Four Eyes, Vol. 1: Forged in Flames

This Depression-era period piece focuses on 10-year-old Enrico, the son of Italian immigrants to New York City, who finds himself picking up the family business when his father is killed. Said business is procuring eggs from the lairs of dragons so the hatchlings can be used in the lucrative world of what amounts to dragon-centric cockfighting. After entering the employ of a mob boss, Enrico is badly injured during his first foray into egg stealing, when his team encounters a massive fire-breathing beast in the flesh. His companions abandon him, but he is saved by a newly hatched runt dragon. Returning from the lair with the hatchling in tow, Enrico sets about training it in secret, aiming to use his pet for vengeance against the crime boss. Fiumara's swirling black-and-white art captures both gritty Depression life and majestic, terrifying dragons, making an evocative tapestry that's an unusual work of genre-splicing. (July)