I. L

E-268: CASTERMAN. Very Good. 2006. Paperback. Trade PB. 8vo. Casterman, Paris, France. 2006. 336 pgs. Wrappers lightly worn with some light shelf-wear to the extremities present. Book is free of ownership marks. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. I. L: behind these curious initials hides perhaps a goddess, a chimera or a simple doll, who can know... I. L is a chameleon woman, who takes on the face of the absent, the dead, or the loved one. The young filmmaker Daisaku meets her in the home of Count Alucard - a name which, read backwards, is very familiar to us - where she rests, locked in a coffin. Angel of beauty, I. L becomes, through her gift of metamorphosis, the actress Daisaku has always dreamed of to stage... Reality. She thus fulfills, at the request, the last request of a condemned man, takes on the appearance of the lover of yesteryear for a patient, plays a trick on the husband who is more interested in butterflies than in his wife, or becomes a former Vietnam soldier's worst nightmare. Through this fantastic tale, the "God of manga" Osamu Tezuka revisits universal themes with an unconstrained imagination: I. L speaks of life, death, love, betrayal and hate, revealed when each character finds himself confronted with his fantasies, his cowardice or his fears. An incredible exploration of human nature. EB; 8.2 X 6.0 X 0.9 inches; 336 pages .