140 pages 29.5 x 21 cm Language: French, English Softcover September 2006
The rebirth issue of French graffiti's longest-running magazine. First published in 1992, Xplicit Grafx (XG) spent fourteen years and two series building a reputation as one of Europe's essential records of train writing and worldwide bombing before going quiet. This is the opening number of its third and final series — aptly titled The Phoenix — relaunched in 2006 by a new team under Olivier Parsi, with a stated ambition to move away from sociological hand-wringing and let the atmosphere and the paint speak for themselves. The series would run thirteen issues before closing for good in 2010.
True to the magazine's global remit, the issue circles the world: Dutch and German subways, French and Paris streets, European silvers, trains and walls, Tokyo, and features on Sonic C4 (France), MKAE (Australia), Raels (USA) and Husk Mit Navn (Denmark), closing on Belgium's Valdor Hospital. Its centrepiece is a São Paulo cover and feature on Os Gêmeos — marking their second whole train on the Rio metro, six cars painted both sides with MetrôRio's blessing. A strong, internationally minded relaunch and a natural anchor point for anyone collecting the complete XG run, now largely out of print and increasingly treated as collector's material.
