(cover to Hidden Disaster by Erik Bongers, published by the EU)

Hidden Disaster’s story is set in Borduvia, a ficticious country somewhere in Eastern Europe that has fallen victim to a major earthquake.  Zana is a bright and not unattractive woman working for the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Services, who gets involved in helping the Burdovians in their plight while keeping up her spirits, and her manners.  As Bongers attests in the Flemish daily De Morgen, most of the changes the Commission made in the scenario involved language (everything had to be absolutely neutral – no swearing, no foul language and above all, no reference to any religion whatsoever).  This fits rather nicely in with Bongers’ visual style, which clearly refers to the Ligne Claire of that other most gentlemanlike do-gooder, Tintin.

Originally, only a French and English print run was planned for the book, but the reactions to Bongers’ pages were very favorable.  In the end, no less than 300,000 copies were printed in a variety of languages, including German and Italian.  It is available for free on the European Commission’s Book Shop site, either as a paper copy or a digital PDF version.

Over the weekend, the British Daily Telegraph newspaper (not noted as the most European friendly publication – Joe) already printed a less than favorable reaction, with journalist Robert Mendick making fun of the supposedly thin storyline and fuming against the book’s £200,000 price tag.  Matthew Elliott,Chief Executive of the Taxpayers Alliance is quoted as saying: “It is deeply immoral to use taxpayers’ money to promote the EU to children.  This is pure political propaganda aimed at kids, which is a classic tactic of corrupt and unaccountable regimes down the ages. The EU seems to think it can buy itself popularity, but instead it simply makes itself look more out of touch and wasteful.”

Bongers is not suprised by this reaction, but reacts by putting things into perspective : “The purpose of the book is making clear to adults and youngsters alike what European humanitarian aid means.  Many of the books are supposed to end up with readers who want to learn a second language.”  He adds, “It’s quite ironic that the first order of books came from two English teachers’ conferences“.

(Zana finds a drowned village in Hidden Disaster by Erik Bongers, published by the EU; nice, clear artwork, not sure about those square speech bubble though...)

It’s not the first time that the European Union uses comics to illustrate and explain itself to the people.  In 2002 Belgian cartoonist Dominique David created Troubled Waters, a political thriller set to the backdrop of the European Parliament.  Like Hidden Disaster, this book is still available, for free, at the EC Book Shop, in paper and PDF formats.

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and would like the European Union people to know he is available to translate comics and he’s good value for taxpayers; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

Written by Alcante, art by Radovanovic

Cinebook

The Pandora’s Box series uses a mixture of modern tech and Ancient Greek mythology to illustrate tales of the seven deadly sins with the eighth book of the series representing hope (When Pandora opened the box seven of the eight demons escaped but she managed to keep the demon of Hopelessness trapped in the Box, thus allowing humanity hope).

This second volume brings us to Sloth with the initially contradictory tale of the world’s greatest 100m sprinter. But looking to the inside cover and the quote (that I can’t track down a source for – it may be specifically written by Alcante):

“Of Sloth, like Paris, you will succumb to the slow venom”

Which explains why this tale of Sloth concerns the world’s fastest man. The slow venom being the insidious temptation for this supreme athlete to give in to the pressures all around him and, after years of being super-clean, to cheat with steroids.

Paris Troy is the greatest 100m sprinter of his time, his world record has stood for nearly ten years and he’s never cheated, never been tempted, never needed to. But his resolve to compete clean is threatened when his fitness and power slip after his first major injury. Hot on his heels, with times getting better and better each race is young pretender to the 100m crown Ace. They’re destined to meet at this year’s Olympic Games in Instanbul.

What would Paris do to win, what temptations would he succumb to, this super-clean athlete who’s never needed to consider doping before?

(During the glory days – looking back at Paris Troy’s world record set nearly 10 years prior to the events in Sloth. From Pandora’s Box Volume 2: Sloth, art by Radovanovic, published by Cinebook.)

Temptation comes by way of Paris’ brother Hector, older but not as gifted, who gave in to his own temptation ten years ago, raced on steroids and was caught and banned. But when Paris’ struggle to regain his peak form is revealed is it only Hector’s weakness to succumb that prompts him to suggest doping to Paris, or is it something more sinister?

The story follows Paris’ long route back to steroid aided top form, reassured by his brother that these steroids are practically untraceable and there’s no way he’ll get caught at the Olympics. As the pressure mounts, from Ace, from the sponsors, from his trainer, Paris completely succumbs to his new drug aided regime. Even if he gets away with the cheating, what price will Paris have to pay for his next Olympic gold?

(Paris Troy in drug aided training, temptation so easy to succumb to. From Pandora’s Box Volume 2: Sloth, art by Radovanovic, published by Cinebook.)

It’s a great premise, full of intrigue and conflict. Brother against brother, athlete against athlete and one man against the temptation to break all of his own rules to hang on to the only thing in his life that matters. But Pandora’s Box: Sloth fails to live up to the premise. It’s not a terrible failure, just a moderate one. I wanted something more involving and less obvious than this – there’s a couple of twists at the end that are pretty obviously signposted along the way and I kept finding the determination of Alcante to shoehorn the references to the Trojan War rather annoying. It reads well enough, but ultimately it’s no winner.

The first volume; Pride (review) I rather enjoyed. This second volume just doesn’t have the same enjoyment for me. There’s nothing to make me go “wow” here, not in the writing and not in the artwork – I’m sure that Alcante wanted an artist to capture the dynamic, superhero like qualities of the world’s fastest man. But although Radovanovic starts out really well, capturing the athletes in action, this early promise flounders somewhat in the pages that follow.

The concept of Pandora’s Box is still an intriguing one, but with two stories complete, it seems the execution of the stories are having trouble living up to the ambition of that concept. At this point, two parts in, I doubt I’ll be sticking with it till the end.

Richard Bruton.

by Jean Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosinski

Published by Cinebook

Another Cinebook series I’m reading out of order, having read volume 5 first (review here) but like I said back then;

So Thorgal was enjoyable enough, indeed it was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be, to the point where I’d quite happily settle down with more volumes in this series, but not exactly my thing. However, for those of you reading this who do enjoy your swords with a little sorcery thrown in, I imagine you’ll be absolutely thrilled by each and everyone of these Thorgal volumes.

And, having read the 6 volumes that Cinebook have released so far (albeit in the order 5, 1-4, 6) I can only agree with my view back then. It’s certainly an epic fantasy, with it’s mix of medieval sword and sorcery and nods to the superhero genre coming from the earliest point where Thorgal falls to Earth in the 7th Century like some Viking Superman.

(Thorgal, child of the stars indeed. From Thorgal Volume 1. Published by Cinebook.)

Gods, monsters and magic fill the pages, but far more importantly, so do the everyday lives, loves and conflicts of Thorgal and his clan. At it’s core Thorgal is almost a love story – with Thorgal and Aaricia, the girl who befriends him from an early age even as the rest of his clan shun him for his strange birthrite, finding a love that will sustain them through their incredible adventures. (Although there are times when I found myself wondering just how many ways Van Hamme could engineer a separation followed by Thorgal epically questing to find his lost love.)

(Thorgal and Aaricia; destined to be together – although “we’ll never leave each other” doesn’t take into account the moments in almost every book when one or both are whisked away against their will, only to be reunited several epic battles later.)

But, even though I did enjoy the Thorgal adventures, after reading five volumes in a couple of days I really think I’ve reached my limit. It’s good, but it just isn’t my favourite genre. I can appreciate Van Hamme’s writing and can enjoy Rosinski’s lush artwork, but that’s really as far as it goes. If Thorgal, which I’ll warrant is pretty near the finest example of the sword and sorcery fantasy comic genre, can’t really make me enthuse wildly, then I’m willing to bet nothing will. But if sword and sorcery is more your thing I imagine Thorgal will be perfect for you.

The entire Thorgal series from Cinebook is available from the FPI webstore, along with other Cinebook releases. And if you want to see the sort of great Euro-comics Cinebook are releasing their catalogue is available online here.

Richard Bruton.

by Jean-Claude Bartoll and Ranaud Garetta

Cinebook

Across the world, organised crime networks are overlapping and joining forces, creating a worldwide criminal organisation that increasingly hides behind a façade of legality. Faced with this worldwide criminal conspiracy the White House creates a secret, President’s eyes only undercover organisation with a brief to infiltrate and bring down the new threats against democracy. They are The Insiders. (And that last bit really needed a husky voice over and atmospheric music to do it justice).

The first Insider is Najah Cruz, a young woman recruited from the battlefields of Chechnya after an early life inside the Columbian drug cartels, where she rose through the ranks until her actions avenging the murder of her adoptive parents kills both the main drug lord and a corrupt DEA agent. She’s on her own, on the run, and has the combined forces of Cartel killers, DEA agents and the Columbian police after her. So she does the only thing she can and disappears, reappearing in Chechnya trying to fight the good fight of a freedom fighter, only to discover that the men she’s fighting alongside can’t seem to agree on what they’re fighting for.

And it’s at that point that she finds herself recruited by the US, her previous life wiped from the records and a new life as an Insider about to begin.

(Our first look at Najah, the first Insider. Lovely art from Garetta on this section, moody and interesting. From Insiders: Chechen Guerrilla from Cinebook.)

I was really looking forward to this, another of Cinebook’s series of great political thrillers after the likes of Largo Winch, I.R.$. and Lady S. But sadly, this is no Largo Winch and Bartoll is no Jean Van Hamme. The action fair limps along, disconnected scene to disconnected scene whilst the principal players, with whom we never connect, simply wander their way through the action with stilted and completely uninteresting dialogue. And although I’m well aware it’s a thriller and is all about the suspension of belief, there’s still got to be a believable element somewhere in the plotting to allow the reader to get into the action. But not here – take Najah’s character – a bit of training by an ex-Mossad agent and some action in Chechnya and that suddenly makes her the best hope for the free world against the forces of criminality? It never rings true, never convinces, never even begins to entertain.

(So, the president of the US,on the word of one man, sets up a covert paramilitary force to battle a global conspiracy of organised crime masquerading behind respectable politicians and businessmen? From Insiders: Chechen Guerrilla from Cinebook)

It took about 30 pages to be completely convinced that Insiders was going nowhere but I still slogged through to the very end. Sadly, although there are occasional moments of enjoyment, it never really picks up. Similarly the artwork is alright but never inspired, failing to generate any sense of action or excitement across the pages – individual panels are nice but they just don’t flow, don’t tell the visual story. And to be honest I was so demoralised by the story that the artwork kind of washed over me anyway at this point.

I wanted the excitement that the back cover blurb of “An exciting thriller set within the corridors of power” had promised me, but with Insiders I got a pale reflection of the sort of great political thriller I’ve come to really enjoy from Cinebook. A real shame. Do yourself a favour and read Largo Winch or I.R.$. – they’re just what Insiders wanted to be.

Richard Bruton.

by Marc Delafontaine and Maryse Dubuc

Cinebook

“Jenny and Vicky are super-cute, super-catty girls who would do almost anything to be the centre of attention. The third wheel of the group is the too-tall, plain Karine. When a guy named Dan shows interest in Karine, Jenny and Vicky are appalled and will go to any length to thwart the competition.”

A very strange one this, strange but good. A series of one and two page connected gag strips of the ultra bitchy goings on in a group of teenagers from the French-Canadian husband and wife team of Dubuc and Delaf with Delaf providing some marvellously exaggerated and remarkably expressive artwork throughout.

The Bellybuttons are three teen girls; so called presumably because of the ongoing vogue for showing just that little too much skin these days. (And if I seem a little too buttoned up and horribly old fashioned when I’m writing about this I hope you understand that my little girl just turned 10 and I live every day in dread of what teenage years may bring). Jenny and Vicky are the popular ones, obsessed with boys, desperate to fit in, desperate to be the most desirable, most noticed girls in the school. Their friend Karine is everything they are not; too tall, too thin, too clumsy, too sweet, too kind, completely lacking all self-confidence. In short, exactly the sort of friend the other two like to keep around for the times they need to feel superior and all powerful. Karine suffers greatly at their hands.

But in Karine’s suffering we get a lot of laughs. Bellybuttons is cruel, heartless and often downright nasty, but it never forgets to be funny and often manages to be remarkably bitter-sweet as well.

(Karine’s special Valentine’s moment – look at those tears – about to be ruined by those two “special” friends of hers. From The Bellybuttons by Delaf and Dubuc.)

There’s a guilty feeling to the enjoyment though, a slightly unnerving aspect of the book, should we really be enjoying it that much? Is it a little too close to the bone? Certainly there are moments when the sexuality that is always bubbling just under the surface of the work (and quite often bubbles over) seems a little too much – these are, after all, schoolgirls we’re reading about. But it also has the inescapable feel of something that reads true. We may not like that our teenagers think like this, talk like this and behave like this, but they do and The Bellybuttons captures it very well indeed. That we may wince slightly as we read it is probably only because it is a little too true.

So watch as Vicky and Jenny foil Karine’s hopes to be with Dan, the only boy in school to prefer Karine to the two bellybutton-gazing friends. Watch as they shamelessly torment their friend over her lack of popularity – and deliberately sabotage her when she does find that friend, get that valentines card or make that first date. You’ll be smiling and wincing on nearly every page.

(Sometimes the two girls just go too far – swiping a diary and reading it is bad enough but deliberately sabotaging Karine’s one true love is horrible. But it does show just how good Delaf is at getting those expressions right – the anger, the jealousy, the cruelty all come through in the artwork. From The Bellybuttons by Delaf and Dubuc.)

It’s a very funny and surprisingly sweet book that makes pains to end on a positive and hopeful note. Karine may have been a loser, her friends may be shallow and successful, but  by the end we know how it’s going to eventually turn out, perhaps many years from now – it’s going to be Karine who finds happiness whilst her friends languish in their past popularity and beauty. Or at least that’s what I hope. After all, I don’t want to be living in a world where a nice kid finishes last. I’ve got my very own nice kid to think of.

Richard Bruton.

by Cauvin and Laudec

Cinebook

Cedric is an eight-year-old boy who is desperately in love with Chen but too shy to let her know. Between school, rowdy friends, nosy parents and an insufferable cousin, little Cedric has a lot to deal with. Thankfully, his grandpa is always there to help, no matter how much mischief Cedric makes…

The second in the series – I reviewed Volume 1 here. Molly thought it was great, I thought it was good. Here’s my wrap up from that review:

I might enjoy the soppy, silly stuff more than the out and out silly. But Molly loved the lot. And she is the book’s audience after all. And she’s looking forward to getting hold of Volume 2

And I can tell you she enjoyed this one just as much as she did Volume 1. It had everything she enjoyed – all the slapstick, all the silly stuff, all the daft puppy love of the first. I have to say that I got a little bored at times with the sameness of the stories – the book is made up of stories between 1 and 5 pages in length -but I’d take Molly’s reaction to it as a better judgement on the book – she is, after all, the target audience for this one.

There are some lovely gags in here, all revolving around young Cedric and his relationship with the adult world, his friends, his life and loves and the really daft situations he finds himself in. Just as with Volume 1 I found myself really enjoying those strips where Cedric puts his heart on the line, whether it’s his teacher or his classmate Chen but there’s also a sentimental streak running through the book with Cedric’s relationship with his grandfather, who’s always there for some, often dubious, usually funny, advice:

So just on the basis of Molly’s enjoyment, I can recommend this one for any child you have that shows any passing interest in comics. Give them Cedric and take great delight in the enjoyment they get from it. It’s not complex, it’s perhaps not the best, perhaps not the funniest, but it’s good and it’s something perfectly suited for children – and that’s never a bad thing.

Richard Bruton.

Written by Richard Marazano, art by Jean-Michel Ponzio

Cinebook

I love big , epic Sci-Fi. Always have. And there just isn’t enough of it in comics to keep me satisfied. Every so often something comes along though that gets it absolutely right, does everything big Sci-Fi is meant to do – all the wonder, all the majesty of space, all the complex technical stuff, all the unanswered questions. And that’s exactly what The Chimpanzee Complex does. It’s Big, epic Sci-Fi done absolutely right.

It’s 2035. Space exploration has become increasingly sidelined as the years have passed and a planned Mars exploration has been effectively mothballed. No-one cares, the money’s just not there and the astronauts on the Mars program have to cope with having their years of training and their dreams put on hold. But then a space module falls into the Indian Ocean, an all too familiar space module, with all too familiar crew-members. Which triggers a huge panic on the part of the authorities, because if these crew members are who they claim to be, then who was it who……

And that’s where I’m going to have to leave that particular thread. Because that’s the first big reveal, the key that everything else hangs off in this first part of the trilogy and the trigger for everything that follows.

(The first mystery of The Chimpanzee Complex (and there are many more) – just who are these two, ever so familiar astronauts. And what on earth are they doing in 2035? Art by Jean-Michel Ponzio, from The Chimpanzee Complex Volume 1: Paradox, published by Cinebook.)

A few pages into the book and I was hooked. I was loving everything about it and found myself really engrossed in the book. I didn’t know the identity of the mysterious visitors and was reading voraciously to get to the reveal. Which is why I don’t plan on spoiling it for you by revealing the identity of those two astronauts, even though it’s a fairly open secret. If you want to know, have a look round the Internet. But if you trust me, if you go into this one just expecting a great bit of epic Sci-Fi and knowing that there’s something important from the past coming through to the present of 2035, you’ll get so much more out of this.

Our central character here is Helen Freeman, who should have been the first woman to set foot on Mars. But she’s a victim of the cut-backs and has had to come to terms with the fact that her very reason for living all these years, the culmination of her training and the distillation of her dreams may just have vanished. But the mysterious spacecraft and it’s equally mysterious astronauts throws her a lifeline; suddenly there’s a need to go back into space, a mission to the Moon and on to Mars to find out the secrets that both may hold. But to do so she’ll have to make the most difficult choice; her dreams or her child, who’s already used to a life of disappointment and a mother who puts her job above her daughter.

The “chimpanzee complex” of the title describes the term used by NASA to document the experiences of chimps used as test pilots in early space flight. Smart enough to understand they have no control over their circumstances, they became increasingly unstable, aggresive and essentially “blow a fuse”. Whether this chimanzee complex refers to the two rescued astronauts or will go on to describe Helen’s situation – manouvered as she is by events beyond her control to be taken further and further from her daughter, we just don’t know.

The difficulty of Helen’s choice, and the hopelessness of the situation she suddenly finds herself in is very well handled here, but it’s still merely a very well done sub-plot. The meat of Chimpanzee Complex is all in the big Sci-Fi. And that’s done so very well. The mystery of the astronauts at the start is just the beginning of a series of big secrets and stunning mysteries that will no doubt develop as we get further into the book. Again, I’m not giving any of them away – I want you to share this book, to come to it without much prior knowledge and to enjoy it every bit as much as I did.

Little touches matter in Sci-Fi and with this taking place in the very near future of 2035 it was pleasing to see that the tech of the day was just right – nothing too outlandish, all the principals done right, helicopters still instead of hover planes, Spacesuits, Orbiting Spacecraft and Shuttles just one generation of development from now. Nicely done.

(A mother takes off, a daughter is left behind. And then we get the beauty and grandeur of space and the wonder of spaceflight. Art by Jean-Michel Ponzio, from The Chimpanzee Complex Volume 1: Paradox, published by Cinebook.)

The art is lovely, very photo-realistic, Arthur Ransom style stuff (artist of Judge Anderson, Button Man etc and not, as Google keeps trying to tell me, the man who wrote Swallows and Amazons). [EDIT - 08/11 - Thanks to Dave Shelton in the comments I realise that it should be Arthur Ranson. I am an idiot.] But it’s not quite perfect and suffers from the occasional really bad panel where the poses are just too static or even completely wrong. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does it’s a real shame as it does the one thing art in a complex fantasy like this should never do – drag the reader out of the fantasy to concentrate on why the art looks so bad. But such lapses are thankfully few and far between, Ponzio’s art really serves the story well, with the photo-real style working very well in this near future Sci-Fi setting.

The one real issue with the Chimpanzee Complex is the length. Each of the original French volumes was a mere 56 pages each. But it’s just not long enough. This is a trilogy that demands collection in one omnibus volume. Then it would be perfect. Because reading just 56 pages has made me desperate to find out what happens next. And I really don’t want to wait. More please. And soon.

Richard Bruton.

by Jean Van Hamme & Philippe Franq

Cinebook

(Comprises the original Volume 1 The Heir and Volume 2 The W Group)

I’m rather approaching Largo Winch the wrong way, I first read Volume 3 and now I’m here with Volume 1. But it really doesn’t matter, in much the same way that it doesn’t matter what James Bond film you start with – the key elements are so easy to pick up and, thanks to Cinebook collecting each of their volumes with two original volumes, you get one complete story in each of these Largo Winch thrillers. And like I said in that review of Volume 3:

Largo Winch is an absolutely cracking thriller. Incredibly cinematic in it’s plot and pacing and essentially it’s a great James Bond movie but without the ridiculously overblown set pieces that rather take something away from the essential brilliance of Fleming’s books. It’s a much underused way of writing genre thrillers, intrigue and planning over action, plot and characters over car chases and it’s a style I’ve always loved.

All you need to know to really enjoy Largo Winch is the neat little summary on the back cover:
“No family, no connections, anti-establishment, womanizer, wanderer, iconoclast and fighter, he inherits at age 26 the W group, which is worth $10 billion.
Largo Winch”

Just like Volume 3, I found Volume 1 to be an absolutely engrossing bit of escapism, full of all the thrills and complex plotting I’d enjoyed first time around. This time it’s the story of how Largo came to inherit his adoptive father’s $10 billion dollar W Group (which, these days is the equivalent to buying Marvel Comics twice over with a spare $2 billion). As you might expect, it’s packed with action, exotic locations, fights, car chases, intrigue and more than a little corporate wheeler dealing and business speak.

(One of these men around the boardroom table wants Largo Winch dead. And the others just want his company. From Largo Winch: The Heir)

Largo is the adopted son of Nerio Winch, the man who built up the $10 billion W Group and has kept Largo’s existence secret from the world for 25 years to give him a chance to be normal and a chance to train for the massive undertaking of controlling the W Group. This story deals with Largo’s inheritance following his father’s death and the lengths that someone around the boardroom table will go to to keep him from taking his place as head of the W Group. It starts as it means to go on, with Largo attacked in Turkey, thrown in jail, set-up by one of the board of the W Group. From here, it’s off to the boardroom in New York, where Largo’s about to find out just how honourable the presidents of his fathers company can be. And then it’s off on a rollercoaster of an adventure as Winch sets about proving his credentials to the board, showing them he really is the man to head the W Group and in the process, flushing out the murderer amongst them.

(Suave, sophisticated, knowing, anti-establishment and looks great in a suit. Swoon. Largo Winch sets off to prove his worth to his board. From Largo Winch: The Heir.)

It’s elegantly done, a real page turner of an adventure with Van Hamme carefully setting up many disparate plot threads across the world and cleverly and seamlessly tying them all up at the book’s end. The pace is never allowed to flag for a moment, with Van Hamme cutting between action and embellishing scenes to maintain the pace. And it all just works quite brilliantly. In a book of this sort you may have expected the action to take centre stage, but you’d be surprised; Van Hamme is so good at plotting his set-pieces that I actually found myself enjoying the board-room battles more than the out and out action sequences – but in essence, the way Van Hamme writes them, these complex boardroom stand-offs are just as tense, just as volatile and just as exciting as any car chase. And that’s all part of what makes Largo Winch such an enjoyable piece of escapism. Similarly the art by Franq is a joy of tight, controlled dynamism, action sequences and boardroom confrontations are full of tension, the scenery and backgrounds to the pages are truly beautiful, as are the many women who fall for Largo’s charms.

(Just because I’ve focused on the boardroom battles so far with the artwork, I wouldn’t want you thinking there’s no action in Largo Winch – there’s plenty, and it’s all as beautifully drawn by Philippe Franq as this scene)

( And what is any truly great piece of escapist thriller action with a Bond-like leading man without beautiful women? And Philippe Franq does draw some very beautiful women. But then again, he draws some very beautiful men as well.)

Largo Winch is wonderfully good, old fashioned escapism. But it’s also very cleverly done, a thriller with a brain. Perfect stuff. It’s my favourite of all the Cinebook releases I’ve seen so far. I’m off to track down Volumes 2 & 4 right now – all 4 volumes are available here.

Richard Bruton.

by Gilson & Clarke

Cinebook

Melusine desperately wants to become a witch and tries very, very hard to practise as much as possible. But things don’t always go right for her. For a start she’s having to fit the witchcraft in when she can since she’s busy working at a big old castle as some sort of domestic help. And the castle’s hardly the most normal of places to be living: The master and mistress are a vampire and a ghost, the manservant looks like Frankenstein’s monster and there’s a werewolf running around with a soft spot for Melusine. It’s a great cast of weird and wonderful characters with lots of potential for silliness and fun. Which pretty much sums up Melusine quite nicely – it’s a fun book, with a modern cartooning style – with all the clear line stylings of Tintin (and maybe a little Calvin & Hobbes style as well?).

It’s perhaps unfortunate that Cinebook have decided to start the Melusine reprints here, because we rather jump into the story, without explanation or reasons for Melusine being who, what or where she is. This might be because this volume is actually #7 in the original Belgian series and no doubt reading from the start would have helped make the whole thing clearer. It’s by no means crucial to read it in order, as the strips within each volume are self contained gag strips over 2 or 3 pages at a time. But perhaps a catch up page or some form of introduction would have helped with this first Cinebook volume.

Here in Hocus Pocus Melusine spends a little time around the castle, generally messing up spells and potions before being visited by her cousin Melisande; the black sheep of this family of witches and a constant embarrassment to Melusine;

(Melusine isn’t looking forward to her cousin’s arrival – Fairy Godmother’s are too pink, too fluffy and just not witchy enough for our young witch girl in training.)

It’s Melusine and Melisande’s relationship and the chaotic effect the fairy godmother has on the castle that takes up most of Hocus Pocus, with Melusine continually despairing at her cousin’s antics – the redecorating of Madam’s rooms doesn’t go well and when Melisande gets bitten by the castle vampire things turn a little dark – who knew that fairy godmothers can turn nasty?

(Not quite the tidying that the mistress of the house had in mind – but what do you expect from a fairy godmother?)

When it works, like the panels above, Melusine is a really great bit of all ages fun. And most of the time, it does work very well. Of course, the way to read Melusine is probably a few pages at a time, with each strip allowed to step up and get a laugh on it’s own merits rather than suffering slightly from familiarity.

The really great moments come when the gags veer away from simply comparing the two lead characters and get a little more inventive. My favourite moment was a two pager quite unlike any of the other strips in Melusine, a brilliant bit of visual comedy with a great gag payoff that I’m going to ruin by reprinting here in full:

(Now wasn’t that a great way to end? My favourite bit of Melusine – I love the unusual visual trickery of flying with the contestants and the payoff that comes with the banner in that final panel. From Melusine Hocus Pocus.)

Richard Bruton.

by Goscinny & Morris

Cinebook

Lucky Luke is one of those beloved European books that has never quite made it into our British hearts. A little like Blake And Mortimer, it sits at the periphery of our Euro-comics awareness, obscured by the twin giants of Tintin and Asterix. You may well have seen the odd Darguard volume in your local library one time and you may well be aware of the iconic image of the laconic cowboy with either cigarette or blade of grass hanging loosely from his mouth (depending on the version and how strict the anti-smoking lobby is where you are). And whether you know him or not pretty much everything you need to know can be summed up with this classic image:

(Lucky Luke: The man who shoots faster than his own shadow. Classic imagery from Morris.)

Lucky Luke was created by created by Maurice De Bevere  (under the pen-name Morris), in 1946 but really hit it’s stride with the addition of Rene Goscinny (pre Asterix fame) as writer from 1957.  The 31 Goscinny & Morris Lucky Luke tales are considered by most as the best of the character – and Cinebook have very sensibly decided to reprint the works in English starting with these classic tales.

It’s a simple, repeating tale of the wandering cowboy, washing up in town at the start of a book and riding out once crimes are thwarted and injustices righted. Together with faithful and smart horse Jolly Jumper and a cast of supporting characters, often from US history, the fastest (and coolest) cowboy in the west has been delighting millions for decades. I haven’t read any for many years and it might seem a little strange to start with Volumes 2 & 18, but such is the nature of the stories that you really need no prior knowledge, no idea of Lucky Luke’s history to appreciate the classic cartooning and laid back tale in each volume.

(Lucky Luke meets the gamblers in Ghost Town and immediately realises that they’re going to be trouble)

In Ghost Town Luke comes across two devious gamblers, recently tarred and feathered out of town. As is his nature he travels on with them, a seeming innocent to their ways but the reader knows differently – Luke may seem laid back, but he’s always one step ahead of whatever villain he’s up against. On they ride to discover the ghost town of Gold Hill and it’s sole inhabitant, still insistent that his mine will supply the gold that everyone else long ago gave up on who’s now going to spend all book with the gamblers attempting to swindle the mine from him.

(Everywhere they go in The Escort, Luke is continually having to stop townsfolk falling over themselves to hand over anything he wants to the diminutive outlaw.)

In the second volume, The Escort, Lucky Luke is charged with getting Billy the Kid to New Mexico to be tried and put in jail. Billy’s a recurring character in Lucky Luke, an obnoxious and notorious bank robber whose infamy is so legendary that townsfolk do his every bidding just to stay out of trouble. The trek across the country to take Billy for trial sees Luke continually getting in the way of a series of ridiculous and funny escape attempts en route.

The actual stories of each volume don’t matter that much. In many ways one Lucky Luke story is much the same as any other in theme; It’s the characters and situations that Goscinny and Morris come up with that make Luke so enduringly popular. Whether it’s the continual ridiculous schemes that the con-men try to pull off in Ghost Town or the reactions of his victims to Billy the Kid in The Escort there’s always something in every Lucky Luke book to make it stand out as a genuinely funny read.

(Every volume of Lucky Luke ends in the same way with Luke and Jolly Jumper riding off into the sunset singing “I’m A Poor Lonesome Cowboy…..”. Onwards to the next adventure…..)

So as Luke rides off into the sunset once more, count yourself lucky that there are 18 Cinebook volumes to enjoy – all featuring some classic cartooning from Morris and some brilliant writing from Goscinny. Maybe, like me, you’ll be left wondering exactly why Luke has never really caught on here in Britain. And maybe, if we’re all lucky, these Cinebook reissues will right that one wrong that Luke’s never been able to right himself?

Richard Bruton.