Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières

Cinebook

When a rogue planet threatens a new Human colony, Valerian and Laureline are sent to investigate and discover a barren, rocky surface… and a whole world beneath it! The people who live inside Zahir have never seen the stars. Divided along gender lines, torn by a senseless and bloody war, they are unaware that their planet is hurtling towards disaster. To stop it, the two agents of Galaxity will have to infiltrate both sides and force a reconciliation.

Oh dear, here we go again, Volume 3 of Valerian and Laureline, one of the greatest sci-fi epics in printed form…. except I still don’t really see it. Granted, I’m warming to it, I really am. With Volume 1, I just couldn’t see it, it all seemed a little too dated and staid:

“It reads and looks to my uncultured eyes like a badly produced late 70s cartoon series, the kind with badly drawn characters against static backgrounds who always found themselves with every plot device meticulously explained to the point of near irony and every situation the hero finds himself in has some immediately available solution.”

There was more to enjoy in Volume 2:

“… still not the classic I keep being told Valerian is, but the improvement here on the first volume is profound. I can only hope that, as so many of you have promised, this series keeps on this upward curve. Because at this rate, somewhere around volume 5 or 6 I imagine I may well be agreeing with you about it being a bit of a classic.“

This one starts with a problem and quickly ascends at least partway to the wonders I keep being promised. Problem first.

Valerian and Laureline is often hailed as something of a masterpiece in humanism, but all the way through The Land Without Stars the humanism has a distinct smack of chauvinism about it.

Take the first few pages and the repeating gag of Valerian delivering the farewell speech to the colonists of the four planets of the Ukbar system. He finds himself doing the space equivalent of nipping through to the billiard room for brandy whilst the little women chat about knitting or such-like:

And that feeling carries through the volume, as Christin splits up the pair to investigate the planet careering into the Ukbar system, plunging into a society split across gender lines. Valerian finds himself a slave warrior to the female amazons of the city of Malka, and Laureline a bride in the male dominated city of Valsennar. But there’s little subtlety, little avoidance of the worst stereotypes. And unfortunately it seems so ancient, so out of date. Am I being hopelessly reactionary? Overly sensitive? Should I simply look at it as a product of its time?

But what saves this one is that, once you look past the sexism, there’s something important here; Laureline comes into her own, isolated from Valerian, the conflict is solved through negotiation, thinking, diplomacy, the worlds are saved by adapting the political and social ideologies of the people, not through force. It relies not on force, but on the inventiveness of the protagonists, and of course, the inventiveness of the man writing these protagonists.

And even better, what really makes me think that, even though it’s not there yet, but at some point I’m going to be fully on-board with all the fans is sheer out and out epic stuff going on in the sci-fi, specifically the quite wonderful planetary geography of the planet Zahir:

Yes, okay, hollow planets are nothing new, but there’s a real sense of the “wow” in the manner in which Christin, and especially Mézières just throws us into the situation. That sort of legendary imagining is the sort of stuff that I wanted much more of.

But sadly, after that early bit of rather impressive wonder it does settle down to a somewhat pedestrian affair, although like I said, I did appreciate Christin adopting a far more thoughtful resolution than much sci-fi manages.

So, just like with Volume 2, I find myself coming to the end of another Valerian and Laureline review with a sense of “maybe I’m missing something?”, or maybe it’s simply, as I keep being told, a series that takes off in a couple of volumes time. This one was good enough, but it’s still not up there in grand epic stature yet.

Over the weekend of June 2nd and 3rd, the Stripdagen in Haarlem, Holland, is where it’s at. This year the main theme is comics from the Arab world, from Morocco to Qatar, with lectures, interviews and exhibitions. Other exhibitions focus on the work of Peter van Dongen, Lamelos, Rudolf Valster and Stripdagen VIP par excellence, Joost Swarte (never a bad thing to have a helping of Swarte, we think). And lots more, of course!

At the same time, the 17th edition of the Rendez-vous de la BD in Amiens, France takes place, with lots of, mostly French creators (unsurprisingly), exhibitions on the series Aquablue and Okko and on venerable satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo (still going despite the firebombing of their offices a few months ago), and on American short stories in comics format.

One week later (7th to 10th June), there’s the Internationaler Comic Salon in Erlangen, Germany. With more than 400 artists present from all over the world and an expo with no less than 150 German and international publishers, this is a great opportunity to meet all of comics in one venue. Information on exhibitions and events has not been published as yet, although you can see the shortlist for the pretigious Max und Moritz awards here on the blog.

From June 4th to 10th, the Sismics Festival d’Images in Sierre, Switzerland, has people as varied as Italian cartoonist Guido Volpi, graphic artist Terhi Ekebom, the Swish Remake collective and American-Swiss illustrator Randy DuBurke.

Finally, 16th and 17th of June are the dates for the Strasbulles festival in Strasbourg, France. Guest of Honour is Korean comic artist Kim Jung-Gi, who is as yet not really well-known beyond the world of Manwha, but hopefully this exhibition of some of his sketchwork will change that. In addition to this, this year’s guest country is Germany, with exhibitions of work by and interviews with (as yet unnamed) German authors.

Written by Philippe Vandevelde (Tome), illustrated by Jean-Richard Geurts (Janry)

Cinebook

Spirou and Fantasio are hired by a doctor to escort some of his patients. Their ailment? An apparently incurable case of the hiccups. His solution: Send them on the most insane adventure ever and scare the hiccups out of them! Since he offers to pay for their expedition, the two fearless reporters agree to take the patients with them as they attempt to locate two explorers lost in 1938 near the Nepalese border… in the middle of a war!

Volume 2 – Spirou & Fantasio In New York really impressed, with the timing, the slapstick, the carefully constructed wordplay, the background visual gags all leading me to a conclusion that my eventual comparisons to classic Asterix and Tintin were warranted, not with the art necessarily, but with the same manic intensity of Asterix, and the travel and adventuring of Tintin (albeit with far more gags).

I hadn’t realised, before a quick internet search, that Tome and Janry’s take on the characters was merely the 80s version, with the title stretching back to the 40s. From a very quick overview, it seems Cinebook’s decision to reprint starting with Tome & Janry’s work is a smart one, with this version being arguably the best.

This is a good, rip-roaring adventure, just not up there with Volume 2, this convoluted tale of Spirou and Fantasio taking a group of hiccuping patients into Nepal to get their conditions cured through the shock of adventuring. Yeah, weird, but it’s simply a background to hang some impressive and funny set-pieces from, and as such it matters not one bit.

And early on, even tough the sum total of the book was a little under par, the setpieces certainly impressed, with Tome’s spirited, exuberant action sequences matched by Janry’s lovely artwork, never better represented by this page….

I do love the excitement, action, and sheer exuberance that’s delivered there, and there’s similar several times throughout, a great deal of adventuring going on, worthy of a certain boy reporter…. In fact, if you needed any more proof of the adventuring link with Herge’s creation, how about this, where Spirou and Fantasio meet their guide, one familiar it seems with a certain “young foreigner with little white dog” looking for Yetis, who even seems to have picked up a few choice expressions from a certain Captain:

Volume 3, although good, felt a little flat in comparison to the tight, very funny work of Volume 2. Much of that is down to this storyline splitting across this and the next Volume, more length means less enjoyment here, with the gags and action not coming as thick and fast perhaps, and the tight, funny storyline seems looser and consequently less funny, less complete.

So although it might not be as great as the standalone US trip of Volume 2, this certainly has the action, adventure, and laughs, just not as tightly done.

By Xavier Dorison and Fabien Nury, art by Christian Rossi

Cinebook

“1895. Members of the East Coast elite have died under mysterious circumstances. To investigate this delicate problem, Richard Clayton—against the wishes of the President—calls upon a man named Morton Chapel for his unorthodox methods and peculiar associates. As they begin to uncover strange, vanishing marks on people’s bodies, unexplained changes in behaviour and hints of widespread corruption, the team reforms around the name Ulysses S. Grant himself gave it years earlier: his SPecialists in the Odd and the OCcult—his SPOOKS.”

I was expecting rather great things from SPOOKS, or WEST, as it was originally titled, written as it is by Xavier Dorison, whose Long John Silver is a near perfect book whose next volume I eagerly await.

But sadly SPOOKS didn’t quite manage the brilliance of LJS, perhaps due to it being published in France 4 years prior to LJS, and there are moments where Dorison’s ideas and pacing fail here where they were confident, assured, and flawless in LJS.

But there’s still more than enough here to make it something worth reading, something worth enjoying for all the silliness and excitement that a genre mashup of Cowboys and Paranormal Investigations promises.

Come on, this is the Magnificent Seven meets the X-Files. Doesn’t that put a smile on your face?

The Cinebook summary blurb gives you pretty much everything you need to decipher the plot here… that sequence above features cigar chomping SPOOKS sponsor Richard Clayton getting his marching orders from the US Government and beginning the process of assembling his SPOOKS team, starting with the Englishman Morton Chapel.

The final panel with Chapel under threat is just a classic example of the over the top stuff Dorison is going for – the cut to a different panel, the cliché of the Russian roulette moment, it wont be the first familiar comic/film stereotype you see here. And you know something – it didn’t bother in the slightest. In fact, it’s all part of the fun.

So you’ll get a riotous beginning, introducing the supernatural stuff, where all those very important people start dying, all with that occult symbol that goes as soon as they do, all culminating in the chaos you see above. Again, the whole train crash out of the station isn’t new wither. And again, it matters not one whit. This is something that rather wonderfully wears all it’s influences proudly.

And after this we have the classically structured team book  - the heroes assembled in response to a threat, again wonderfully familiar, this time with the Magnificent Seven firmly in my mind.

There’s so much to enjoy here, as long as you want to, as long as you don’t go looking for too much. This is an unashamed genre mashing romp, harking back to so much that has gone before, Dorison and Nury tripping over themselves to shoehorn as many different western/paranormal moments into the plot.

It promised a lot more than it delivered to be honest, much of that possibly down to Dorison’s development as a writer since, but some of it simply down to them trying too damn hard to get so much in.

But nevertheless, if you’re looking for something interesting, light, fast, and fun…. SPOOKS may well fit the bill.

Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Franq

Cinebook

Okay… here’s the blurb… The Price Of Money:

“A man shoots himself in front of Largo, live on TV. He was a guest on a financial talk show who had lost his company because of a Group W decision. Shocked by the knowledge that he is indirectly responsible, Winch becomes an object of hatred for the nation, and his two best friends abandon him. When suspicions arise that shady dealings led to unnecessary restructurings, he launches an investigation to identify the real culprits.”

…. and The Law Of The Dollar:

“Accused of murder and hated by an entire nation, Largo is hiding in Canada and feeling very much alone. But his friendships are stronger than his circumstances, and soon he’s able to counterattack against the various factions that are trying to bring him down. Greedy lawyers, crooked CEOs, murderous accountants, all pitted against the orphan turned billionaire… In the end, only the smartest and strongest will prevail—for such is the Law of the Dollar.”

Okay, now I know that two parts is the way it was originally planned and published, and Cinebook are doing it right, but I’m always pleased when I get these in pairs – start and finish all in one glorious read.

It’s wonderful watching Van Hamme and Vance get the pacing just right, building everything up, layering the business intricacies and the action until the cliffhanger, usually involving Largo in trouble up to his neck, all to be resolved in the action-packed, and plot heavy finale.

But having both books at once, it’s ever so satisfying being able to finish part 1, take a breather, and then reach out and plunge straight into part 2. And just to be clear, reading The Law Of The Dollar without first having read The Price Of Money is a really, really, really dumb idea. Don’t be silly, get them both.

Because make no mistake about it, Largo Winch is a magnificent action thriller with a difference. The difference being it’s not really an action thriller at all – in reality it’s a wonderfully thought out, ridiculously over the top, densely plotted action thriller where more often than not, Largo Winch (“anti-establishment, womanizer, wanderer, iconoclast, and fighter“, head of the W Group, worth $10 billion) spends most of his time like this….

… or like this:

And it’s the sitting around talking business, or the standing around talking business, or the walking about talking business that really is the standout here. It’s the thing I really love the series for.

Sure, Van Hamme throws the occasional car chase, scuffle, or other modicum of action in every few pages to fulfill some contractual obligation or keep Francq happy or something, but the real thrill of this brilliant thriller is watching Largo Winch work his way through a business problem, using James Bond like charm and a bit of Jason Bourne style action.

When there is action, it’s just as beautifully done, your pulse already racing thanks to the meticulous manner writer and artist have upped the ante throughout, the ongoing plots and manoeuvrings of the financial world to thoroughly stitch Largo up accelerating until having a bit of a car chase is almost a release to the thrilling tension.

And then Franc really lets loose, delivering some beautiful, beautiful stuff. Here’s page 3 of the climactic car chase in The Price Of Money, with Winch on the run from the police, trying to get to the airport where his new pilot is waiting to fly him to relative safety. It’s so well composed; the long shots to start with, the cars racing through panel, the way ahead blocked, the smashing through the fence, and into the path of his plane… ooooohh….

This one is all about stock options, so much so that there’s half a page of explanatory text on the first page of The Law Of The Dollar along with the publishing details. It’s completely unecessary, as it’s all been beautifully, clearly, and thrillingly explained in the first book with Van Hamme’s text heavy plot carried along beautifully by Franq’s sumptuous artwork. There are books where this much text would merely slow it all down too much, make it practically unreadable, but those are books written by people who dream of being able to do it as well as Van Hamme.

The only issue I had trouble with regarding Largo Winch is whether I like it slightly more or slightly less than Van Hamme’s other magnificent thriller; XIII. I think, now we’re into double figures with each, that I’m coming down (just) on the side of Largo Winch. That wonderful mix of financial machinations, thoughts being just as important as deeds, and the action stuff just wins out over XIII. But luckily, I can have both. And so can we. Life is good.

By Goscinny and Morris

Cinebook

“A general amnesty puts the Daltons back on the streets, something Lucky Luke isn’t happy about. And, to make it worse, they seem to have become model citizens. It’s all an act, though, and it doesn’t take long for the stupidest quartet in the West to be back behind bars. Luke is already riding off into the sunset… But he’s not counting on a riled-up Apache tribe that attacks the penitentiary where the Daltons are locked up…”

I’ve just written a review of the latest XIII volume, and that essentially boils down to this “volume 12, same as volume 1, and that is a great thing“.

So. Lucky Luke Volume 34…. not quite the same as always….

Not quite as completely impervious to my critical faculties as XIII I feel. This volume of the adventures of the coolest cowboy around has huge flaws throughout, a plot that meanders so badly at times, twisting and turning and frankly getting just that touch dull. But what do you know, even this volume has a lot to laugh about. We’ll get to that in a moment.

It all starts off as good as usual, with the amnesty creating a few choice gags off the novelty of the Daltons being legitimately free for a change, tricking Luke into catching them, going as far as pretending to go straight to rob the town bank. And there’s a marvellous few pages playing with the idea of Luke and the Daltons dancing around each other, and a bank that can’t stay put…

That just cracked me up, but as soon as we get past this everything rather wanders off with the Daltons heading into Apache territory, and the plot rather loses itself somewhat in the setpieces, with Goscinny making some very uncharacteristic errors, creating a storyline that, just this once, just doesn’t flow at all well. I suppose even the master has his off-days?

But although it might have been a bit difficult to really get into, and a bit of a struggle to read and enjoy, it did have a series of great gags running through it, especially the first 20 something pages. So although the plot just felt flabby and a little dull, the gags kept me going to the end this time. Gags like this one, a great example of Goscinny’s sense of timing, setting up a gag and delivering a couple of pages later…

The setup: Rin Tin can gets put on the case….

Two pages later, with the Apaches at the walls…. the pay-off:

Not a classic Luke story, but classic Lucky Luke moments. The gags and the comedy timing saw me through.

Recently, Schuiten has been in the news with new productions that are perfect examples of this “one extra step”. First, there was the stamp he designed for the Belgian Post Office to commemorate the centennial of the Titanic disaster. It wasn’t Schuiten’s first assignment for the Post Office – in the past he designed stamps commemorating information scientist Paul Otlet, designer Henry Van de Velde and the Belgian endeavours on the Antarctic continent. This time, though, he took it one step ahead, by designing two stamps as a perfect stereogram. When looked at using a special viewer (which is included in the package), the stamps melt together to form an exquisite 3D rendition of the ship’s final hours.

Schuiten’s most recent book, La Douce, takes this even one step further. The book is one long ode to the Type 12 Atlantic, a belgian-built locomotive that was used around the middle of the Twentieth Century. Five locos of this type were built, but only one survived the sixties, largely thanks to railway men who thought it was too beautiful a machine to just scrap. Schuiten discovered the locomotive while designing the Brussels Railway Museum, which is slated to open in 2014, and immediately fell in love with it. The problem with the comic format, though, is that you can only suggest movement, and a such, it is rather a limited medium to use for a celebration of a machine that was essentially built for speed.

For that reason, Schuiten collaborated with 3D visualisation specialists Dassault Systemes to embed movement and speed in the comic. Dassault created a number of splendid 3D animations, that the reader can call up by holding the book up to any webcam. Thanks to Schuiten’s eye for detail, though, the animations are not just some kind of DVD extra, but play an actual role in the story itself.

As that other great Belgian graphic designer, Ever Meulen, said so many years ago, “Use the mood of the past to rewire your brain for the future”. François Schuiten is doing just that.

The Titanic stamps are available from the BPost website; La Douce was published recently by Casterman, and costs 18 Euros.

(some frames from Cyril Pedrosa’s contribution to Le Monde Diplomatique)

Last year Wim told us about the respected French current affairs journal Le Monde Diplomatique partnering up with Homecooking Books to produce a Hors Série, where their normal thoughtful analyses in prose were replaced by a range of works in comics form by a wide variety of French and global comics creators. Now our own Kenny draws our attention to a whole page on LMD’s site featuring comics and wow, you are going to have to bookmark this one to come back to browse through because it boasts a huge array of stellar world comics talent, such as Bastien Vivès, James Sturm, Cyril Pedrosa, Søren Glosimodt Mosdal, Pablo Auladell, Edmond Baudoin, Jeong Hwa Min, Sophie Martineck, Marijpol, Pascal Rabaté, Stuart Kolakovic, Marc bell, Olivier Schrauwen, Line Hoven, Belxbolex, Gianni Gipi, Martin Tom Dieck, Anke Feuchtenberger and, well, lots more, but come on, just a few of those names alone are enough to get anyone seriously interested in comics wanting to have a look, surely? Yes, I’m afraid there is a language barrier there, sadly, but with this amount of global talent on offer it is still well worth having a browse, go on, you’ll thank us for it!

(above, Jeong Hwa Min’s wordless contribution, below some typically lovely artwork by Stuart Kolakovic)

By Jean Van Hamme and William Vance

Cinebook

Called back to the USA by the frantic government, McLane and Jones discover that General Carrington has kidnapped Wally Sheridan, President of the United States! Holed up in a secret base he’s turned into a fortress, Carrington intends to put Sheridan on trial on live TV and expose him as the Number I of the conspiracy. To do that, he’s going to need XIII’s help in bringing in his main witness: the Mongoose!

Chapter 12 of 19. There’s about as much point me reviewing this now as there is you picking it up and expecting to get the full effect of the XIII series thus far. You wouldn’t wander into a film halfway through, wouldn’t pick up a book and flick to the middle part, so why on earth are you expecting me to encourage you to start XIII with Volume 12?

Alright, fair enough, there is something to be said for picking this up instead of previous volumes, as the whole trial nature leads to a neat summary of some of what has gone before, and in conjunction with Volume 13 “The Investigation” which will fill you in on the other side of the XIII storyline, it could do a good job of giving you a story so far before we plunge into the final third. But then again I could go on the first week of your holiday for you and send you a dvd – just the same, all the facts, none of the experience.

What I will say is that this is the series that simply keeps on going. The situations may change, but the characters, the motivations, the basic DNA of the series – all pretty much the same now as it was back in Volume 1. And oh boy, I loved Volume 1.

We may know (or at least Van Hamme assures us we may know) the identity of XIII by now, but that doesn’t necessarily stop him throwing another adventure our way, alternating as always between tight plotting, full of dialogue and exposition, and the over the top and explosive action scenes.

Like this…..

And this….

This is, as you’ll no doubt be aware, like reading Bond on the comic page. In fact it’s Bond, it’s Bourne, it’s Mission Impossible, and every other big budget franchise. Except Van Hamme writes so well, and Vance draws so well, that this is the very best of all of those franchises, especially Bond; all the glorious sense of smart fun, all the action, all the locations, all the tech, all about getting the perfect mix of story, plot, character, action, and thrills.

Sure, there are moments where you may find yourself pondering how he can twist it and turn it all over again, moments even where the incredulity gets a little too much, but overall it just wins you over. It does me anyway. And to be quite honest I imagine it will keep winning me over, no matter what small doubts I have, right up until that final page of Volume 19.

The FPI webstore has recently come into possession of several, quite magnificent Humanoids books, specifically some beautifully drawn books by Enki Bilal.

And at 50% or more discount, these beautiful, beautiful books are definite must-buys.

Now Enki Bilal and I have a long, long relationship going back to the 80s and 90s, when comic shops, even damn fine comic shops like Nostalgia & Comics Birmingham, just didn’t really do European stuff. So unless it was Moebius republished by Marvel’s Epic imprint, we didn’t see much of it at all. But somehow the boss at N&C got hold of some Bilal. My memory fails me at this point as to whether it was an English translation or the original French.

But whether or not I (with my sub O-level French) could understand it, I certainly recognised the artwork by Enki Bilal as something quite wonderfully magnificent. It completely blew my young mind away. And thanks to this stash of books we’ve uncovered you too can feel the same.

I’ve bought quite a few, concentrating on the beautiful oversized hardcovers; all the better to show off Bilal’s artwork in all its glory, and over the next few days thought I’d try and tell you about a few.

Starting with……

The Hunting Party

By Pierre Christin and Enki Bilal

Humanoids Publishing

“Soviet era Poland and a group of leading international communist politicans assemble on an estate for a hunting trip, which becomes a metaphor dissecting the use and abuse of power in the Cold War Soviet system.”

The Cold War at it’s coldest, as we venture into the frozen world of Russia in the 80s and into the hearts and minds of a group of Politburo members as they gather for a Hunting Party.

Whether they’re gathering to hunt fowl, bear, or each other is never revealed until the end. It all hinges upon Vassily Alexandrovich Chevchenko, the old master whose silence overpowers everyone in the group, his will guiding everything, his memories vivid and bloody, his power unassailable….

In just 88 pages Christin and Bilal create an incredible piece, all taking place over a few days of a hunting trip, yet taking in decades of cold war history from the memories of those Eastern Bloc politicians assembling as friends and colleagues at an isolated luxurious mansion kept on by the ruling party long after the decadent pre Soviet aristocracy had been disposed of.

Throughout the piece we drift in and out of memories of the group of old men, comfortable with power and the political manoeuvrings that have brought them to this place. But there’s dark plottings underneath the surface, and these men are well used to dealing in lies, treachery and deceits.

The story is complex, involving and perfectly done. It’s one to keep your wits about you as the characters are introduced, interact and discuss their past, but if you are keeping up, it’s a story that has a beauty about it amongst the chilling power wielded ever so gentle and with great understatement by these men. Subtleties and intricacies fill this short novella, and the complexity within belies the page count.

And Bilal’s art is, of course, superb.

Beautiful, strange linework and colours, giving such texture and character to each of the old men we’re following through the story. These are men marked with the struggles they’ve survived and the decisions they’ve made, each line marked out on their faces, each line so detailed, each line an indicator of what they’ve been through.

Perfection. Absolute perfection. But what else did you expect from Bilal?

For an artist often associated with the fantastic and the extremes of sci-fi, Bilal’s work at a human level is perhaps more spectacular for the absolute control he shows. Truly beautiful. And where he starts to blend past and present, memories and bloodshed seeping through into the present day it’s beautiful in its horror.

The Hunting Party is quite simply one of those books that your bookcase is bereft without. The perfect example of how to create something complex, magnificent, and beautiful in a limited page count. All wrapped in superb hardback packaging from Humanoids and presented to you at a ridiculously cheap price by the FPI Webstore. £7.50 buys you a couple of pints nowadays. Or it can buy you something you’ll return to again, and again, and again, a masterpiece of European comics.