Category: European Classics

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Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons


By Agnès Rosenstiehl (Toon Books/Raw Junior)
ISBN: 978-0-9799238-1-4 (HB)                    978-1-935179-23-8 (PB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Sheer Delight from First to Last… 10/10

Kids love to read and will do so for their entire lives if you start them off with the right material. Thankfully, after too many years without, the bookshelves and digital stores are stuffed with just such graphic narrative treasures. This particular award-winning cartoon treat for the very young comes from the magnificently prolific and talented Agnès Rosenstiehl, who has been one of France’s greatest kids’ authors for decades.

Rosenstiehl was born in 1941 to an artistic Parisian family, and, after attending Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse à Paris and the Sorbonne, has been enchanting European nippers with her efforts since 1968. I lost count at 159 books. There are probably more…

Her most popular and ubiquitous character is an adventurous tyke named Mimi Cracra (48 tomes thus far) who in 2008 hopped the pond and landed as Silly Lilly in a supremely engaging selection of vignettes showing the tot learning about and exulting in the ever-changing planetary cycle…

Crafted as mini-tales for very young and emerging readers, the explorations begin in playful callisthenics in Spring and ‘Silly Lilly at the Park’; moves on to Summer and ‘Silly Lilly at the Beach’; shuffles on in sensible warm clothes to Fall and ‘Silly Lilly and the Apples’, romps in Winter as ‘Silly Lilly Plays in the Snow’ before inexorably coming around to Spring again with ‘Silly Lilly and the Swing’.

Toon Books/Raw Junior was established by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly as an imprint of the groundbreaking alternative comics magazine to provide high-quality comics stories which would entice pre-schoolers and starter-readers into a lifelong love affair with strips in particular and reading in general.

Released as a child-sized (236 x 152 mm) landscape package, this magically compelling full-colour 32-page picture treat is available in both hardback and softcover: the kind of comforting illustrated exploration that opens young eyes to all the world’s wonders and will be read over and to again.
© 2008 RAW Junior, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Valerian and Laureline volume 12: The Wrath of Hypsis


By Méziéres & Christin, with colours by Evelyn Tranlé; translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-304-8

Valérian: Spatio-Temporal Agent debuted in weekly Pilote #420 (9th November 1967) and was an instant smash-hit. The feature soon became Valérian and Laureline as his feisty distaff sidekick rapidly developed into an equal partner and scene-stealing star through a string of fabulously fantastical, winningly sly and light-hearted time-travelling, space-warping romps.

Packed with cunningly satirical humanist action, challenging philosophy and astute political commentary, the stellar yarns struck a chord with the public and especially other creators who have been swiping, “homaging” and riffing off the series ever since.

Initially Valerian was an affably capable yet unimaginatively by-the-book space cop tasked with protecting the official universal chronology (at least as it affects humankind) by counteracting and correcting paradoxes caused by incautious time-travellers.

When he travelled to 11th century France in debut tale Les Mauvais Rêves (Bad Dreams and still not yet translated into English), he was rescued from doom by a tempestuously formidable young woman named Laureline whom he had no choice but to bring back with him to Galaxity: the 28th century super-citadel and administrative capital of the Terran Empire.

The indomitable female firebrand crash-trained as an operative and accompanied him on subsequent missions – a beguiling succession of breezy, space-warping, social conscience-building epics. This so-sophisticated series always had room to propound a satirical, liberal ideology and agenda (best summed up as “why can’t we all just get along?”), constantly launching telling fusillades of commentary-by-example to underpin an astounding cascade of visually appealing, visionary space operas.

The Wrath of Hypsis is the twelfth Cinebook translation: concluding a landmark tale and marking a turning point in the ongoing epic. Initially every Valérian adventure began as a serial in Pilote before being collected in album editions, but after this adventure from 1985, the publishing world shifted gears. From the next tale and every one thereafter, the mind-bending sagas were released as all-new complete graphic novels. The switch in dissemination affected all popular characters in French comics and almost spelled the end of periodical publication on the continent…

(One clarifying note: in the canon, “Hypsis” is counted as the twelfth tale, due to the collected albums being numbered from The City of Shifting Waters: the second actual story but the first to be compiled in book form. When Bad Dreams was finally released as a European album in 1983, it was given the number #0.)

Les Foudres d’Hypsis originally appeared in then-monthly Pilote #M128-135, spanning January to September 1985: an action-packed trenchant romp that reset a growing paradox that had been slowing building since The City of Shifting Waters…

In previous volume The Ghosts of Inverloch the immensity of Galaxity was eradicated from reality by agents unknown, leaving only the Chief of the Spatio-Temporal Service to plunge back in time to 1986: the chronal crisis-point which triggered the disaster.

Spatio-Temporal partners-in-peril Valerian and Laureline joined him by extremely convoluted paths after gathering a trio of Shingouz traders and Ralph – an affable aquatic super-mathematician – from different eras and galactic backwaters.

They all rendezvoused at Inverloch Castle, far from escalating petty crises and a mounting unrest afflicting Earth which would peak with the melting of the polar ice-caps, destruction of modern human civilisation and consequent birth-pangs of Galaxity.

The Scottish citadel was home to British intelligence supremo Lord Seal, his brilliant wife Lady Charlotte and her current guest Mr. Albert: Galaxity’s volubly jolly, infuriatingly unrushed and always tardy 20th century information gatherer/sleeper agent.

This distinguished, exceptional band had gathered to prevent Earth’s devastation but Galaxity’s sudden disappearance added even greater urgency to the mission…

The tale continues here as the strange crew review the worsening situation. Nuclear powers across the planet are experiencing inexplicable and potentially fatal malfunctions. Alien objects keep appearing in random locations and – thanks to the extraterrestrial input of Seals visitor’s – they can lay the blame upon the machinations of Hypsis: an enigmatic planet which constantly perambulates from system to system, quadrant to quadrant…

Seal’s contacts have narrowed down the potential crisis point to one of a number of ships in the Arctic. Soon the odd allies are covertly heading north in British weather ship HMS Crosswinds…

Thanks to Ralph’s talents and growing friendship with a pod of Orcas, the maritime search is gradually narrowed down and before long Crosswinds closes in on a quaint schooner named Hvexdet… and none too soon.

The time-lost Chief has locked himself in his cabin, Valerian is wracked by nightmares of vanished Galaxity and numerous doomed Earths whilst the gambling-addicted Shingouz have almost won or traded everything aboard ship not bolted down or welded on…

Cornering the Hvexdet in a field of pack ice, dauntless Captain Merryweather gives orders to ram, spooking the schooner into blasting off into space and instituting devastating retaliation. It’s what the Chief has been waiting for. With Crosswinds sinking and the crew heading for the lifeboats, he orders Valerian, Laureline, Seal, Albert, the Shingouz and Ralph to join him in the astroship: following the invaders’ flight to find nomadic Hypsis…

Pursuit is erratic and convoluted until Valerian has the idea of linking Ralph to the ship’s systems and predicting Hvexdet’s final destination. The scheme works perfectly and before long the astroship touches down on a strange, rocky world with immense towers dotting the landscape.

And that’s where things get really strange as Valerian learns why Earth was scheduled for nuclear meltdown, meets the incredible true owners of the troubled birthplace of humanity and watches in astonishment as Albert, Laureline and the Shingouz negotiate an unbelievable deal which saves Earth, but not (necessarily) his beloved and much-missed home Galaxity…

Astute fans will realise that this ripping yarn was writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Méziéres; way of rationalising the drowned Earth of 1986 (as seen in their 1968 adventure The City of Shifting Waters) with the contemporary period that they were now working in. It also gave them an opportunity to send Valerian and Laureline in a new direction and uncharted creative waters…

To Be Continued…

Smart, subtle, complex and frequently hilarious, this sharp trans-time tale beguilingly blended outrageous satire with blistering action and deft humour with cosmic apostasy to completely reenergise what was already one of the most thrilling sci fi strips in comics. The Wrath of Hypsis is one of the most memorable romps Méziéres & Christin ever concocted, and heralded the start of a whole new way to go back to the future…
© Dargaud Paris, 1985 Christin, Méziéres & Tranlệ. All rights reserved. English translation © 2016 Cinebook Ltd.

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Iznogoud volume 13: I Want to be Caliph Instead Of the Caliph


By Goscinny & Tabary, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-260-7

For the greater part of his far-too-short lifetime René Goscinny (1926-1977) was one of the world’s most prolific and widely-read writers of comic strips. He still is.

Amongst his most popular and enduring comic collaborations are Lucky Luke, Le Petit Nicolas, Signor Spaghetti and, of course, Asterix the Gaul, but there were so many others, such as the despicably dark deeds of a dastardly usurper whose dreams of diabolical domination perpetually proved to be ultimately no more than castles in the sand…

In the rueful aftermath of the Suez crisis, the French returned Рby way of comics, at least Рto the hotly contested Arabian deserts as Goscinny teamed with hugely gifted Swedish ̩migr̩ Jean Tabary (1930-2011) Рwho numbered Richard et Charlie, Grabadu et Gabaliouchtou, Totoche, Corinne et Jeannot and Valentin le Vagabond amongst his previous hit strips Рto deliriously detail the innocuous history of imbecilic Arabian (im)potentate Haroun el-Poussah.

However, as is so often the case, it was the strip’s villainous foil – power-hungry vizier Iznogoud – who totally stole the show… possibly the conniving little rogue’s only successful coup.

The first kernel of inspiration came as a piece of background shtick in early 1960s kids’ cartoon book Les Vacances du Petit Nicholas (which we Brits all saw as Nicholas on Holiday). A fuller formation and development came with Les Aventures du Calife Haroun el Poussah, created for Record: debuting in the January 15th issue of 1962.

A petite hit, the feature subsequently jumped ship to Pilote – a new comic created and edited by Goscinny – where it was artfully refashioned into a starring vehicle for the unpleasant little upstart who had been hogging all the laughs and limelight.

The Vile Vizier went from strength to strength. According to the brief introduction in this volume, the unwieldy catchphrase “I want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph!” quickly became part of casual French idiom and, in October 1974, the wee rascal won his own socio-political commentary column in newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

Insidious Iznogoud is Grand Vizier to Haroun Al Plassid, the affable, easy-going Caliph of Ancient Baghdad, but the sneaky little second-in-command has loftier ambitions, or as he is always declaiming “I want to be…”

The retooled rapscallion resurfaced in Pilote in 1968, quickly becoming a huge hit, resulting in 29 albums to date (17 by dream team Goscinny & Tabary), his own solo comic, a computer game, animated film, TV cartoon show and even a live-action movie.

Like all great storytelling, Iznogoud works on two levels: for youngsters it’s a comedic romp with adorably wicked baddies invariably hoisted on their own petards and coming a-cropper, whilst older, wiser heads can revel in pun-filled, witty satires and superbly surreal antics.

Following Goscinny’s death in 1977, Tabary began scripting the turbulent tales, switching to book-length complete adventures rather than the short, snappy vignettes which typified his collaborations. Upon his own passing, Tabary’s children Stéphane, Muriel and Nicolas took over the franchise.

The deliciously malicious whimsy is resplendent in its manic absurdity, cleverly contemporary cultural critiques, brilliantly delivered creative anachronisms and fourth-wall busting outrages which serve to keep the assorted escapades bizarrely fresh and hilariously inventive.

Je veux être calife à la place du calife was originally released in 1978; wracking up a baker’s dozen deliciously daft album compilations, and proffering a potently engaging quintet of trend-setting tales with our ambitious autocrat as ever scheming to seize power from his good but gullible Lord and Master.

Following a brief background-building Introduction and preface page reintroducing our constant cast and their craven motivations, the merry madness kicks off with ‘The Inspection Spectre’ as Iznogoud and long-suffering hench-oaf Wa’at Alahf learn of an abandoned palace with a resident ghost who drives to derangement any Caliph crazy enough to spend the night.

It takes Herculean effort to get indolent Haroun into the ramshackle pit but when the miracle occurs it causes a mood swing nobody saw coming…

More mundane madness is the order of the day when vile Vizier meets scurrilous palace official Leguenn-Scandales whose job is sniffing out nepotism and corruption. The old ferret believes everybody has a secret that will destroy them and offers – for eye-watering remuneration – his unique gift to uncover a ‘Scandal in Baghdad’ that will depose the Caliph and leave the position open for a clean-living successor…

It all goes perfectly too: it’s just a shame the incumbent Caliph has a unique way of dealing with public shame and disapprobation…

After opening a ‘Wax Museum’ in the centre of town, its devious magician owner offers to resurrect and reanimate his exhibit of killers past and future for Iznogoud. Sadly the malign mannequins awake with ideas of their own and the Vizier pays the price for their manic meltdown, after which Tabary scripts as well as illustrates a story of killing with kindness as the devilish deputy obtains an ultra-soft hedonistic treat to remove the infernally idle Haroun al Plassid.

Typically, his timing couldn’t be worse and deploying ‘The Voracious Cushion’ only leads to his own unforgettably uncomfortable experience…

Goscinny is back for the final usurping exploit as Iznogoud determines to bribe the entire army to stop protecting the Caliph. Luckily, a recent acquaintance knows of a gold-producing ostrich, and the epic pursuit of her results in a colossal bullion stockpile in the shape of ‘The Eggs of Ur’.

If only the Vizier hadn’t ruined a perfect plan with his usual exacting imbecility…

Such convoluted witty, fast-paced hi-jinks and exotically engaging comedy set-pieces have made this series a household name in France where “Iznogoud” has become the accepted term for a certain kind of politician: overly ambitious, unscrupulous and frequently deficient in stature.

Desiring to become “Caliph in the Caliph’s place” is a popular condemnation in French, targeting those perceived as overly-ambitious, and since 1992 the Prix Iznogoud is awarded annually to “a personality who failed to take the Caliph’s place”.

Nominees are chosen from prominent French figures who have endured spectacular defeats in any one year and been given to the likes of Édouard Balladur (1995) and Nicolas Sarkozy (1999). Politician and jury panel chief André Santini had to award himself one in 2004 after failing to become president of Île-de-France in regional elections.

When first released in Britain during the late 1970s (and latterly in 1996 as a periodical comicbook) these tales made little impression on British audiences, but at last this wonderfully beguiling strip-saga has deservedly found an appreciative audience among today’s more internationally aware, politically jaded comics-and-cartoon savvy connoisseurs…

Buy ’em now: I gotta tell ya, they’ll all be yuge…
Original edition © 2012 IMAV éditions by Goscinny & Tabary. All rights reserved. English translation © 2016 Cinebook Ltd.

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The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer: The Francis Blake Affair


By Jean Van Hamme & Ted Benoit (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-63-2

Belgian Edgard Félix Pierre Jacobs (1904-1987) is one of the founding fathers of the Continental comics industry. Although his output was relatively modest compared to many of his iconic contemporaries, Jacobs’ landmark serialised life’s work – starring scientific troubleshooters Professor Philip Mortimer and Captain Francis Blake – practically formed the backbone of the modern action-adventure comic in Europe.

His splendidly adroit, roguish yet thoroughly British adventurers were conceived and realised for the very first issue of Le Journal de Tintin in 1946, and quickly became a crucial staple of life for post-war European kids – much as Dan Dare was in 1950s Britain.

After decades of fantastic exploits the series apparently ended with the eleventh album. The story had been serialised between September 1971 and May 1972 in Tintin but after the first volume was completed the author simply abandoned his story due to failing health and personal issues.

Jacobs died on February 20th 1987 before completing extended adventure Les 3 formules du professeur Satō.

The concluding volume – Mortimer contre Mortimer – was only released in March 1990 after veteran cartoonist Bob de Moor (Bart de Scheepsjongen, Monsieur Tric, Balthazar, Barelli and many others) was commissioned by the Jacobs family and estate to complete the tale from the grand originator’s pencils and notes.

The long-postponed release led to a republishing of all the earlier volumes, followed in 1996 by new adventures from two separate creative teams hired by the Jacobs Studio…

The first was the L’Affaire Francis Blake by Jean Van Hamme (Thorgal, XIII, Largo Winch) & Thierry “Ted” Benoit (Bingo Bongo et son Combo Congolais, Ray Banana) which settled itself into a comfortably defined and familiar mid-1950s milieu whilst unfolding a rousing tale of espionage and double-dealing.

The tale also controversially omitted the fantastic elements of futuristic fiction and fringe science which had characterised Jacobs’ creation. The story also focused on the cool, suave MI5 officer rather than bombastic, belligerent boffin and inveterate scene-stealer Professor Mortimer…

It all begins in the highest echelons of the government’s security services as news of a mole reaches the press and creates a scandal. MI5 chief Francis Blake carefully explains how difficult tracking the infiltrator has become, but none of the great men in the room have any patience for excuses…

Blake explains the dilemma to Mortimer at their Club that evening, but events are unfolding which will soon curtail their cosy get-togethers. British surveillance operatives may be slow but they are inexorably steady and when a photograph of a drop-off reveals that Blake himself is the traitor, MI5 moves quickly to arrest their disgraced leader. Unmasked, the spy master only escapes detention through a spectacular fast getaway across London, leaving shocked friends and associates in his wake.

Despite a mountain of damning evidence, Mortimer cannot believe his greatest ally against evil is a money-hungry villain and begins his own investigations, despite also being the subject of an MI5 watch team. The scientist is also keenly aware that in regard of man with all the secrets like Blake, death is preferable to capture as far as his pursuers are concerned.

Ditching his government shadows Mortimer also goes on the run…

Naturally Captain Blake is completely innocent, and has been playing his own deep game. Now, having has shaken loose the real traitor, our cunning hero has gone straight to the mastermind behind the infiltration of the security services. Sadly that human devil has not been fooled for a moment and acts accordingly…

Mortimer meanwhile has trailed his friends through some skilfully laid clues and breadcrumbs; uncovering Blake’s secret army of off-the-books, utterly loyal sleeper agents who render him every assistance as he closes in on Blake and the true masterminds behind an unbelievably bold plot…

With the country in an uproar, Mortimer heads ever-northward, having deduced Blake’s intended final destination and the incredible real motive behind all the cloak-&-dagger skulduggery. He arrives just in time for a grand reunion with his old comrade and a blistering battle against the forces of evil and subversion threatening our way of life…

Strongly founded upon and in many ways a loving tribute to John Buchan’s classic thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps, this is a devious and convoluted spook show to delight espionage aficionados and a solidly entertaining addition to the canon of the Gentleman Adventurers.
Original edition © Editions Blake & Mortimer/Studio Jacobs (Dargaud-Lombard S. A.) 1996 by Ted Benoit & Jean Van Hamme. All rights reserved. English translation © 2008 Cinebook Ltd.

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Billy & Buddy volume 2: Bored Silly with Billy


By Jean Roba, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-049-8

Known as Boule et Bill on the Continent (or more accurately in the French speaking bits, as the Dutch and Flemish call them Bollie en Billie), this timeless and immensely popular cartoon story of a boy and his dog debuted in the Christmas 1959 edition of multinational, multilingual Spirou.

The perennially popular strip was the result of Belgian writer-artist Jean Roba (Spirou et Fantasio, La Ribambelle) putting his head together with the magazine’s Artistic Director/Ideas Man Maurice Rosy – who had also ghosted art and/or scripts on Jerry Spring, Tif et Tondu, Bobo and Attila during his decades-long, astoundingly productive career at the legendary periodical.

Intended as a European answer to Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, Boule et Bill would quickly go its own way and carve out a unique personality all its own, becoming Rosa’s main occupation for the next 45 years.

He tirelessly crafted more than a thousand pages of gag-strips in a beguiling, idealised domestic comedy about a little lad and his rather clever Cocker Spaniel before – in 2003 – surrendering the art-chores to his long-term assistant Laurent Verron.

The substitute subsequently took over the writing too after Roba died in 2006.

Jean Roba was born in Schaerbeek, Belgium on July 28th 1930 and grew up reading mostly American newspaper strip translations and reprints. He was particularly fond of Rudolph Dirks and Harold H. Knerr’s Katzenjammer Kids and after the War began working as a jobbing illustrator before adopting the loose, free-wheeling cartooning style known as the “Marcinelle School” and joining the Spirou crew.

He followed Uderzo on Sa majesté mon mari and perfected his craft under Franquin on Spirou et Fantasio before launching Boule et Bill as a mini-récit (a 32-page, half-sized freebie insert) in the December 24th 1959 Spirou.

Like our own Dennis the Menace in The Beano, the strip was incredibly popular from the start and for 25 years held the coveted and prestigious back-cover spot. Older British fanboys might also recognise the art as early episodes – wittily retitled It’s a Dog’s Life – ran in Fleetway’s Valiant from 1961 to 1965…

A cornerstone of European life, the strip has generated a live-action movie, animated TV series, computer games, permanent art gallery exhibitions, sculptures and even postage stamps. Like some select immortal Belgian comics stars, Bollie en Billie have a commemorative plaque and a street named after them in Brussels….

Large format album editions began immediately, totalling 21 volumes throughout the 1960s and 1970s. These were completely redesigned and re-released in the 1980s, supplemented by a range of early reader books for the very young. Comics collections have been translated into fourteen languages and sold in excess of 25 million copies of the 32 albums to date.

Renamed Billy and Buddy, the strip debuted en Angleterre in enticing Cinebook compilations from 2009 on: introducing a standard late 20th century sitcom nuclear family consisting of one bemused, long-suffering and short-tempered dad, a warm, compassionate but painfully flighty mum, a smart but mischievous son and his genius dog who has a penchant for finding bones, puddles and trouble…

Ras le Bill was the 19th collection in Europe, but here simply serves to further explore the timeless relationships for our delight and delectation.

Comprised of a constant stream of rapid-fire gags, quips and jests, the progress and behaviour of seven-year old Billy is measured by carefree romps with four-footed friend Buddy: dodging fractious magpies, avoiding baths, building up a treasure trove of bones, putting cats in their place, causing accidents, and costing money; with both kid and mutt equally adept at all of the above.

Buddy is the perfect pet for an imaginative boy, although he’s overly fond of bones and rather protective of them. He also does not understand why everyone is so keen to constantly plunge him into foul-tasting soapy water, but it’s just a sacrifice he’s prepared to make to be with Billy…

The dog also has a fondly paternal relationship with tortoise Caroline which is explored at length in this collection, and a suspicious knack for clearing off whenever dad has one of his increasingly common meltdowns over the cost of canine treats and repair bills. At least Buddy can make himself useful by helping mum in her self-indulgent fashion purchases…

Gently-paced and filled with wry wit and potent sentiment, these captivating gag-pages run the gamut from heart-warming to hilarious, silly to surreal: a charming tribute to and lasting argument for a child for every pet and vice versa. This is a splendidly enticing and rewarding family-oriented bunch of comics no one keen on introducing youngsters to the medium should be without.
Original edition © Studio Boule & Bill 2008 by Roba. English translation © 2010 Cinebook Ltd.

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Pandora’s Box volume 2: Sloth


By Radovanović & Alcante, coloured by Usagi and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-006-1

Pandora’s Box is the impressive conception of Belgian author Didier Swysen under his nom de plume Alcante (Jason Brice, Rani, La Conjuration de Cluny). The format is a sequence of eight stand-alone stories, all informed by burgeoning ethical issues we’re daily dealing with and each revealing the ultimate cost of succumbing to one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” that have afflicted humanity since that fabled box was first breached…

Each headline haunted epic blends Cassandra-toned contemporary societal concerns with technological extrapolation, framed in modern terms and images against a backdrop of a tale from classical mythology offered as foreboding metaphorical prognostications to the political and plutocratic powers-that-be…

Utilising disturbingly familiar yet widely disparate hot-button topics, the stories are linked only by the fact that each individual protagonist is accosted and warned by an arcane and peculiar bag-lady prior to the denouement…

Each tale is illustrated by one of a truly international pantheon of different artists. Second saga Pandora Box – La pareses references the fall of Troy and was deftly delineated by Serbian illustrator Vujadin “Vuja” Radovanović (ÄŒuvari zaboravljenog vremena, Džo XX, Candide ou l’optimisme, de Voltaire) and coloured by Usagi, recounting how a magnificent hero responds to the passing of time, the failure of his powers and fading of his cherished glory…

Paris Troy has been the fastest man alive for a decade: a multi-gold medal winning Olympian and pristine example of all that is honourable and magical about sporting endeavour. Now as the sprinter recovers from a thigh injury in preparation for the next Great Games, an obnoxious rival is all over the media, baiting the runner and winning races, edging ever closer to Troy’s cherished world record.

The thought of someone like Ace Achean stealing his place in the world disgusts Paris, but is it the only reason he finally listens to his brother’s loathsome suggestions?

Hector Troy might well have been even faster than his sibling, but since he was caught doping and barred from competition, no one will ever know for sure. Now, with his confidence ebbing due to the injury or perhaps some psychological block, and Achean baiting him and threatening to take his sponsorship deals, Paris turns his back on a lifetime of proudly clean living and succumbs to Hector’s temptations.

It doesn’t hurt so much after he learns that his supplier is also helping Ace keep his edge…

And then, with the Olympics open and Troy doped to the gills, the once noble sportsman discovers he’s been lured into a moral maze and inescapable trap by someone who has hated him for years…

With his life, fortune, reputation and legacy all at stake and nothing but shame, humiliation and disdain in his future, Paris seems to have no way out…

Stark, powerful and expressive, this tale of great temptation not resisted shows how a good man can be pushed to despicable extremes and is a potent metaphor for so much that’s wrong with the modern word of intoxicating celebrity and quick fixes…

A powerful fable with an uncompromising message, Pandora’s Box – Sloth is as much a salutary warning to ponder as a story to enjoy.
© Dupuis, 2005 by Radovanovic & Alcante. All rights reserved. English translation: © 2009 Cinebook Ltd.

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Pandora’s Box volume 1: Pride


By Pagot & Alcante, coloured by Christophe Araldi and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-81-6

European comics have never been afraid of progressive ventures or ruffling feathers and have a wonderful way of confronting headline-grabbing issues in a manner certain to keep a broad assortment of readers intrigued and engaged.

Pandora’s Box is the ambitious brainchild of Belgian author Didier Swysen – under his nom de plume Alcante (Jason Brice, Rani, La Conjuration de Cluny) – and boldly blends Doomwatch-style contemporary scientific, imminent society-changing concerns and carefully calculated technological extrapolation. These are then framed against a metaphorical backdrop of classical mythology and delivered as foreboding warnings to the political and plutocratic powers-that-be…

Couched in evocatively near-to-now science fiction terms, the series comprises eight self-contained tales, all informed by burgeoning ethical issues we’re daily dealing with and each revealing the ultimate cost of succumbing to one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” that have afflicted humanity since that fabled box was first breached…

Each tale features a different illustrator. Initial tome Pandora Box – L’orgueil was deftly and subversively rendered in the superbly understated line-work of Didier Pagot (La Dame qui est une Rivière, Les Traine-Ténèbres, Transgénèse) and coloured by Christophe Araldi, recounting how a man with a mission compromises his ethics and endangers his soul for the sake of a putative legacy…

In a secret location a heavily-pregnant woman is rushed into the emergency room and delivers a very special baby. After checking the newborn boy, Dr. Mathias Turpin dismisses the attending staff so that they never learn what becomes of the exhausted mother…

It’s election year in America and incumbent President Narcissus Shimmer is in the fight of his life for a second term. His reforming programs, the American People and his immortal legacy depend on another four years to finish his grand work…

Less than a week before the crucial vote, polls have finally put Shimmer ahead of his ruthless opponent Costner and the challenger has resorted to desperate tactics: hiring private detective Ron Grubb to dig up dirt which will end the President’s campaign…

Although less than keen, the money offered is irresistible and Grubb quickly uses his formidable intellect, infallible instincts and vast network of resources to uncover a potential scandal. For some reasons Shimmer has been given billions in campaign contributions from the biotechnology industries. A potential bribe…?

Moreover, even in these crucial final days, POTUS keeps slipping his Secret Service detail and fanatical, brilliant campaign manager Claire Dale to visit Geo-Center: a small, expensively discreet gynaecology and maternity hospital.

The first thought is that Shimmer has fathered a child on a mistress: a tempting possibility for a straight-laced straight-shooter famously estranged from his drug-addict son and standoffish wife…

Further digging reveals Geo-Center is run by Mathias Turpin: a maternity specialist whose real life’s work is cloning. Of course, human cloning is illegal but…

With an horrific notion forming, certainty comes after Grubb secures a clandestine blood sample from Shimmer and has it tested.

The President has been sterile for decades and is dying. Only a bone marrow donation can save him. Has his drive to complete his life’s work pushed the dedicated humanitarian into compromising all his principles and breaking the law? If so, how much further will he go to achieve victory and keep his secrets?

Rather than reporting his latest suspicions to the vile Costner, Grubb opts to get his own hands dirty and infiltrate Geo-Center, but events there are already spiralling out of control and a bloody confrontation leads to a horrific conflagration and one final test of all the key players’ moral fibre…

Dark, bleak, painfully astute and fearfully prophetic, this examination of the depths men will stoop to in pursuit of their “destinies” also shows how heroes come in many guises and, that for almost everyone, there is an ethical Rubicon they cannot cross…
© Dupuis, 2005 by Pagot & Alcante. All rights reserved. English translation: © 2008 Cinebook Ltd.

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Marie Antoinette: Phantom Queen


By Rodolphe & Annie Goetzinger translated by Peter Russella (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-029-4

As I’ve previously stated, like so much European art and culture, French language comics (I’m controversially including Belgium and Swiss strips in this half-baked, nigh-racist, appallingly sweeping statement) often appear as a triumph of style over content.

That doesn’t mean they’re bad – far, far from it – but rather that sometimes the writing and plotting isn’t as important to the creators – or readers – as the way it looks on a page and in a book, and complex characterisation isn’t always afforded the same amount of room that scenery, players, fighting or sex gets.

That is not the case in this sublimely evocative and eerily placid episode by eminent Bande Dessinée scenarist Rodolphe D. Jacquette (Le Conservateur, Raffini, Cliff Burton) and former fashion artist turned comics creator supreme Annie Goetzinger (Girl in Dior, Casque d’Or, Aurore, L’Agence Hardy) which seamlessly blends the tone and timbre of two iconic eras in French history in a tale of mystery, imagination and rather indolent intrigue…

First seen in 2011 as Marie Antoinette, La Reine Fantome the translated wonderment follows an enlightening Introduction from Rodolphe, describing the origins and provenance of the story before co-writer and sole illustrator Goetzinger introduces us to artist Maud as she sits in the gardens of the Petit Trianon at Versailles.

It’s October 5th 1934 and her sketching of the scene is a brief yet welcome escape from her problems. Her beloved but far older husband is recently dead, leaving her a vast fortune which her stepson son covets.

Remy constantly pesters her to marry him, but she knows he’s as likely to kill as wed her to get his hands on the inheritance…

Things take a strange turn when her dog breaks loose and scampers away. He is quite the hit with the ladies of the Court when he bounds into a grand building, just as a frantic footman warns Queen Maria Antoinette that they must all retreat to the castle before the peasants besieging Versailles find them. It is still October 5th, but also so very long ago…

As her stepson’s attentions become more obnoxious and intolerable, Maud’s dreams are hunted by potent, tangible glimpses of the dead queen’s final days and close friends Suzy and Maggie convince her to try an oh-so-fashionable séance.

Also attending the affair is attractive psychiatrist Dr. Maurice D’Octrobre, a man of great charm and learning, possessed of a remarkably open mind…

Good thing too, as the ceremony allows Marie Antoinette to manifest, imploring Maud to find her remains and re-inter her so that the tragic queen might rest at last…

And so begins an utterly beguiling and entrancingly sophisticated, classically constructed ghost story with clever plot twists, genteel suspense and even a vile villain who sees his stepmother’s unsuspected psychic gifts as a stepping stone to having her committed and stealing her fortune…

Maud’s path is unswerving and her triumph never in doubt, but she never expected that in addition to the satisfaction of a job well done and a soul saved there would be such tangible rewards for her good deed…

Eerily comfortable and superbly satisfying; balancing melancholy shades of The Ghost and Mrs Muir with the poesy of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, Marie Antoinette: Phantom Queen is a superb step back into a lost world of elegant mystery and imagination: one no fantasy lover or mature comics reader should miss.
© Dargaud 2011. All rights reserved.

Marie Antoinette: Phantom Queen will be released on August 18th 2016. It can be pre-ordered now and is also available in all e-book formats.For more information and other great reads see http://www.nbmpub.com/

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Cedric volume 2: Dad’s Got Class


By Laudec & Cauvin with colours by Leonardo and translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-003-0

Raoul Cauvin is one of Europe’s most successful comics scripters. Born in Antoing, Belgium in 1938, he joined publishing giant Dupuis’ animation department in 1960 after studying the dying – and much-missed – print production technique of Lithography.

Happily, he quickly discovered his true calling Рcomedy writing Рand began a glittering, prolific career at Spirou where he devised (with Salv̩rius) the astoundingly successful Bluecoats as well as dozens of other long-running, award winning series such as Sammy, Les Femmes en Blanc, Boulouloum et Guiliguili, Cupidon, Pauvre Lampil and Agent 212: cumulatively shifting more than 240 separate albums. Bluecoats alone has sold in excess of 15 million copies thus far.

His collaborator on sharp, witty yet kid-friendly family strip Cédric is Italian born, Belgium-raised Tony de Luca who studied electro-mechanics and toiled as an industrial draughtsman until he could make his break into comics.

Following a few fanzine efforts in the late 1970s, Laudec landed soap-style series Les Contes de Curé-la-Fl’ûte at Spirou in 1979. He built it into a brace of extended war-time serials (L’an 40 in 1983 and Marché Noir et Bottes à Clous in 1985) whilst working his way around many of the title’s other strips.

In 1987 Laudec united with Cauvin on the first Cédric shorts and the rest is history… and science and geography and PE and…

We have Dennis the Menace (the Americans have one too but he’s just not the same) whilst the French-speaking world has Cédric: an adorable lovesick rapscallion with a heart of gold and an irresistible streak of mischief dogging his heels. Collected albums of the variable-length strips – ranging from a ½ page to half a dozen – began appearing in 1989 (with 29 released so far) and are always amongst the most popular and best-selling on the Continent, as is the animated TV show spun off from the strip.

This second Cinebook translation – from 2009 and originally continentally released as Cédric 4: Papa a de la classe – hauls straight in to the action as the little lout is invited to a party at the palatial home of posh-boy and romantic rival The Right Honourable Alphonse Andre Jones-Tarrington-Dupree…

Previously, overly-imaginative Cedric had been utterly enamoured of his teacher Miss Nelly but once new girl Chen joined the class Cedric’s life changed forever. She’s different; her skin isn’t the same colour as everybody else’s and she talks really funny. He just can’t stop thinking about her…

All’s fair in love and war as ‘Milady and the Geisha’ finds Dupree tricking Cedric into wearing the most embarrassing fancy dress costume imaginable, only to see his devilish scheme badly backfire, after which ‘There are Flakes, and then there are Flakes…’ reveals how not everything falling from the sky is snow, before ‘Cats, Cats, Cats…’ sees Cedric and best pal Christian try to extort extra New Year’s gifts from feline fancier Aunt Jean only to fall at the first hurdle…

A young man’s first encounter with grooming products and cologne is always a heady experience and the ‘The A-Scent of Man’ shows the result of Cedric’s lack of impulse control whilst the grown-ups take centre stage in ‘A Story That’ll Make Your Hair Stand Up Straight’ as Grandpa starts dangerously criticising his useless son-in-law’s visit to a tonsorial stylist, after which ‘To Each His Own’ renews the simmering war after each tries and fails to hang a picture on the living room wall…

When Chen gets ill, Cedric goes to extreme efforts to be with and be like her in ‘Love, Love, Love’ before ‘Tails of All Sorts’ finds Cedric and Grandpa checking out each other’s romantic fascinations…

Kicking and screaming, Cedric is forced into the local Cub Scout group, and even after yomping all over the countryside in ‘Valderee, Valderah’ uses every opportunity to sabotage the experience. Just as he’s being kicked out, however, the Girl Guides march past with little Chen happily with them in line.

When she becomes obsessed with her headphones, Cedric decides to record a message for darling Chen, but his delivery is no match for his heartfelt enthusiasm in ‘Message Not Received’ and, after Mum and Dad have one of those blazing row over nothing, Grandpa has to explain a few painful facts of life about ‘The Big Scene’ to the appalled kid…

‘Hair Apparent’ deals with the 8-year-old’s first attempt at shaving whilst ‘A Tough Choice’ finds the cash-strapped kid having to choose between a present for Mum or Chen before the episodic antics close on a slapstick high note as another Cubs camping trip is disrupted as ‘A Man Misses His Calling’ sees Cedric seemingly lost in the woods…

Rapid-paced, warm and witty, the exploits of this painfully keen, adorably amorous scallywag are a charming example of how all little boys are just the same and infinitely unique. Cedric is a splendid family-oriented strip perfect for enticing youngsters and old folk alike…
© Dupuis 1991 by Cauvin & Laudec. All rights reserved. English translation © 2009 Cinebook Ltd.

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Clifton Volume 5: Jade


By Rodrigue & de Groot, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-52-6

An infallible agent of Her Majesty’s assorted security forces, Clifton was created by Raymond Macherot (Chaminou, Les croquillards, Chlorophylle, Sibylline) for the weekly Tintin. Our doughty exemplar of Albion debuted in December 1959, just as a filmic 007 was preparing to set the world ablaze and get everyone hooked on spycraft…

After three albums worth of strip material – all compiled and released in 1959-1960 – Macherot left Tintin for arch-rival Spirou and his bombastic buffoon was benched.

Tintin revived him at the height of the Swinging London scene and aforementioned spy-boom, courtesy of Jo-El Azaza & Greg (Michel Régnier). Those strips were subsequently collected as Les lutins diaboliques in French and De duivelse dwergen for Dutch-speakers in 1969.

Then it was back into retirement until 1971 when – Greg – with artist Joseph Loeckx – took another shot. He toiled on the True Brit until 1973 when Bob De Groot & illustrator Philippe “Turk” Liegeois fully regenerated the be-whiskered wonder. They produced ten more tales after which, from 1984 on, artist Bernard Dumont (AKA Bédu) limned de Groot’s scripts before eventually assuming the writing chores as well. The series concluded in 1995.

…But Never Say Never Again…

In keeping with its rather haphazard Modus Operandi and indomitably undying nature, the Clifton experience resumed yet again in 2003, crafted now by De Groot & Michel Rodrigue for four further adventures. Although the humorous visual vein was still heavily mined in these tales, the emphasis was subtly shifted and the action/adventure components strongly emphasised…

Originally released in 2003, Jade was Rodrigue & De Groot’s first collaboration and signalled a fresh start with all the fans’ favourite bits augmented by a stunning new partner for the old war-horse…

Bob de Groot was born in Brussels in 1941, to French and Dutch parents. As a young man he became art assistant to Maurice Tillieux on Félix, before creating his own short works for Pilote. A rising star in the 1960s, he drew 4 × 8 = 32 L’Agent Caméléon where he met Philippe “Turk” Liegeois, and consequently began making a slow transition from artist to writer. Together they created Archimède, Robin Dubois and Léonard before eventually inheriting Raymond Macherot’s moribund Clifton.

In 1989 de Groot – with Jacques Landrain – devised Digitaline, a strong contender for the first comic created entirely on a computer, and co-created Doggyguard with Michel Rodrigue, even whilst prolifically working with the legendary Morris on both Lucky Luke and its canine comedy spin-off Rantanplan.

He’s still going strong with strips such as Leonard in Eppo, Père Noël & Fils and Le Bar des acariens (both published by Glénat) and much more.

Michel Rodrigue really, really likes Rugby. He was born in Lyon in 1961 and eventually pursued higher education at the National School of Fine Arts, where he also studied medieval archaeology.

From 1983-85 he was part of the French Rugby team and in 1987 designed France’s mascot for the World Cup. He made his comics debut in 1984 with sports (guess which one) strip Mézydugnac in Midi Olympique. After illustrating an adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac in 1986 he and collaborator Jean-Claude Vruble produced a volume of La Révolution Française, scripted by Patrick Cothias.

Rodrigue then joined Roger Brunel on Rugby en B.D., Du Monde dans la Coupe!, Concept, Le Rugby en Coupe and La Foot par la Bande.

For Tintin he drew Bom’s Les Conspirateurs and produced Rugbyman, the official monthly of the French Rugby Federation, amongst a welter of other strips. Along the way he began scripting too, and after working with de Groot on Doggyguard joined him on the revived Clifton.

He also remains astonishingly creatively occupied, working on Ly-Noock with André Chéret, Brèves de Rugby, La Grande Trambouille des Fées for René Hausmann, Futurama comics, Cubitus with Pierre Aucaigne, and many more…

Pompous, irascible Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton is ex-RAF, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Constabulary and recently retired from MI5. He has a great deal of difficulty dealing with being put out to pasture in rural Puddington and takes every opportunity to get back in the saddle, assisting the Government or needy individuals as an amateur sleuth whenever the opportunity arises. He occupies his idle hours with as many good deeds as befit a man of his standing and service…

In his revived incarnation the balance between satirical comedy, blistering adventure and sinister intrigue is carefully judged and this re-introductory tale begins with the old soldier and his contentiously fiery, multi-talented housekeeper Mrs. Partridge preparing for a camping trip.

Clifton is taking the local scout troop to Wales, but a few last-minute minor catastrophes are testing his patience and turning the air blue with extremely imaginative invective. The unflappable Mrs. P is able to offset them all – thanks to a family connection in the army surplus business – and soon the Colonel is ready to set off.

Plans change at the very last minute when a shadowy figure leaves a letter. That enigmatic messenger is painfully unaware that it is being carefully observed by another…

The message is in code, but once again la Partridge is up to the task, and Clifton adapts his plans. When the scouts board the lorry the colonel has secured, they learn that they are now heading for Devon…

Arriving at scenic Snooze-on-Pillow, Clifton gets the lads to set up camp but is soon accosted by an unctuous stranger who takes him to meet an old enemy fallen upon ignominious times…

Otto von Kartoffeln was one of Hitler’s greatest assets in the war, but now he is a feeble wreck in an old folks’ home bullied by a monster of a nurse. He doesn’t just want to talk over old times, however. The shrunken old remnant wants to share the secret location of a submarine full of Nazi treasure.

Over tea, served by a rather attractive young lady, the old soldiers’ minds go back to their earliest encounters. The tale unfolds of a U-Boat once commanded by Kartoffeln which sank off Scotland at the end of the war. He would happily have left it there forever, if not for the fact that a gang of neo-Nazis are trying to recover it and start up the Fuhrer’s madness all over again…

The old men have no conception that their teapot is bugged and avid young ears are listening with shock and awe and something else…

All too soon the restless old warrior is hurtling north: dodging bombs and ducking bullets beside an unlikely new partner. Determined on scotching a sinister plot, scuppering a vast submarine base and stopping the rise of the Fourth Reich, Clifton is aware that – as always – there are plots within plots, and amidst the frenetic death-defying action he has to keep one eye on his deadly foes and another on the people claiming to be his allies…

Still, with nothing to lose and civilisation to save, Clifton naturally does his utmost…

Funny, fast and furiously action-packed, Jade gives our Old Soldier a subtle overhaul and fresh start in a cunningly-conceived adventure romp in the grandly daft Get Smart! and Austin Powers manner; sufficient to astound and delight blockbuster addicts whilst supplying a solid line in goofy gags for laughter-addicts of every age to enjoy.
Original edition © Les Editions du Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard SA) 2003 by Rodrigue & De Groot. English translation © 2008 Cinebook Ltd.