Artist Chaz Truog is fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci. He was also fascinated by the fact that Leonardo adopted a boy who spent the next quarter-century with him, whom he referred to only as Salai--little devil. Truog saw a story in this and broached it to writers McGreal and David Rawson. Intrigued, the latter even descried a resemblance between Leonardo's Head of a Youth and the head of Michelangelo's David. Of such fixations was born this graphic novel following Leonardo's career primarily from the perspective of Salai. Plucked from abusive, semicriminal parents by Leonardo because of his beauty, Salai is depicted as fully deserving Leonardo's only characterization of him: "obstinate, thief, liar and glutton." Add to that egoist, manipulator, backbiter, slut, athlete, risk taker, surprisingly loyal assistant, and, of course, first-class stunner, and you have the perfect antihero for believably picaresque historical fiction. Which, thanks to tight scripting, pungent two-level (polite and gutter) dialogue, top-drawer mainstream-comics artwork, intense coloring, and good research, is what this is--and sans superheroes, not excepting that extraordinary human, Leonardo. Ray Olson
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