of the Dragon, the latest installment in the children’s series by the French graphic artist Joann Sfar (Nice, 1971), published in Spain by the publishing house Fulgencio Pimentel with translations handled by César Sánchez Rodríguez and Rubén Lardín Carballo. One of the most famous and internationally respected contemporary comics authors, Sfar has shone over the years thanks to his biting wit, sense of humor, and the fierce edge inherent in his drawings: Vampir has been one of the great protagonists throughout that journey. His child-friendly version, The Little Vampir, finds a slightly more naive path—in tone—to continue exploring some of the great absurdities of the world we live in. Fantasy, social commentary and acidity are fused throughout a deliciously entertaining album.
The publisher itself notes about the book: “There comes a moment in life when, suddenly, everything you’re given to read is a bore. Predictable stories, synopses that look like poor copies of TV, moralizing by the ton. The horror.
Then they are surprised that so many children who seemed to have found a liking for reading drop it from one day to the next
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Joann Sfar hits it big with a series aimed at kids fed up with being treated like idiots. This may look like literature, but it’s also a laugh. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Dragons, misfits, role-playing, adulterous grandfathers, jokes about Nazis, fantasies with recurring girls… In short, happiness.
For readers aged 9 to 99 years.”
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Author: Joann Sfar. Translation: César Sánchez Rodríguez and Rubén Lardín Carballo. Title: The Little Vampir: The Power of the Dragon. Publisher: Fulgencio Pimentel. Sales: All Your Books.