{"id":11970,"date":"2014-06-06T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T08:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=11970"},"modified":"2014-06-18T19:03:36","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T19:03:36","slug":"cinebook-recounts-battle-of-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2014\/06\/06\/cinebook-recounts-battle-of-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinebook Recounts Battle of Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bernard Asso<\/strong>, illustrated by Francis Berg\u00c3\u00a9se<\/strong> colours by Fr\u00c3\u00a9d\u00c3\u00a9ric Berg\u00c3\u00a9se<\/strong> & translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-84918-025-2<\/p>\n

There’s the distant drone of a commemorative flight of Dakotas in my ears as the scenic South Coast of England celebrates the 70th<\/sup> Anniversary of D-Day. So in a somewhat misplaced and time-insensitive tip of the hat I thought I’d take a peek at a classic slice of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our Finest Hours\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as seen through an oddly pan-European titbit that has much to recommend it\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Originally titled Le Bataille d’Angleterre<\/em><\/strong> and seen here as Biggles and The Battle Of Britain<\/strong>, the material in this album sprang out ofthe continent’s decades-long love affair with the plucky British aviator.<\/p>\n

Biggles is huge all over Europe, particularly in Holland, Germany, Belgium and France, which makes it doubly galling that apart from a big run of translations in India, only a short-lived Swedish interpretation of his comicbook exploits (see W.E. Johns’ Biggles and the Golden Bird<\/a><\/strong>) and a paltry few from the Franco-Belgian iteration licensed by British outfit Red Fox in the mid 1990s – which included this very volume – have ever made the move back to Blighty\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Hopefully some enterprising publisher will be willing to brave the Intellectual Property rights minefield involved and bring us all more of his superb graphic adventures one day\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Happily, as this tome is more of a documentary than a drama and the Air Ace doesn’t feature, publisher Cinebook have twice released this fine and visually erudite mini epic by historian Bernard Asso and the utterly compelling Francis Berg\u00c3\u00a9se.<\/p>\n

Like so many artists involved in aviation stories, Berg\u00c3\u00a9se (born in 1941) started young with both drawing and flying. He qualified as a pilot whilst still a teenager, enlisted in the French Army and was a reconnaissance flyer by his twenties. At age 23 he began selling strips to L’\u00c3\u2030toile<\/em><\/strong> and JT Jeunes<\/em><\/strong> (1963-1966) after which he produced his first air strip Jacques Renne<\/em>forZorro<\/em><\/strong>. This was soon followed by Amigo, Ajax, Cap 7, Les 3 Cascadeurs, Les 3 A, Michel dans la Course<\/em> and many others.<\/p>\n

Berg\u00c3\u00a9se worked as a jobbing artist on comedies, pastiches and WWII strips until 1983 when he was offered the plum job of illustrating the venerable and globally syndicated Buck Danny<\/strong>. In the 1990s the seemingly indefatigable Berg\u00c3\u00a9se split his time, producing Danny dramas and Biggles books. He retired in 2008.<\/p>\n

In this double-barrelled dossier delight from 1983, his splendidly understated, matter-of-fact strip illustration is used to cleverly synthesise the events following the defeat at Dunkirk to the Battle of Britain (1940)<\/em> and the eventual turnaround in May 1941. Combining and counterpointing the works of famous figures like Churchill<\/em>, Hitler<\/em>, Douglas Bader<\/em> and Goering<\/em> with key tactical players such as Air<\/em> Chief<\/em> Marshal Hugh Dowding<\/em>, Grand<\/em> Admiral Erich Raeder<\/em>, Galland<\/em> and M\u00c3\u00b6lders<\/em> and relating actual tales of individual valour in the skies, the fact-packed narrative tracks the actions and experiences of specious winged warriors Leutnant Otto Werner<\/em> and True Brit Flight Lieutenant James Colby<\/em> as they struggle to survive in the skies over England.<\/p>\n

The saga deals with the early days of terrifying air duels, later Blitz bombings, Albion’s logistical trials and eventual triumphs with factual expertise, but also affords a human face on each side of the conflict\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The latter half of the book then switches time and focus as Asso & Berg\u00c3\u00a9se detail The Bombing of Germany (1943-1945)<\/em> paying especial attention to Air Chief Marshal Harris<\/em>‘ controversial tactic of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Terror Bombing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and its effects on allies and enemies – and innocents.<\/p>\n

Here Colby has transferred to Britain’s Bomber Command<\/em>, trading Hurricanes and Spitfire for Lancasters, Halifaxes and B-17 Flying Fortresses. Major Werner is there too, as the Allies’ campaign slowly destroys the Nazi War Machine and the embattled Ace graduates from prop-powered Fockers and Messerschmitts to the first jet-planes – but too late\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Cunningly converting dry dusty history into stellar entertainment, Asso & Berg\u00c3\u00a9se brilliantly transform statistical accounts and solid detail into powerful evocative terms on a human scale that most children will easily understand, whilst never forgetting the war had two sides, but no \u00e2\u20ac\u0153us\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153them\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Whilst perhaps not as diligent or accurate as a school text, Cinebook Recounts: Battle of Britain<\/strong> (part of a graphic history strand that also includes The Falklands War<\/strong> and The Wright Brothers<\/strong> making distant events come alive) offers a captivating and memorable introduction to the events that no parent or teacher can afford to miss, and no kid can fail to enjoy.<\/p>\n