European Classics – Page 39

July 16, 2016

Yakari and the Coyote

By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominque, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-101-3

Children’s magazine Le Crapaud Ã lunettes was founded in 1964 by Swiss journalist AndrÃ© Jobin who then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later he hired fellow French-Swiss artist Claude de Ribaupierre who chose the working name â€œDeribâ€. The illustrator had begun his own career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs), working on Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Spirou. Together they created the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore before striking pure comics gold a few of years later with their next collaboration.

Launched in 1969, Yakari detailed the life of a young Oglala Lakota boy on the Great Plains; sometime after the introduction of horses by the Conquistadores and before the coming of the modern White Man. This year the 39^th album was released: a testament to the strip’s evergreen vitality and the quality of its creators.

Overflowing with gentle whimsy, Yakari enjoys a largely bucolic existence; at one with nature and generally free from strife. For the sake of our delectation, however, the ever-changing seasons are punctuated with the odd crisis, generally resolved without fuss, fame or fanfare by a little lad who is smart, compassionate, braveâ€¦ and can converse with all animalsâ€¦

Derib – equally at home with enticing, comically dynamic â€œMarcinelleâ€ cartoon style yarns and devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustrated action epics – went on to become one of the Continent’s most prolific and revered creators. It’s a crime that such groundbreaking strips as Celui-qui-est-nÃ©-deux-fois, Jo (the first comic on AIDS ever published), Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne) haven’t been translated into English yet, but we still patiently wait in hope and anticipationâ€¦

Many of Derib’s stunning works over the decades feature his beloved Western themes, magnificent geographical backdrops and epic landscapes and Yakari is considered by fans and critics to be the feature which first led him to deserved mega-stardom. Originally released in 1986, Yakari et le coyote was the twelfth European album (and Cinebook’s ninth translated tome), but – as always – is both stunningly simple and effectively timeless; offering certain enjoyment from a minimum of foreknowledgeâ€¦

One bright sunny day, the boy brave is playing by the river, when his trusty chums the beavers bring him a present. They have found a dilapidated birch-bark canoe and hope Yakari can repair it so they can have some real funâ€¦

Next morning finds the lad and his human friends Rainbow and Buffalo Seed hard at work. Before long the vessel is seaworthy again and the trio are ready for their maiden voyage. As befits a proper hunter, Buffalo Seed insists on bringing his bow and arrows with himâ€¦

The current soon catches them and the kids get a huge thrill shooting roaring rapids with no more than a few bumps and a thorough soaking. They continue on in exhilarated contentment, but no one notices that the bellicose little hunter’s moccasins have vanishedâ€¦

Feeling hungry, they paddle ashore far downstream and begin gathering food, where Rainbow’s search ends in a happy surprise as her foraging uncovers three coyote cubs playing tug-of-war with Buffalo Seed’s shoes. She then endures a far scarier shock when she runs into the cubs’ snarling motherâ€¦

Fleeing in terror Rainbow calls for Yakari to explain, but the pups’ magnificent father has already interceded and calmed down his over-protective mate. Admitting to swiping the footwear, the crafty one then invites the children back to meet the family and his great friend and fellow trickster crowâ€¦

After a wonderful afternoon of play the children head back to the canoe and Coyote goes hunting, but the humans now have a new problem: Buffalo Seed is missingâ€¦

In the morning Rainbow and Yakari are awoken by Coyote, who has news. Their cocky companion tried to hunt a cougar and now the bad-tempered, unreasonable, hungry beast has the human boy trapped in a cave. The foolish hunter had made the great mistake of getting too close to the big cat’s cubsâ€¦

Normally, Coyote would handle things, but cougars are their greatest rivals, and this situation needs careful handlingâ€¦

Leaving Rainbow to watch mother coyote teaching her babies useful survival tricks, Yakari, Crow and Coyote – only stopping infrequently to play a few harmless jests on other animals – pick their way up a rocky cliff face where an extremely irate cat patiently waits for his elected prey to come out of the hole he’s barricaded himself inâ€¦

Back at the Sioux encampment, Yakari’s faithful steed Little Thunder had grown concerned. With the children gone for days, the pony broke out of the corral and started tracking them down. Now in the woods below far below, the wonder steed finds Rainbow and the coyote family. However Yakari and the wily papa are elsewhere, facing a rather dangerous impasseâ€¦

The irate cougar will not be reasoned with and is determined to kill Buffalo Seed. Thus, unable to overpower the brute, the new companions have devised a risky plan that should draw him away from the cave entrance long enough for the boy to get out. Sadly, even with Coyote and crow distracting the already-angry cat, the real problem will be getting away from the fast-moving hunter, once he notices he’s been fooledâ€¦

And then Yakari hears the drumming of hoofbeatsâ€¦

Superbly suspenseful, joyously inventive and offering a hilarious twist to counter the tension, this is another visually stunning, seductively smart and happily heart-warming saga to delight young and old alike.

Yakari is one of the most unfailingly entertaining all-ages strip every conceived and deserves to be in every home, right beside Tintin and Asterix.
Original edition Â© Le Lombard (Dargaud- Lombard S. A.) 2000 Derib + Job. English translation 2011 Â© Cinebook Ltd.

July 12, 2016July 11, 2016

Billy & Buddy volume 1: Remember This, Buddy?

By Jean Roba, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-91-5

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 Spirou.

It 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, productive career with 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 – handing the art-chores over to his long-term assistant Laurent Verron. The substitute subsequently took over the writing too after the originator died in 2006.

Jean Roba was born in Schaerbeek, Belgium on July 28^th 1930 and grew up reading primarily American reprint strips. He was particularly fond of Rudolph Dirks and Harold H. Knerr’s Katzenjammer Kids. After the War he began working as a jobbing illustrator before adopting the loose, free-wheeling cartooning style known as the â€œMarcinelle Schoolâ€ and joining the Spirou crew.

He followed Uderzo on Sa majestÃ© mon mari and perfected his comics craft under Franquin on Spirou et Fantasio before launching Boule et Bill as a mini-rÃ©cit (a 32-page, half-sized freebie insert) in the December 24^th 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 – retitled It’s a Dog’s Life – ran in Fleetway’s Valiant from 1961 to 1965â€¦

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 Brusselsâ€¦.

Large format album editions began immediately, totalling 21 volumes throughout the 1960s and 1970s. These were completely redesigned and re-released in 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 sitcom nuclear family consisting of one bemused and long-suffering father, a warm, compassionate but painfully ditzy mother, a smart son and his genius dog which has a penchant for finding bones, puddles and troubleâ€¦

The majority of this book – Tu te rappelles, Bill? – was originally the sixth collection before being cut down and reissued as volume 17 in Europe, but here acts as the ideal vehicle to set up the characters and settings for our delight and delectation.

Inside you’ll see a non-stop parade of quick-fire quips and jests as seven-year old Billy enjoys carefree romps with four-footed friend Buddy: digging up treasure on the beach, chasing cats, learning tricks to be useful around the house and generally baffling and annoying grown-ups.

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 Billyâ€¦

Gently-paced and filled with wry wit and potent sentiment, these captivating vignettes range from heart-warming to hilarious: a charming tribute to and argument for a child for every pet and vice versa. This is a solid, family-oriented collection of comics no one trying to introduce youngsters to the medium should be without.
Original edition Â© Studio Boule & Bill 2008 by Roba. English translation Â© 2009 Cinebook Ltd.

July 6, 2016July 5, 2016

Blake and Mortimer: Professor SatÅ’s Three Formulae Part 2 â€“ Mortimer versus Mortimer

By Edgar P. Jacobs & Bob De Moor with colours by Paul-Serge Marssignac, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-303-1

Belgian Edgard FÃ©lix Pierre Jacobs (March 30^th 1904-February 20^th 1987) is rightly considered 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 epic starring scientific adventurers 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 – in exactly the same way Dan Dare was for 1950s Britain.

Jacobs was born in Brussels, a precocious child perpetually drawing, but even more obsessed with music and the performing arts – especially opera. He attended a commercial school but loathed the idea of office work, so instead avidly pursued arts and drama on his graduation in 1919.

A succession of odd jobs at opera-houses (scene-painting, set decoration and even performing as both an acting and singing extra) supplemented his private performance studies, and in 1929 Jacobs won an award from the Government for classical singing.

His dreamed-of operatic career was thwarted by the Great Depression. When arts funding suffered massive cutbacks following the global stock market crash, he was compelled to pick up whatever dramatic work was going, although this did include more singing and performing.

Jacobs switched to commercial illustration in 1940, winning regular work in the magazine Bravo, as well as illustrating short stories and novels. He famously took over the syndicated Flash Gordon strip after the occupying German authorities banned Alex Raymond’s quintessentially All-American Hero and the publishers desperately sought someone to satisfactorily complete the saga.

Jacobs’ ‘Stormer Gordon’ lasted less than a month before being similarly embargoed by the Occupation fun-police, after which the man of many talents simply created his own epic science-fantasy feature in the legendary Le Rayon U: a milestone in both Belgian comics and science fiction adventure.

During this period Jacobs and Tintin creator HergÃ© got together, and whilst creating the weekly U Ray strip, the younger man began assisting on Tintin, colouring the original black and white strips of The Shooting Star (originally run in newspaper Le Soir) for an upcoming album collection.

By 1944 Jacobs was performing similar duties on Tintin in the Congo, Tintin in America, King Ottokar’s Sceptre and The Blue Lotus. He was also contributing to the drawing too, working on the extended epic The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun.

After the war and liberation, publisher Raymond Leblanc convinced HergÃ©, Jacobs and a few other comicstrip stars to work for his proposed new venture. Founding publishing house Le Lombard, Leblanc also commissioned Le Journal de Tintin, an anthology comic with simultaneous editions in Belgium, France and Holland to be edited by HergÃ© and starring the intrepid boy reporter supplemented by a host of newer heroes.

Beside HergÃ©, Jacobs and writer Jacques van Melkebeke, Le Journal de Tintin featured Paul Cuvelier’s ‘Corentin’ and Jacques Laudy’s ‘The Legend of the Four Aymon Brothers’.

As revealed in an enticing, photo-packed essay closing this Cinebook volume, Blake and Mortimer were a lucky compromise. Jacobs had wanted to create a period historical drama entitled Roland the Bold but changed genres due to an overabundance of such stripsâ€¦

Laudy had been a friend of Jacobs’ since their time together on Bravo, and the first instalment of the epic thriller serial ‘Le secret de l’Espadon’ starred a bluff, gruff British scientist and an English Military Intelligence officer closely modelled on Laudy himselfâ€¦

The initial storyline ran from issue #1 (26^th September 1946) to September 8^th 1949) and cemented Jacobs’ status as a star in his own right.

In 1950, with the first 18 pages slightly redrawn, The Secret of the Swordfish became Le Lombard’s first album release, with the concluding part published three years later. The volumes were reprinted nine more times between 1955 and 1982, in addition to a single omnibus edition released in 1964.

HergÃ© and Jacobs purportedly suffered a split in 1947 when the former refused to grant the latter a by-line on new Tintin material they had collaborated on, but since the two remained friends for life and Jacobs continued to produce Blake and Mortimer for the weekly comic, I think it’s fair to assume that if such was the case it was a pretty minor spat. I rather suspect that the Eccentric Englishmen were simply taking up more and more of the diligent artist’s time and attentionâ€¦

In 1984 The Secret of the Swordfish was reformatted and repackaged for English translation as three volumes with additional material (mostly covers from the weekly Tintin added to the story as splash pages): part of a push to win some of the lucrative Tintin and Asterix market here. Sadly the tall tomes failed to find an audience and ended after seven magnificent if under-appreciated volumes.

Now happily Cinebook have finally made the Gentleman Heroes a bankable proposition, releasing all 23 extant albums with the most recent – due to the quirks of publishing – being the original twelfth and the last one that Jacobs was involved with.

For further details please check out yesterday’s review, but suffice to say that the concluding instalment of Professor SatÅ’s Three Formulae was a long time coming â€¦

Les 3 formules du professeur SatÅ – Mortimer contre Mortimer was a tragically extended affair and only credited Jacobs as writer and layout artist. The eleventh album had been serialised between September 1971 and May 1972 in Tintin after which the author simply abandoned his story due to failing health and other issues.

He died on February 20^th 1987 and soon after veteran cartoonist Bob de Moor (Bart de Scheepsjongen, Monsieur Tric, Cori le Moussaillon, Balthazar, Barelli and so many others) was commissioned by his family and estate to complete his final tale from Jacob’s pencils and notes.

The concluding album was finally released in March 1990, leading to a republishing of all the earlier exploits and eventually new adventures from a variety of creative teamsâ€¦

Rather than make you wait eighteen years for the conclusion, here’s E.P Jacobs’ final foray starring the beloved tour de force scientific investigators.

As described yesterday, boisterous boffin Mortimer was in Japan when urgently contacted by robotics pioneer and cyberneticist supreme Professor Akira SatÅ. That savant had accomplished miracles in the mass-production of highly specialised mechanoids and androids, but his discoveries – parsed down into three crucial processes and deposited in three separate banks – were being targeted by a ruthless gang led by Blake and Mortimer’s greatest enemy.

The villains had infiltrated SatÅ‘s home and laboratory and tried to murder Mortimer numerous times before creating a robot duplicate of the British scientist, but had been unable to stop a summons for help going out to his Secret Service ally. Now, with Blake imminently expected, the gang had to radically move up their timetableâ€¦

Captain Blake is watched from the moment he disembarks at Haneda Airport and the hidden enemies are already in place at the hotel where he is staying. The MI5 chief has the suite next to Mortimer’s, and although his old comrade is missing, finds plenty of clues as to what has happened to him. The diligent search also uncovers the video surveillance gear infesting both rooms and sets his watchers running for the exits in panicâ€¦

A hasty pursuit only leads to his own capture but, with fortune ever favouring the brave, Blake turns the tables on his foes in a deadly clash in the hotel garages and sends them all fleeing for their lives.

By the time he has connected with Police Superintendent Hasumi and briefed Colonel Mitsu of the Japanese Public Security Intelligence Agency, the assailants have vanished, but Blake is building a picture of what is going on. To end the Englishman’s threat forever, a diabolical and desperate scheme is devised: creating a second Mortimer robot to assassinate Blakeâ€¦

Turncoat assistant Kim is nervous. Although he’s happy to use Professor SatÅ‘s incredible inventions to detain Mortimer and his former employer, the traitor is not conversant enough with the production procedures to guarantee success. Nevertheless, soon a deadly doppelganger of the British Professor is despatched to kill Blakeâ€¦

Meanwhile, the real Mortimer has not been idle. With SatÅ‘s aid he has escaped the lab prison and rushes to intercept the android assassin, but is unaware that behind him, unqualified hands have meddled with the duplication processes and a legion of horrific misfit mechanoids are tumbling off the conveyor beltsâ€¦

What follows is a succession of spectacular chases, frantic battles and a final shattering showdown between Blake, Mortimer and the man who has bedevilled their lives since the days of the Swordfish case â€“ a fitting end to the epic adventures and, thanks to the graphic efforts of De Moor, a perfect, revitalising stepping stone for other creators to renew and continue the featureâ€¦

Rocket-paced, suspenseful and cathartically action-packed, this is an enthralling changing-of-the-guard building to an explosive conclusion and satisfying final flourish, resulting in another superbly stylish blockbuster to delight every adventure addict.

As well as the aforementioned historical overview – ‘Jacobs: 1946, the Swordfish, starting point of a masterful work’ – this Cinebook edition also includes excerpts from two other Blake & Mortimer albums plus a short biographical feature and publication chart of Jacobs’ and his successors’ efforts.
Original edition Â© Editions Blake & Mortimer/Studio Jacobs (Dargaud-Lombard s. a.) 1990 by E.P. Jacobs & Bob De Moor. All rights reserved. English translation Â© 2016 Cinebook Ltd.

July 5, 2016July 4, 2016

Blake and Mortimer: Professor SatÅ’s Three Formulae Part 1 – Mortimer in Tokyo

By Edgar P. Jacobs, with colours by Paul-Serge Marssignac, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-292-8

Pre-eminent fantasy raconteur Edgar P. Jacobs devised one of the greatest heroic double acts in pulp fiction: pitting his distinguished scientific adventurers Professor Philip Mortimer and Captain Francis Blake against a broad variety of perils and menaces in a sequence of stellar action-thrillers which merged science fiction scope, detective mystery suspense and supernatural thrills. The magic was made perfect through his stunning illustrations, rendered in the timeless Ligne Claire style which had made intrepid boy-reporter Tintin a global sensation.

The Doughty Duo debuted in September 1946; gracing the pages of the very first issue of Le Journal de Tintin. This was an ambitious international anthology comic with editions in Belgium, France and Holland, edited by HergÃ©, with his eponymous, world famous star ably supplemented by a host of new heroes and features for the rapidly-changing post-war worldâ€¦

Les 3 formules du professeur SatÅ was a tragically extended affair and Jacob’s last hurrah. What became the eleventh album was serialised between September 1971 and May 1972 in Tintin, after which the author abandoned his story due to failing health and other personal issues.

Edgard FÃ©lix Pierre Jacobs died on February 20^th 1987 and soon after Bob de Moor was commissioned by his family and estate to complete his final tale from Jacob’s pencil roughs and script notes. The concluding album was finally released in March 1990. This led to a republishing of all the earlier exploits and eventually fresh adventures from a variety of creative teamsâ€¦

Here however the action opens at Haneda Airport, Tokyo where Air Traffic Controllers experience a unique problem as a UFO disrupts their carefully plotted flight courses. With disaster imminent two Starfighter jets are scrambled to pursue the meteoric anomaly and, just before they are destroyed, the pilots radio back they are being attacked by a dragonâ€¦

As the news filters around the world, renowned cyberneticist Professor Akira SatÅ argues with his assistant Dr. Kim, deeply remorseful that his latest breakthrough has been the cause of such tragedy. Kim only barely dissuades his Sensei from turning himself in to the authorities but is utterly unable to convince or prevent SatÅ from involving visiting colleague Philip Mortimer in his crisis of conscienceâ€¦

The British Professor is in Kyoto attending a succession of scientific conferences, but when an ominous outsider hears of SatÅ’s intentions through hidden surveillance methods, the reaction is both explosive and potentially murderousâ€¦

The first Mortimer knows of the problem is when a gang of gunmen attempt to kidnap him off the streets, but after fighting them off and escaping the old warrior returns to his hotel and finds a telegram waiting for himâ€¦

An urgent request to join old friend SatÅ immediately seems impossible to accomplish due to stringencies of train timetabling, but an accommodating journalist overhears and offers a speedy compromiseâ€¦

Mortimer is suspicious of the happy accidentâ€¦ but not suspicious enoughâ€¦

Surviving another assassination attempt by sheer force of will, the professor is then lost in the wilds of Japan but eventually manages to battle his way to SatÅ’s lab outside Tokyo where he witnesses a series of astonishing sights.

His host has worked miracles in the fields of robotics – including the dragon which so recently and horrifically malfunctioned – but is at a loss to explain how his incredible creations have gone wrong at such a late stage.

Worldly-wise Mortimer soon deduces the causes: espionage and sabotageâ€¦

As the British boffin sends for his old comrade-in-arms Captain Blake, SatÅ is comforted by the fact that the key formulae for producing his mechanical marvels have been divided and deposited at three different banks in Tokyo. The Sensei breathes even easier after arranging that only Mortimer can retrieve them but this only prompts their hidden enemy to accelerate his plans and reveal himself as one of Mortimer’s greatest foesâ€¦

Unable to induce or force Mortimer to retrieve the scientific goldmine, the mastermind has an android double constructed to visit the banks but the rush-job breaks down before the task is completed. Now the vile villain has only more card to play before the formidable Blake arrivesâ€¦

This Cinebook edition then concludes with excerpts from two other Blake & Mortimer albums (The Time Trap and a tantalising glimpse of Professor SatÅ’s Three Formulae Part 2) plus a short biographical feature and publication chart of Jacobs’ and his successors’ efforts to whet the appetite for further treats in storeâ€¦ Cunning and convoluted, this devilishly devious tale unfolds with potent authenticity and ever-escalating tension, building to an explosive conclusion which eventually took eighteen years to conclude. At least we don’t have to wait that near life-time for the epic denouement…
Original edition Â© Editions Blake & Mortimer/Studio Jacobs (Dargaud-Lombard S. A.) 1977 by E.P. Jacobs. All rights reserved. English translation Â© 2016 Cinebook Ltd.

June 24, 2016June 23, 2016

Yoko Tsuno volume 5: The Dragon of Hong Kong

By Roger Leloup translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-041-2

Indomitable intellectual adventurer Yoko Tsuno debuted in Spirou in September 1970 and is still delighting regular readers and making new fans to this day. These astounding, all-action, excessively accessible exploits of the slim, slight Japanese technologist-investigator are amongst the most intoxicating, absorbing and broad-ranging comics thrillers ever created.

The globe-girdling, space-&-time-spanning episodic epic was devised by monumentally multi-talented Belgian maestro Roger Leloup who began his solo career after working as a studio assistant on Herge’s Adventures of Tintin.

Compellingly told, superbly imaginative and – no matter how implausible the premise of any individual yarn – always solidly grounded in hyper-realistic settings and underpinned by authentic, unshakably believable technology and scientific principles, Leloup’s illustrated escapades were at the forefront of a wave of strips changing the face of European comics in the mid-1970s.

That long-overdue revolution featured the rise of competent, clever and brave female protagonists, all taking their places as heroic ideals beside the boys and uniformly elevating Continental comics in the process. Happily, most of their exploits are as timelessly engaging and potently empowering now as they ever were, and none more so than the trials and tribulations of Yoko Tsuno.

Her very first outings (the still unavailable Hold-up en hi-fi, La belle et la bÃªte and Cap 351) were mere introductory vignettes before the superbly capable engineer and her valiant but less able male comrades Pol Paris and Vic Van Steen properly hit their stride with premier full-length saga Le trio de l’Ã©trange in 1971 with Spirou‘s May 13^th issueâ€¦

Yoko’s exploits generally alternate between explosive escapades in exotic corners of our world, time-travelling jaunts and sinister deep-space sagas with the secretive, disaster-prone alien colonists from planet Vinea. However, for the majority of English translations thus far, the close encounters have been more-or-less sidelined in favour of intriguing Earthly exploits such as this gloriously gargantuan ground-shaker with hidden depths.

There have been 27 European albums to date. This tale was first serialised in 1981 (Spirou #2244-2264) and collected the following year as 16^th album Le Dragon de Hong Kong. Due to the quirks of publishing it reached us Brits as Yoko’s fifth Cinebook outing: a delicious homage to monster movies displaying the technomantic trouble-shooter’s softer sentimental sideâ€¦

In the years before China regained control of Hong Kong, Yoko is visiting a distant Chinese branch of the family when the boat she is travelling on is attacked by a colossal reptile. The beast is driven off but Yoko finds a claw fragment imbedded in a gunwhale and takes it to a local lab for analysis. The results are startlingâ€¦

The boffin in charge declares the talon is from a creature which has been biologically manipulated. He’s seen other such samples recently, all provided by a seller in the harbour fishmarketâ€¦

On questioning the vendor, Yoko learns the oversized produce on offer comes from an abandoned typhoon-wrecked aquaculture farm on Lantau Island, but by the time she reaches the desolate area the sun is setting.

It’s a lucky break. With the growing darkness, a little girl with a lantern appears amongst the broken pens and enclosures and starts playing a flute. As Yoko watches, the scene becomes even more incredible as the sounds summon the monstrous lizard, which the child joyously addresses as Dai Loonâ€¦

Astonished, Yoko watches the girl feed the beast and make it perform tricks, but the uncanny sight becomes deadly serious when a masked man in a motorboat roars in and tries to kidnap the little missâ€¦

Yoko’s prompt and dynamic action drives off the thug and soon the sodden wanderer is sitting in front of fire whilst little Morning Dew‘s grandfather relates the bizarre history of the scaly wonder.

It all began when a researcher from the Chinese mainland rented the enclosures from Dew’s father to use as test-beds for his experimentsâ€¦

They varied in success, but when the storm came all the subjects escaped. The elderly guardian cannot explain the strange connection between the dragon and the child but worries for her safety and future as his own days are surely numberedâ€¦

Three days later, Yoko and Morning Dew are shopping in Kowloon before meeting the recently arrived Pol and Vic at the airport. The canny inventor has a few ideas about tracking the dragon and wants their technical assistance with the detailsâ€¦

The scheme garners almost instant rewards and the three friends are actually gently guiding the vast creature into their custody when both boat and beast are simultaneously attacked by another – even larger – sea dragonâ€¦ and this one shoots fireâ€¦

And thus kicks off a spectacular and cunningly devised mystery monster-fest as our heroes uncover a cruel and deadly get-rich-quick scheme which endangers the entire region. There will be terror, destruction and tragedy before the villain is brought to book, and before the case is closed Yoko will assume one of the greatest and most rewarding responsibilities of her young lifeâ€¦

Complex, devious and subtly suspenseful, this fresh look at a classic plot crackles with electric excitement and delivers a powerfully moving denouement conclusion, again affirming Yoko Tsuno as a top flight troubleshooter, at home in all manner of scenarios and easily able to hold her own against any fantasy superstar you can name: as triumphantly able to apprehend swindlers and wrangle marauding monsters, aliens, mad scientists or unchecked forces of natureâ€¦

As always the most effective asset in these breathtaking tales is the astonishingly authentic and staggeringly detailed draughtsmanship and storytelling, which superbly benefits from Leloup’s diligent research and meticulous attention to detail.

The Dragon of Hong Kong is a stunning mystery mash-up which will appeal to any devotee of Holmes, Professor Challenger or Tintin.
Original edition Â© Dupuis, 1986 by Roger Leloup. All rights reserved. English translation 2010 Â© Cinebook Ltd.

June 20, 2016

Clifton volume 4: Black Moon

By Rodrigue & de Groot, coloured by Liliane Denayer, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-30-4

An infallible agent of Her Majesty’s assorted security forces, Clifton was originally devised by Raymond Macherot (Chaminou, Les croquillards, Chlorophylle, Sibylline) for the weekly magazine Tintin. The doughty exemplar of Albion debuted in December 1959, just as a filmic 007 was preparing to set the world ablaze and get everyone au fait with espionageâ€¦

After three albums worth of strip material – compiled and released between 1959 and 1960 – Macherot left Tintin for arch-rival Spirou and his comedic crime-buster forlornly floundered.

Tintin revived him at the height of the Swinging London scene and aforementioned spy-boom, courtesy of Jo-El Azaza & Greg (Michel RÃ©gnier). These 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 first Greg – with artist Joseph Loeckx – took his shot. He toiled on the True Brit until 1973 when Bob De Groot and illustrator Philippe â€œTurkâ€ Liegeois fully regenerated the be-whiskered wonder. They produced ten tales after which, from 1984 on, artist Bernard Dumont (AKA BÃ©du) limned from De Groot’s scripts before eventually assuming the writing chores as well. The series concluded in 1995.

â€¦But Not For Longâ€¦

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 emphasisedâ€¦This one, Black Moon, was originally released in 2004 as Lune noire – Clifton: the 22^nd of 25 to date and Rodrigue & De Groot’s second collaborationâ€¦

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 FÃ©lix, before creating his own short works for Pilote. A rising star in the 1960s, he drew 4Â Ã—Â 8 = 32 L’Agent CamÃ©lÃ©on where he met Philippe â€œTurkâ€ Liegeois and consequently began making a slow transition from artist to writer. Together they created ArchimÃ¨de, Robin Dubois and LÃ©onard and eventually inherited Raymond Macherot’s moribund Clifton.

In 1989 de Groot â€“ 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, PÃ¨re NoÃ«l & Fils and Le Bar des acariens (both published by GlÃ©nat) 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 on 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 MÃ©zydugnac in Midi Olympique. After illustrating an adaptation Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac in 1986 he and collaborator Jean-Claude Vruble produced a volume of La RÃ©volution FranÃ§aise, 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 AndrÃ© ChÃ©ret, BrÃ¨ves de Rugby, La Grande Trambouille des FÃ©es for RenÃ© Hausmann, Futurama comics, Cubitus with Pierre Aucaigne, and many moreâ€¦

So who’s our hero?

Pompous, irascible Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton is ex-RAF, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Constabulary and recently retired from MI5. Typically, 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.

Sadly, he is also all too keenly aware that he is generally the only truly competent man in a world chockfull of blithering idiotsâ€¦

In this relatively recent offering the accent is heavily on blistering adventure and sinister intrigue – albeit with a liberal dosing of political satire tipped in – and begins at the end with the murder of Clifton in a seedy hotel in North Korea.

Photos of his bloody corpse are leaked to the press and soon cause a terrific commotion in the secret Headquarters of MI-5. Veteran warhorse and ultra-capable spymaster Colonel Donald Spruce cannot believe the evidence of his eyes and neither can any of his appalled staffâ€¦

Agent Brian begins translating the text and recounts how British subject â€œMarmaduke Brentâ€ was chased by persons unknown through the town of Ptang-Kong before being machine gunned to death. With no other information available all the devastated agents can do is arrange for the body of their fallen former comrade to be shipped homeâ€¦

To Spruce falls the unenviable task of informing Clifton’s fiery, frequently befuddled housekeeper Mrs. Partridge of the tragedyâ€¦

A few days later, with great ceremony a British transport picks up the coffin and the exotic widow escorting it to its final destination. With the plane safely in the air, she quickly opens the box and lets Clifton out before his oxygen supply is exhaustedâ€¦

Battered and groggy, the old war horse begins reviewing the convoluted path which led to this fine turn of eventsâ€¦

Was it only a month ago that he and the ravishing Miss Jade were approached by Spruce to clandestinely follow the Prime Minister’s idiot nephew Hank to North Korea and infiltrate the bizarre and avaricious Black Moon Cult which had somehow changed an annoying chinless wonder and embarrassing idiot into a blithering nincompoop and danger to the prestige of the nation?

Of course the valiant old soldier accepted the mission, but neither he nor Jade could have known how devious was their masked leader The Great Tralala, how well-established, ambitious and deadly his cult was, nor that they were already a clandestine nuclear power with the entire world in their sightsâ€¦

Still, with nothing to lose and a world to save, Clifton naturally had to do his utmostâ€¦

Fast-paced, action packed and sporting set pieces and a body count that would put James Bond and SPECTRE to shame, Black Moon is a cleverly contrived light romp that will astound and delight blockbuster addicts and comes with a smart line in sardonic social commentary to please every fun-loving sucker for satire.
Original edition Â© Les Editions du Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard) 2004 by Rodrigue & De Groot. English translation Â© 2007 Cinebook Ltd.

June 7, 2016June 1, 2016

Lucky Luke Volume 8 Calamity Jane

By Morris & Goscinny, translated by Pablo Vela (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-25-0

Lucky Luke is seventy years old this year: a rangy, good-natured, lightning-fast quick-draw cowboy who roams the fabulously mythic Old West on his super-smart and stingingly sarcastic horse Jolly Jumper, having light-hearted adventures and interacting with a host of historical and legendary figures of the genre.

He’s probably the most popular Western star in the world today. His unbroken string of laugh-loaded exploits has made him one of the best-selling comic characters in Europe (82 albums selling in excess of 300 million copies in 30 languages at the last count), with spin-off toys, computer games, assorted merchandise, animated cartoons and even a passel of TV shows and live-action movies.

He was created in 1946 by Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de BÃ©vÃ¨re (â€œMorrisâ€) for L’Almanach Spirou 1947 of Le Journal de Spirou (the Christmas Annual), before springing into his first weekly adventure ‘Arizona 1880’ on December 7^th 1946.

Prior to that, Morris had met future comics super-stars Franquin and Peyo while working at the CBA (Compagnie Belge d’ActualitiÃ©s) cartoon studio and contributing caricatures to weekly magazine Le Moustique. He quickly became one of â€œla Bande des quatreâ€ (Gang of Four) comprising creators JijÃ©, Will and Franquin: all leading proponents of the loose, free-wheeling art-style dubbed the â€œMarcinelle Schoolâ€ which dominated Spirou in aesthetic contention with the â€œLigne Claireâ€ style used by HergÃ©, EP Jacobs and other artists in rival magazine Tintin.

In 1948 said Gang (all but Will) visited America, meeting US creators and sightseeing. Morris stayed for six years, meeting fellow tourist RenÃ© Goscinny, scoring some work from newly-formed EC sensation Mad whilst making copious notes and sketches of the swiftly vanishing Old West.

That research resonates on every page of his life’s work.

A solo act until 1955, Morris produced another nine albums worth of affectionate parody before formally partnering with Goscinny, who became his regular wordsmith. Lucky Luke rapidly attained the dizzying heights of superstardom, commencing with ‘Des rails sur la Prairie’ (Rails on the Prairie), which began serialisation in Spirou with the August 25^thof 1955. In 1967 the six-gun straight-shooter changed horses in midstream, transferring to Goscinny’s own magazine Pilote with ‘La Diligence’ (The Stagecoach).

Goscinny & Morris produced 45 albums together before the author’s death in 1977, after which Morris continued both singly and with fresh collaborators. Morris passed away in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus beginning spin-off adventures for Rantanplan (â€œdumbest dog in the Westâ€ and a charming spoof of cinema canine Rin-Tin-Tin).

The immortal franchise was left to fresh hands, beginning with AchdÃ©, Laurent Gerra, Benacquista & Pennac who have produced another ten tales to date.

Curiously, apart from the initial adventure, Lucky (to appropriate a quote applied to the thematically simpatico Alias Smith and Jones) â€œin all that timeâ€¦ never shot or killed anyoneâ€. He did however smoke, like all the cool cowboys didâ€¦

Lucky Luke was first seen in Britain syndicated to weekly comic anthology Film Fun, then reappeared in 1967 in Giggle, renamed Buck Bingo. In all these venues – as well as the numerous attempts to follow the English-language successes of Tintin and Asterix albums from Brockhampton and Knight Books – Luke had a trademark cigarette hanging insouciantly from his lip, but in 1983 Morris, no doubt amidst both pained howls and muted mutterings of â€œpolitical correctness gone madâ€, substituted a piece of straw for the much-travelled dog-end, which garnered him an official tip of the hat from the World Health Organization.

Unquestionably, the most successful attempt at bringing Lucky Luke to our shores and shelves is the current incarnation. Cinebook (who have rightly restored the foul weed to his lips on the interior pages, if not the coversâ€¦) have translated 58 albums thus far. Calamity Jane was their eighth, still readily available both on paper and as an e-book edition.

It was first published Continentally in 1967: the 30^th European offering and Goscinny’s twenty-first collaboration with Morris. It’s also one of the team’s better tales, blending historical personages with the wandering hero’s action-comedy exploits and as such it’s a slice of Horrible Histories-tinged Americana you can’t afford to miss.

It all begins with our hero taking a welcome bath in a quiet river, only to be ambushed by a band of Apaches spoiling for a fight. Their murderous plans are ruined by a bombastic lone rider who explosively drives off the raiders in a hail of gunfire before stopping to laugh at the embarrassed Luke. His cool, confidant rescuer is tough, bellicose, foul-mouthed, tobacco-chewing and infamous: although born Martha Jane Cannery most folk just call her Calamity Janeâ€¦

She’s becomes more amenable after learning who Luke is and over coffee and a scratch meal, mutual respect develops into real friendship. Recounting her (remarkably well-researched) history she learns in return why Luke is in the region: someone has been supplying the Indians with guns just like the ones that almost killed him earlierâ€¦

Keen to help, Calamity joins Lucky and they ride into frontier town El Plomo and another little crisis. The saloon prefers not to serve ladiesâ€¦ until Jane convinces them to change the policy in her own unique manner.

The glitzy dive is owned and operated by unctuous, sleazily sinister August Oyster who instantly suspects that legendary lawman Luke is there because of his own underhand, under-the-counter activitiesâ€¦

As the cowboy heads off to check in with the sheriff, Calamity gets into games of chance and skill with the sleazy Oyster and his hulking henchman Baby Sam, swiftly causing an upset by winning his hotel and saloon. Happily, Lucky is back on the scene by the time the grudging grouse has to officially hand over his money-making venture.

Flushed with success, the new proprietor starts making changes and no man cares to object to the Calamity Jane Saloon and Tearoom (Reserved for Ladies). They’ll happily buy her beer and whiskey too, but not even at gunpoint will they eat her crumpetsâ€¦

Oyster and Baby Sam are frantic, however: the saloon was crucial to their side business selling guns to renegade Apaches and they have to get it back before increasingly impatient Chief Gomino takes matters into his own bloodstained handsâ€¦

Still hunting for the gunrunners and pretty certain who’s behind the scheme, Luke is constantly distracted by the petty acts of sabotage and even arson plaguing Calamity, but even as he finds his first piece of concrete proof, Oyster instigates his greatest distraction yet: organising the haughtily strait-laced Ladies Guild of El Plomo to close down the insalubrious saloon and run its new owner out of townâ€¦

Never daunted, Luke calms his tack-spitting pal down and deftly counterattacks by sending for an etiquette teacher to polish rough diamond Jane enough to be accepted by the ferocious and militant guildswomen. It is the greatest challenge urbane and effete Professor Robert Gainsborough (an outrageously slick caricature of British superstar actor David Niven) has undertaken and his eventual (partial) success leaves him a changed and broken manâ€¦

Stymied at every turn, the panicking August Oyster is soon caught red-handed by the vigilant vigilante, but it is too late. Frustrated and impatient, Gomino has decided to raid the town in broad daylight and seize his long-promised guns and ammo from their hiding place.

The terrifying marauders however have not reckoned on the steely fighting prowess of Lucky Luke and the devil woman they superstitiously call â€œBang! Bang!â€â€¦

Cleverly barbed, wickedly witty and spectacularly playing with the key tropes of classic sagebrush sagas, this raucous romp is another grand escapade in the comedic tradition of Destry Rides Again and Support Your Local Sheriff, superbly executed by master storytellers as a wonderful introduction to a venerable genre for today’s kids who might well have missed the romantic allure of an all-pervasive Wild West that never wasâ€¦

Also included here is a photo pin-up of the actual Martha Jane Cannery in her gun-toting prime and, in case you’re worried, even though the interior art still has our hero drawin’ on that ol’ nicotine stick, trust me, there’s very little chance of any reader craving a quick snout (or crumpets wild west style), but quite a strong likelihood that they’ll be addicted to Lucky Luke albumsâ€¦
Â© Dargaud Editeur Paris 1971 by Goscinny & Morris. Â© Lucky Comics.

June 4, 2016June 1, 2016

Angel Claws (Limited Edition)

By Moebius & Jodorowsky, translated by Thierry Nantier (Humanoids)
ISBN: 978-1-59465-012-3

Like vaudeville and comedy, the world of comics has been blessed with some incredible double-acts: seasoned professionals capable of astounding works individually but in close combination, fuelling and feeding each other until elevated to a sublime peak of invention and application.

You’ll have your own candidates, but for me Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Goscinny & Uderzo, Lee & Kirby, Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima and RosiÅ„ski & Van Hamme all resonate as individual masters who respond to certain collaborations and combinations with unmatched brillianceâ€¦

One of European comics most impressive and controversial pairings was always Moebius & Jodorowsky and this recently revived dark confection is possibly their most daring and audacious co-creationâ€¦

Born in Tocopilla, Chile in 1929, Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky is a filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, world traveller, philosopher, spiritual guru and comics writer.

The acclaimed polymath is most widely revered for such films as Fando y Lis, El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Sante Sangre, The Rainbow Thief, The Dance of Reality and others, plus his vast and influential comics output, which includes Anibal 5, Le Lama blanc, Aliot, The Meta-Barons, Borgia, Madwoman of the Sacred Heart and so many more, created with many of South America and Europe’s greatest artists.

His decade-long collaboration with Moebius on Tarot-inspired fantasy epic The Incal (1981-1989) completely redefined and reinvented what comics could aspire to and achieve.

Acclaimed for violently surreal avant-garde films, loaded with highly-charged, inspired imagery – blending mysticism and what he terms â€œreligious provocationâ€ – and his spiritually-informed fantasy and science fiction comics, Jodorowsky is also fascinated by humanity’s inner realms and has devised his own doctrine of therapeutic healing: Psychomagic, Psychogenealogy and Initiatic massage.

He remains fully engaged and active in all these creative areas to this day.

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was born in the suburbs of Paris on May 8^th 1938 and raised by grandparents after his mother and father divorced in 1941. In 1955, he attended Institut des Arts AppliquÃ©s and became friends with Jean-Claude MÃ©ziÃ¨res who, at 17, was already selling strips and illustrations to magazines such as Coeurs Valliants, Fripounet et Marisette and Spirou. Giraud apparently spent most of his college time drawing cowboy comics and left after a year.

In 1956 he travelled to Mexico, staying with his mother for eight months, before returning to France and a full-time career drawing comics, mostly westerns such as Frank et Jeremie for Far West and King of the Buffalo, A Giant with the Hurons and others for Coeurs Valliants in a style based on French comics legend Joseph Gillain AKA â€œJijÃ©â€.

Between 1959-1960 Giraud spent his National Service in Algeria, working on military service magazine 5/5 Forces FranÃ§aises before returning to civilian life as JijÃ©’s assistant in 1961, working on the master’s long-running (1954-1977) western epic Jerry Spring.

A year later, Giraud and Belgian writer Jean-Michel Charlier launched the serial Fort Navajo in Pilote #210, and soon its disreputable, anti-heroic lead character Lieutenant Blueberry became one of the most popular European strips of modern times.

In 1963-1964, Giraud produced a numerous strips for satire periodical Hara-Kiri and, keen to distinguish and separate the material from his serious day job, first coined his pen-name â€œMoebiusâ€.

He didn’t use it again until 1975 when he joined Bernard Farkas, Jean-Pierre Dionnet and Philippe Druillet – all devout science fiction fans – as founders of a revolution in narrative graphic arts created by â€œLes Humanoides Associesâ€.

Their groundbreaking adult fantasy magazine MÃ©tal Hurlant utterly enraptured the comics-buying public and Giraud again wanted to utilise a discreet creative persona for the lyrical, experimental, soul-searching material he was increasingly driven to produce: series such as The Airtight Garage, The Incal and the mystical, dreamy flights of sheer fantasy contained in Arzachâ€¦

To further separate his creative twins, Giraud worked his inks with a brush whilst the dedicated futurist Moebius rendered his lines with pens. After a truly stellar career which saw him become a household name, both Giraud and Moebius passed away in March 2012.

Griffes D’ange was first published in 1994, during a period when the deeply spiritual Moebius was especially concerned with purging, honing and redefining his creative soul and artistic vision. One result of his divinations was this collation of sexually hyper-charged images accompanied – as was the earlier collaboration Claws of the Cat – by evocative poetic musings from his brother-in-graphic exploration Jodorowskyâ€¦

Stunning monochrome plates – rendered in stark monochrome lines – counter-pointed and augmented by terse, challenging, intentionally disturbing descriptive statements reveal the innermost workings of a recently-bereaved young woman who throws aside all pretences of convention to embark on a quest of personal discovery and awakening. Where the search takes her is the stuff of dreams and nightmaresâ€¦

Fetishistic, scary, sexually explicit, deeply symbolic, confrontationally transformative and – as previous stated – reportedly a therapeutic exercise for the creators, Angel Claws is a stunning assault on the senses and traditional mores and morality to appal and delight in equal amountsâ€¦ depending, of course, upon what your own upbringing brings to the feastâ€¦

Available as an oversized (406 x 305 mm) hardcover coffee table tome and in digital editions, this is a visual milestone no consenting adult connoisseur of comics should miss.
Angel Claws and its logo are â„¢ Les Humanoides Associes SAS Paris (France). English version Â© 2012 Humanoids, Inc., Los Angeles (USA). All rights reserved.

June 3, 2016May 31, 2016

Yakari and the White Fleece

By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominique, translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-055-9

In 1964 Swiss journalist AndrÃ© Jobin founded a new children’s magazine entitled Le Crapaud Ã lunettes. He then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later he hired fellow French-Swiss artist Claude de Ribaupierre who opted for the pen-name â€œDeribâ€. His own career began when he joined Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs), as an assistant working on Smurfs strips for the weekly Spirou. Together, Jobin and de Ribaupierre crafted the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore before striking pure comics gold a couple of years later with their next collaboration.

Launching in 1969, Yakari detailed the life of a young Oglala Lakota boy on the Great Plains; sometime after the introduction of horses by the Conquistadores and before the coming of the modern White Man.

Overflowing with gentle whimsy and wholesome suspense, the beguiling strip explores a captivating, bucolic existence at one with nature and generally free from strife. For the sake of our entertainment however the seasons are punctuated with the odd crisis and generally resolved without fame or fanfare by a little Sioux lad who is smart, compassionate, braveâ€¦ and able to converse with all animalsâ€¦

Derib – equally excellent in both enticing, comically dynamic â€œMarcinelleâ€ cartoon style yarns and with devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustrated action epics – went on to become one of the Continent’s most prolific and revered creators.

It’s a crime that such groundbreaking strips as Celui-qui-est-nÃ©-deux-fois, Jo (the first comic on AIDS ever published), Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne) haven’t been translated into English yet, but we remain in a state of hopeful anticipationâ€¦

Many of his most impressive works over the decades have featured his beloved Western themes, magnificent geographical backdrops and epic landscapes, and Yakari is considered by most fans and critics to be the feature which catapulted him to deserved mega-stardom.

Originally released in 1984, Yakari et la toison blanche was the eleventh European album and Cinebook’s lucky 13th, but chronology and continuity addicts won’t suffer unless they are of a superstitious turn of mind since this tale is both stunningly simple and effectively timeless; offering certain enjoyment from a minimum of foreknowledgeâ€¦

The tribe are nomadic; perpetually moving with the seasons and this tale opens as they make camp at the base of a mighty mountain range. Two warriors leave to round up wild mustangs but as they scale the lower ranges, over-eager Bold Crow ignores an omen and is attacked by a golden eagle. The diving raptor knocks him from his pony and, while he lies stunned, snatches away his medicine pouch and personal talisman.

Playfully scaling the rocks nearby, Yakari, Rainbow and blustering Buffalo Seed see Watchful Snake bringing comatose Bold Crow back and rush to see what has happenedâ€¦

Even medicine man He Who Knows cannot wake the fallen hunter, and Yakari is worried that somehow his own totem Great Eagle has caused the tragedy. Determined to intercede on the fallen warrior’s behalf and recover the stolen pouch, Yakari sets off to climb the mountain on his wondrous pony Little Thunder.

Eventually, though, even the wonder horse can no longer keep his footing and after conferring with a helpful elk and a timid clan of marmots the little lad heads on alone, always aiming for the highest peak where the eagles liveâ€¦

Nearing the top Yakari spots the giant bird of prey and with some relief realises it is not his adored Great Eagle who has caused the injury to Bold Crow’s spirit. Before he can decide what to do next however, the bold boy is distracted by strange sounds and sees a herd of mountain sheep playfully butting heads.

From his vantage point the weary boy can see his people far below and for miles around. It’s the only thing that saves him as the weather suddenly changes and an ice storm hits. Unable to climb down in the tempest, he heads for a cave higher up the rock face and frantically scrabbles in. With snow pounding down he crawls as far as he can through the darkness and falls asleep in the withering coldâ€¦

He awakes alive, surprised and gloriously warm, to find himself at the centre of a huge heap of smiling, fleecy mountain goats. Over breakfast he tells the welcoming family of his quest. They too have reason to be wary of the great raptor, as it has been know to menace newborn kids and generous Broken Horn offers to guide him as close as she canâ€¦

Sadly even carrying Yakari, they cannot get close enough to the inaccessible eagle’s eyrie and have to retreat. Rather than admit defeat however, the lad has a plan, but it all rests upon his ability to weave and braid the fleeces shed by his new friends into a certain formâ€¦

Now all that remains is to regain the summit, brave the hunter’s lair and survive the inevitable counterattack, but at least thanks to a last-minute arrival, the goats are not his only allies in the deadly heightsâ€¦

Always visually spectacular, seductively smart and happily heart-warming, Job’s beguiling script again affords Derib a splendid opportunity to go absolutely wild with the illustrations; creating a dizzying, breathtaking scenario which only makes his eventual victory even more unlikely until it actually happensâ€¦

The exploits of the valiant voyager who speaks with beasts and enjoys a unique place in an exotic world is a decades-long celebration of joyously gentle, marvellously moving adventure, honouring and eulogising an iconic culture with grace, wit, wonder and especially humour.

These seductive sagas are true landmarks of comics and Yakari is a strip no parent or fan of graphic entertainment should ignore.
Original edition Â© Le Lombard (Dargaud- Lombard S.A.) 2000, by Derib + Job. English translation 2010 Â© Cinebook Ltd.

May 31, 2016May 27, 2016

XIII volume 3: All the Tears of Hell

By William Vance & Jean Van Hamme, coloured by Petra (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-051-1

One of the most consistently entertaining and popular adventure serials on the European scene, XIII was created by author Jean Van Hamme (Wayne Shelton, Blake and Mortimer, Lady S.) and illustrator William Vance (Bruce J. Hawker, Marshal Blueberry, Ramiro).

Van Hamme was born in Brussels in 1939 and is one of the most prolific writers in comics. After pursuing business studies he moved into journalism and marketing before selling his first graphic tale in 1968. Immediately clicking with the public, by 1976 he had also branched out into prose novels and screenwriting. His big break was monumentally successful mixed-genre fantasy series Thorgal for Tintin magazine but he truly cemented his reputation with mass-market bestsellers Largo Winch and XIII as well as more cerebral fare such as Chninkel and Les maÃ®tres de l’orge. In 2010 Van Hamme was listed as the second-best selling comics author in France, ranked between the seemingly unassailable HergÃ© and Uderzo.

William Vance is the bande dessinÃ©e nom de plume of William van Cutsem. He was born in 1935 in Anderlecht and, after military service in 1955-1956, studied art at the AcadÃ©mie Royale des Beaux-Arts. He became an illustrator of biographic features for Tintin in 1962. His persuasive illustrative style is a classical blend of meticulous realism, scrupulous detail and spectacular yet understated action.

In 1964 he began maritime adventure serial Howard Flynn (written by Yves Duval) before graduating to more popular genre work with western Ray Ringo and espionage thriller Bruno Brazil (scripted by â€œGregâ€). Further success followed when he replaced GÃ©rald Forton on science fiction classic Bob Morane in Femmes d’Aujourd’hui and latterly Pilote and Tintin.

Although working broadly and constantly on serials and stand-alone stories, Vance’s signature achievement is his lengthy collaboration with fellow Belgian Van Hamme on this contemporary thriller loosely based on Robert Ludlum’s novel The Bourne Identityâ€¦

XIII premiered in 1984, originally running in Spirou to great acclaim. A triad of albums were rushed out – simultaneously printed in French and Dutch editions – before the first year of serialisation ended.

The series was a monumental hit in Europe but has fared less well in its many attempts to make the translation jump to English, with Catalan Communications, Alias Comics and even Marvel all failing to find an audience for the epic mystery thriller.

The grand conspiracy saga of unrelenting mood, mystery and mayhem opened in The Day of the Black Sun when an old beachcomber found a body. The human flotsam had been shot in the head and was near death when old Abe‘s wife examined the near-corpse. She discovered a key sewn into his clothes and the Roman numerals for thirteen tattooed on the victim’s neck. Their remote hideaway offered little in the way of emergency services, but their alcoholic, struck-off surgeon friend was able to save the strangerâ€¦

As he recuperated a complication became apparent. The patient – a splendid physical specimen clearly no stranger to action or violence – had suffered massive irreversible brain trauma and although increasingly sound in body had completely lost his mind.

Language skills, muscle memories, even social and reflexive conditioning all remained, but every detail of his life-history was goneâ€¦

Abe and Sally named him â€œAlanâ€ after their own dead son – but hints of the intruder’s lost past explosively intruded when hitmen invaded the beach house with guns blazing. Alan lethally retaliated with terrifying skill, but too lateâ€¦

In the aftermath he found a photo of himself and a young woman on the killers and traced it to nearby Eastown. Desperate for answers and certain more killers were coming, the human question mark headed off to confront unimaginable danger and hopefully find the answers he craved.

The picture led to a local newspaper and a crooked cop who recognised the amnesiac but said nothingâ€¦

The woman in the photo was Kim Rowland, a local widow recently gone missing. Alan’s key opened the door of her house. The place had been ransacked but a thorough search utilising his mysterious talents turned up another key and a note warning someone named Jake that â€œThe Mongooseâ€ had found herâ€¦

He was then ambushed by the cop and newspaper editor Wayne. Calling him â€œSheltonâ€ they demanded the return of a large amount of missing moneyâ€¦

Alan/Jake/Shelton reasoned the new key fitted a safe-deposit box and bluffed the thugs into taking him to the biggest bank in town. The staff there also knew him as Shelton, but when his captors examined the briefcase in Shelton’s box a booby trap went off. Instantly acting, the mystery man expertly escaped and eluded capture, holing up in a shabby hotel room, pondering again what kind of man he used to beâ€¦

As he prepared to leave he stumbled into a mob of armed killers. In a blur of lethal action he escaped and ran into another gang led by a Colonel Amos. This chilling executive referred to his captive as â€œThirteenâ€, claiming to have dealt with his predecessors XI and XII in regard to the â€œBlack Sunâ€ caseâ€¦

Amos very much wanted to know who Alan was, and offered some shocking titbits in return. The most sensational was film of the recent assassination of the American President, clearly showing the lone gunman was XIIIâ€¦

Despite the amnesiac’s heartfelt conviction that he was no assassin, Amos accused him of working for a criminal mastermind, and wanted that big boss but failed to take Alan’s instinctive abilities into account and was astounded when his prisoner leapt out of a fourth floor windowâ€¦

The fugitive headed back to the beach where he was found but more murderers awaited; led by a mild-seeming man Alan inexplicably knew was The Mongoose. The mastermind expressed surprise and admiration: he thought he’d killed Thirteen months agoâ€¦

Following an explosion of hyper-fast violence which left the henchmen dead and Mongoose vanished but vengeful, the mystery man regretfully hopped a freight train west towards the next stage in his quest for truthâ€¦

His journey of discovery took him to the army base where Kim Rowland’s husband was stationed. His enquiries provoked an unexpected and violent response resulting in his interrogation by General Ben Carrington and his sexily capable aide Lieutenant Jones.

They’re from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, know an awful lot about black ops units and have proof that their memory-challenged prisoner is in fact their agent: believed-deceased Captain Steve Rowlandâ€¦

After testing the amnesiac’s abilities Carrington then drops him off in Rowland’s home town of Southberg to pursue his search for his missing wife, but the prodigal’s return to his rat’s nest of a family rekindles long-simmering passions and jealousies. The entire town seems to want Rowland’s blood and before long he’s been made the target of an assassination attempt and victim of a diabolical murder-plotâ€¦

Despite Carrington and Jones’ last-minute intervention Alan/Steve is framed for murdering his father and grabbed by a furious posseâ€¦

This third gripping instalment (originally seen in Europe as Toutes Les larmes de l’enfer in 1986) opens with Steve Rowland undergoing the worst kind of psychiatric care at the Plain Rock Penitentiary for the Criminally Insane. Despite drugs and shock treatments, his progress at the Maximum Security Facility is negligible. Young Dr. Ralph Berger seems amenable enough but all elderly martinet Dr. Johansson‘s claims to be seeking a cure for his patient’s amnesia are clearly no more than a proselytising, judgemental sadist’s justifications for inflicting painâ€¦

Meanwhile in Washington DC, Carrington and Jones have met with Colonel Amos who has a strange request and troubling new information. His investigations have revealed that the amnesiac in the desert hell of Plain Rock has undergone plastic surgery and his army records have been altered. Steve Rowland is definitely not Steve Rowlandâ€¦

Moreover, Amos has information proving that the plotters who had the President killed are still active and their amnesiac assassin is the only link and hope of finding them. Acting on her own initiative, Jones decides it’s time she took a hands-on approach to the problemâ€¦

Meanwhile, anxious and isolated Not-Rowland has a visitor who galvanises him out of his electro-chemically induced fugue-state as the Mongoose gloatingly pops in to inform the prisoner that his days are numberedâ€¦

Deep within the corridors of power, Colonel Amos informs Carrington that his further investigations have resulted in a name. He has solved the mystery of XIII and the man they are actually dealing with is former soldier and intelligence operative Ross Tanner.

Probablyâ€¦

Knowing his time is limited, Rowland/Tanner opts for escape and decides to take along the kid who shares his cell. It’s as if he’s forgotten they’re in a maximum security facility for criminal maniacs, but he’s painfully reminded of the fact when sweet little Billy starts killing again as soon as they’re clear of the detention wingâ€¦

Recaptured and restricted to the medical section, XIII is helpless when the Mongoose’s inside man makes his move. Luckily Jones has also inserted herself in a position where she can do the most goodâ€¦

Spectacularly busting out of the prison, â€œRowlandâ€ and the mystery-woman then race into the desert, somehow avoiding a massive manhunt before vanishing without trace. Some time later Amos and Carrington confer over the disappearance, but one of them knows exactly where the fugitive is.

Now, with another new name, the warrior without a past and his new powerful allies lay plans to take the fight to their secret enemyâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

XIII is one most compelling and convoluted mystery adventures ever conceived, with subsequent instalments constantly taking the questing human enigma two steps forward, one step back, stumbling through a world of pain and peril whilst cutting through an interminable web of past lives he seemingly ledâ€¦

Fast-paced, clever and immensely inventive, XIII is a series no devotee of mystery and murder will want to miss.
Original edition Â© Dargaud Benelux (Dargaud-Lombard SA), 1986 by Van Hamme, Vance & Petra. All rights reserved. This edition published 2010 by Cinebook Ltd.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: