The tremendous first comic book by Mario Rivière, one of the great illustrators of this country, is an unhealthy, brilliant, and delicious brutality.

Welcome to Ciudad Despojo! A Dantean and dangerous hole where normality does not exist. Strange religious cults, charismatic psychopaths, anthropophagous gods, heroes on the verge of mental collapse, astonishing mutations, or brave lysergic detectives roam its streets in a succession of situations where reality twists in a poisonous and absurd way. Prepare for a frantic journey to a dystopian, absurd, and terrifying world that could well be ours in a few years.

Amanece en Ciudad Despojo, the tremendous first comic book by Mario Rivière, one of the great illustrators of this country, is a feverish, disjointed, and overwhelming collection of short stories, fragments of unreality, nightmare sketches, nerve-wracking advertising moments, and strange "comic" strips, a debut destined to become a cult classic and an impressive display of the brilliance and blessed savagery of a stratospheric artist.

Rivière, unleashing his passion for the strange, shakes a dangerous cocktail shaker mixing without restraint underground and independent comics, the classic 1950s EC horror, the most deranged moments of Golden Age comics, abundant black humor, pulp, horror cinema, B-movies, Z-movies—and whatever comes after—punk, noir, grimy action cinema, terrifying cults and conspiranoia, the craziest manga, true crime, martial arts, and everything capable of destroying brain mass. So be careful! If you have any affection for your neuronal activity, put this artifact back where you found it and run away! But if (rejecting our recommendation) you decide to go ahead, let us welcome you to Ciudad Despojo: we wish you a stay worthy of what you deserve.

Mario Rivière (Madrid, 1975) is one of the great illustrators of this country. You probably have a book or a record with one of his covers. You might even have a record of his where he unleashes his golden history in national punk rock (Aerobitch, Muletrain, ROBO…). What is clear is that Rivière, with his art, pays tribute to pulp, science fiction, the absurd, underground culture, and blessed madness!