ISAAC MIZRAHI PRESENTS THE ADVENTURES OF SANDEE THE SUPERMODEL

Well-known designer Mizrahi scripts a trio of adventures for his fictional supermodel, Sandee, a ``really, really real'' beauty from Bountiful, Utah, who takes Manhattan by storm under the tutelage of her best friend and discoverer, Yvesaac Mizrahi, an alter ego whose only difference from his creator is about 30 pounds and a carefully chiseled chin. The unusual presentation- -three oversized, full-color comics in a portfolio—is intended no doubt to justify the high price, though Mizrahi's audience is not likely to include the average fan of graphic narratives. His fairy-tale plot takes his discovery (``a cross between Jean Harlow and Jean Shrimpton'') from her initial success as a cover girl to her eventual stardom in a documentary about her life. Along the way, Sandee encounters no small amount of jealousy, plenty of sharpies who wish her ill, and suffers bouts of anorexia and drug abuse. Fashion insiders will find much to giggle about here—the insiderish poop on agents, photographers, publicity flacks, magazine editors, and all the hangers-on. Frawley's weak-lined drawings, meantime, fail to deliver Mizrahi's inflated prose (there's nothing ``fabulous'' or ``ravishing'' about his Barbie-like realization of Sandee), and his backgrounds provide few surprises or eyeball kicks, while all his faces pretty much look the same. But the biggest problem is with the cut-out dolls: If you use the clothing, you ruin the text on the page behind. Then again, maybe you're not really expected to cut them out, and this glitzy tale is a comic book only because it's written on a level that—well, all the fashion world can understand.