Black Project #[nn]

Gareth Brookes' Black Project, published by La Boîte à Bulles in 2017, announces itself with one of the most distinctive covers you'll find on a comics shelf — rendered in what appears to be lino-cut and embroidery on fabric, giving it the feel of a genuinely handcrafted object. At the center, a wide-eyed young woman with long dark hair radiates outward like a saint in a folk-art icon, while four cameo portraits in the corners introduce a curly-haired woman, a bug-eyed skeletal figure, a ghoulish open-mouthed face, and a more composed female portrait — an ensemble that hints at something darkly comic and deeply personal. The tactile, textile aesthetic is arresting and unlike almost anything else in the medium.