The Bluecoats Volume 5 – Rumberley
by Raoul Cauvin and Willy Lambil
“After an even bloodier battle than usual, the Union army is out of men. But so are the Rebels, and General Alexander decides to retreat and come back with reinforcements quickly before the enemy can do the same. To move faster, he leaves his wounded—including Stark and Chesterfield—behind in the nearby town of Rumberley, in the care of its inhabitants and Corporal Blutch. But Rumberley’s a Rebel village…”
Bluecoats is another one of those serial Euro books that’s essentially a sitcom, utilising the essence of the serialised drama; focus on the characters, limit the range, no real long term characterisation or dramatic narrative, just the same characters dumped into slightly differing situations each time.
That’s not a criticism though, that’s the comedy DNA for so many great works, whether they’re comics such as Asterix, Lucky Luke, Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts, or greats of comedy drama such as Mash, Cheers, and <insert your favourite long-running comedy>. The similarities with MASH don’t end there either, as Bluecoats opens with a low key reminder of the problems of setting a comedy in wartime…
This time around there’s a little more to Bluecoats than the same running gag of Sgt. Chesterfield’s gung-ho professional soldier contrasted against Corporal Blutch’s ever so reluctant character, never a coward, but never too keen to rush headlong into trouble either. As the generals realise their latest bit of wargaming has left them short on manpower and high on casualties, they’re left with a choice… retreat fast or look after their men. Oh…
All of which gives Blutch chance do flex a little of his anti-establishment cynicism, as he and the wounded are ditched in favour of a quick retreat, and left to fend for themselves, dropped off in the Rebel village of Rumberley. Something that they failed to mention to a strident Blutch when he confronted them about leaving the men…
“we will conduct them to a wonderful town near here filled with welcoming people who will care for them!”
Or maybe not..
Volume 4 was a blast, full of fun, full of great comedy, a few clever moments along the way. But this time round there’s something important lacking, it’s rather directionless, much less of the rhythm of the gags that featured in the last volume, less clever stuff, just less of everything really. Artistically it was still a fine thing to enjoy, but a shame it lacked that certain something this time around.
It’s not without charm, even if you just look at the pages there’s enough good cartooning going on by Lambil to raise a smile regularly enough, but I settled down with the book hoping to get the same relaxed, fun read of before, and sadly it wasn’t really forthcoming. Still, nearly 200,000 Europeans who regularly buy The Bluecoats disagree with me over this, and with another 45 volumes there’s lots of opportunity for it to impress again.
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