Niger is sort of like a lusher, more sophisticated Owly: a woodland animal fable scratchboard -- featuring some really fine (in both senses of the word)  scratchboard work.

Here are the three latest issues in the ongoing Ignatz series of high quality comics that are co-produced by Italy's Coconino Press and America's Fantagraphics Books.  Each is produced to the highest of standards:   32 magazine-size pages printed on heavy flat cream-colored stock with wrap-around French-flapped dustjackets.  Niger and Baobab are printed in duo-tone and Reflections in Black & White.  And, yes, the work presented here is uniformly worthy of the format, with Baobab, by Ignatz series editor Igort, being the clear standout -- a graphic tour de force that is one of the finest works on the market.