This was pleasant read. The sarcastic and subtle humor are really nice. But the artwork is a bit quirky.

Based on real people, just real people I didn't care about. There is no story here. It's just some artists having a conversation. The characters were never really introduced either. I didn't know who was who. This was just not any good.

Honestly, I thought I would enjoy this story more. Unfortunately, I learned more from the characters from the short description from the actual story. A story about Edward Weston and his mistress Tina and the art world found in Mexico in the mid 1920s.
Got the idea that sex and freedom were perceived to be a critical element to creating great art reflecting the politics of the times.
Maybe I am too critical, but there was no depth to the characters and I didn’t understand what was driving them. Maybe a little more background or knowledge on my part would have made this book more meaningful. I was hoping to learn about these people and the time period but didn’t.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Europe Comics, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2331127361

*arc received in exchange for an honest review*

Not the graph novel i was expecting when reading the blurb posted online. The story wasn't really explained, it jumped around a lot and it was hard keeping track since i didn't really know what the hell was going on except they ran away from all their problems to mexico and loved art. I won't be continuing and i'm disappointed. there was so much potential here.

Based on real historical characters who were instrumental in the development of art, photography the work of Edward Weston with the developing interest of Tina Modotti his mistress, model and one who desired to take her own photographs and the murals Diego Rivera for whom Modetti also modelled.
A comic book format tells the story of a group of diverse individuals who coalesced in a movement of expression and freedom in Mexico.
Beautifully illustrated it is the story of Theo a contempory of this group who takes a taxi to where Tina died initially in suspcious circumstances passed off as a heart attack.
He takes the cab driver back to a bar and relates the story of Tina Modotti. Save that he was gay you would think he was in love with her and deeply mourns her untimely death. when talking to the taxi driver he says of him "Lucky man, Lucky man!. Unrequited love has no end!" Perhaps also telling the same to himself.
Theo also asks the cabbie " Do you know the fundamental imperatives of artistic expression and political action?" I'm not sure I did even after reading this initial part of the story, which here focuses on Tina's influence. Rivera is attributed here to say that because art is a collective expression he was in favour of mural paintings so they will always belong to the people. Modotti is the speach bubbled to say, "you mean socialisation of creation".
Because these are historical characters such a gentle comic format with fine drawing allows the reader to almost fall into the political drama and it leads me to want to read more widely around this movement in Mexico.
'After hearing about her death, Diego Rivera suggested that Vidali had orchestrated it. Modotti may have 'known too much' about Vidali's activities in Spain, which included a rumoured 400 executions.' Tina Modotti - Wikipedia. It also quotes " Poet Pablo Neruda composed Modotti's epitaph"
' Pure your gentle name, pure your fragile life,
bees, shadows, fire, snow, silence and foam,
combined with steel and wire and
pollen to make up your firm
and delicate being. '
So in summary. An introduction, actually just part Iwhich has annoyed other reviewers as it ends abruptly. however for me it has opened up a new period of history and larger than life characters about whom I would enjoy learning more some day.

'The Summer of Irreverence: Part One' by Denis Lapiere with art by Ruben Pellejero is a story about artists living in Mexico in the 1920s.

Edward Weston is mourning the loss of his mistress Tina Modotti. He takes a cabbie to a bar and tells the story of how they met. There is also mention of his photography, and famous people like Diego Rivera, Xavier Guerrero and other artists in Mexcio at the time. There are oddly profound and disjointed statements about art that seem to come out of art critique books. The story comes to an end somewhere before we find out what led to Tina's death.

It sounded interesting when I requested a review copy, but it had a hard time keeping me interested in the story. The art had heavy lines, and felt a bit loose and disjointed in the way figures were presented. There was a lot of interesting things happening in Mexico at this time, and this story seems to only mention them in passing. If I'd been that taxi driver, I would have left the bar pretty quickly.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Annoyingly ending at the midway point of the story, this graphic novel has a rather limited audience - that of those interested in Mexican art, Mexican history, and/or dramas of hedonistic Mexican cultural types bed-hopping. There is little of the politics, a bit of sauciness, and little in the way of art - meaning that ultimately this effort to make a scene stand out against any one of the numerous historical cliques running in parallel kind of fails. Being dumped so inconclusively, I'm not too worried about being allowed to see the second half.