Bardin der Superrealist #[nn]

A wonderfully offbeat gem from Spanish cartoonist Max, this German-language Reprodukt edition collects the surreal misadventures of Bardín — rendered here in Max's distinctively clean, deceptively simple ligne-claire style. The cover sets the tone perfectly: a large-headed, bald little man in a suit crouches on a sandy beach, peering through a magnifying glass at a tiny bowler-hatted figure, while a lighthouse, ships, and scattered bystanders populate the warm orange-hued horizon behind him. It's a quietly absurdist image that promises exactly the kind of deadpan, imaginative storytelling — "seine taten, äußerungen, einfälle und abenteuer" (his deeds, utterances, ideas, and adventures) — that makes Bardín such a singular character in European alternative comics.