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.

Written by Daniel Bell, art by Katja Lindblom, Iain Buchanan, Daniel Bell

Yes, PT Barnum presents…. yes, the same PT Barnum who runs the circus. Except in here, it’s the Psircus he’s running, the Psircus being a way for writer (and sometime artist) Daniel Bell to shoehorn PT Barnum into his comic in a sort of weird Professor X (less wheelchair, more elephants perhaps?) fashion, the leader of a secret society of psychics, and secret saviour of the world.

Once you get over that bizarre, slightly off-putting inclusion, what we have here is 28 pages of comic, and three stories that deliver this Psi-sage really rather well. It’s by no means perfect sure, but for what it is, for what it’s trying to be, it does a fair job.

Kathy and Icarus are two girls with psi-powers, and in the three short tales we get a couple of origins of sorts, and a joint mission. What I thought was handled particularly well was Bell’s control of his storyline. He’s obviously got something bigger he’s trying to tell through this and hopefully future issues, but he understands that to tell what he want to he has to tell the smaller stories first, establish his characters, work them into the plot, and if he’s clever enough, he can combine all of that into these 28 pages.

Quick answer – yes, he’s clever enough.

(Kathy Isn’t Right by Daniel Bell and Katja Lindblom)

Kathy’s tale involves young Kathy breaking out of the mental hospital she’s been incarcerated in to deal with what they see as her paranoid schizophrenia, but actually is her massive psychic power.

She’s part of a power struggle between the afore-mentioned Barnum and some other, unseen force that calls to Kathy to escape. And this is very much her first meeting with Barnum, her introduction to the world she’s to inhabit in the future.

(Icarus by Daniel Bell and Iain Buchanan)

Icarus’ tale has something of the Leon about it; the young girl being apprenticed in the ways of the professional assassin. Or at least that’s what she thinks she’s doing.

In actual fact, she’s a powerful telekinetic, and her trainer is more concerned with the power of her brain than he is the power of the gun. I could tell you more, but that’s a sweet twist in the story that’s yours to discover.

(The Pull by Daniel Bell)

Finally, in story three – The Pull – we get to see a little of the girls in action now, what feels like a few years after their individual origin-ish stories. Now they’re working for Barnum’s Psi-operation and out on a job tracking down a particular piece of lowlife with low level psi-abilities that he puts to all too pathetic use.

Kathy and Icarus trawl the local flesh pit nightclubs, posing as more prey for this nasty little rapist, and deliver a suitable punishment after a well worked psychic conflict.

Three stories, each one well done, short, sweet, telling a tale within the story, yet also delivering something more, something of the greater saga.

If I had to criticise, it would be over bits of the art. None of the three artists are particularly bad here, but neither do any of them really stand out. Personally Bell’s story with his own art is the best of the three. Too much of Lindblom’s work seems too rough to me, with some panels really making me question just what she’s trying to show me. Buchanan’s art is suffering as it seems to be merely a black & white version of the colour work on Bell’s blog. It makes the tones artificial.

But even as I write those criticisms I feel a little too harsh. What worked best of all was the story, and each artist delivers the story as best they could, without real detriment to my enjoyment. For someone who’s always more story driven than cares about the art, that’s just fine.

There’s some interesting questions left unanswered here, although never to the detriment of the story in front of you. But who is Sunnyside? Who are the girls reporting to at the end of The Pull? It’s not Barnum. Who was Barnum up against in his fight over Kathy? How long has all this been going on? Who is Icarus’ trainer, Barnums’ partner, something else, just another team member?

Just having this many questions and still having enjoyed the comic tells me that it worked, that it’s enjoyable as a single issue, yet full of enough to make me want more. That, I think, is proof of job done for any #1 of a comic. Well done to all involved.

Now, where’s issue 2?

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.

By Craig Collins, Dave Alexander, James Corcoran, Iain Laurie, Paul McCann, Rob Miller, Nulsh, Curt Sibling, Robert Thomson and Jacek Zabawa.

Craig Collins has featured here on the blog already in 2011 with his and Iain Laurie’s Roachwell collection. That was a seemingly disconnected slightly absurdist collection of strips, one and two-pagers that managed to become something much more weird and intriguing with a surprise finale that tied everything together.

Haunted Bowels is a far simpler affair, a series of gag strips from a couple of panels to a couple of pages, definitely unconnected this time (unless Collins is really managing to hide the link!). Everything in here, as you might expect from the title and cover skews towards the unusual, the quirky, the downright gruesome, the dark and the weird.

In many ways the format of it reminds me of Evan Dorkin, loads of scattershot comics, lots of styles, lots of themes… and overall, it works. There’s a lot you might call unsettling, and a lot you might simply call silly.

It fulfils the basic funny strip requirement of making me smile, although definitely in a dark, gruesome Charles Addams, Gahan Wilson style (not a bad thing). Yep, funny and surreal, dark, gruesome fun inside with a series of wildly different art styles, some to my taste, a few not so great, but Collins’ writing carries you (mostly) through the iffy stuff.

Indeed, a quick look at the titles/themes should give you an flavour of the piece: “Tourettes Banshee“, “The Lonely Ballad Of Pistol Nipples“, “Ants in the Pants of the Pirates of Penzance” (flesh eating ants that is!), “Seamus Heaney’s Heinous Penis” … well, you probably get both the idea, and the level of the gags, but if you’re still undecided, here’s a set of 4 gags….

The Glee Van Cleef is silly, but the Zinder Kurprise strip crops up several times through Haunted Bowels, and it’s pretty much this spot on every time.

Part of a two-pager; a Scottish version of your favourite vomit encrusted, hallucinating ”booze-slinger“.

Finally, another repeat strip, Omniscient Zorgo – a perfect illustration of the comedy of despair that permeates Haunted Bowels.

That should definitely have given you a taste for the book I reckon. Light, quick, sure. But there’s enough in here to keep you smiling at the relentless misery of it all. Haunted Bowels is available from Collins’ Big Cartel Store.

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 Robert Wells

Issue 2 of Rob Wells’ Crisp Biscuit Comics – and apart from the upgraded paper stock and the crisper printing, it’s essentially more of the same from issue 1 – reviewed back in 2011.

But don’t misunderstand me – more of the same is not necessarily a bad thing and Rob Wells’ work is light, fun, snappy – a one & two-page sketch show format of a comic to raise a smile and a giggle. It’s another nice little collection of his gag strips, all in colour, all with his rather attractive simple fine line.

Maybe not as funny as issue 1, maybe the novelty’s gone a little, or perhaps simply me in a bad mood? It’s always a risk with a comedy sketch show I suppose.

But there are some nice touches, especially if you’re a fan of The X-Factor – Wells is, me not so much…. but I know enough to find this funny, and thanks to Molly, even recognise the faces and names involved:

Or this one, with me on more familiar satirical ground (although my scanner hates the background – it’s a damn sight cleaner in the comic):

And then there’s the “whatever happened to….” series….

You get the idea, yes? So, looking at those three pages, did they raise a smile? A laugh? Yes? In that case you’ll enjoy Wells’ second issue.

Over at his blog you can get an idea of his strips, including several complete stories and earlier strips in many of the series continued thematically here.

Wells also sent along the latest versions of Crisp Biscuit Comics #1 and Colin Comix #1, crisper, cleaner, posher paper, and professionally printed, but still fun. I especially liked seeing Wells’ rather ridiculous and slightly sad little Hippo with a toilet problem once more, this time in colour:

You can buy Crisp Biscuit Comics #1, #2, and Colin Comix #1 and more from Wells’ website.

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.

A little late perhaps, but here they are:

The Hunting Party

By Pierre Christin and Enki Bilal

Humanoids Publishing

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.

Big Questions

By Anders Nilsen

Drawn And Quarterly

Anders Nilsen wants to talk about the big questions; life, death, philosophy, day to day existence, why we’re here and why we do what we do. But he’s going to do it through the lives of a group of birds.

It shouldn’t work, it shouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it is, this graphic novel Nilsen began some 15 years ago as a comic, without an overarching plot, his spontaneity creating multiple plot threads that he’s carefully, thoughtfully, and rather brilliantly tied together to create a near seamless whole in this collected version.

Secret Avengers Volume 3: Run The Mission, Don’t Get Seen, Save The World

Written by Warren Ellis, Art by Jamie McKelvie, Kev Walker, David Aja, Michael Lark, Alex Maleev, Stuart Immonen

Marvel Comics

I was torn about putting this one in here to be honest, so much so that I got it down from the shelf again and thumbed through it. And if anything, the second reading of it as a collection is even better than the first. Where I talked of problems, I merely saw minor lulls in the action, where I had faults, I saw small stutters. It’s a cracking piece of superhero work. But here’s what I said last month:

“So in Secret Avengers Volume 3, with that brilliantly Ellis title of “Run the mission, don’t get seen, save the world” that perfectly summarises pretty much everything you need to know about the book, we have 6 self contained issues, and although just as with the two I’d already seen, they’re not all great, there’s still enough greatness, enough Ellis being Ellis going on, to make this a damn good read.”

“…..And the artwork is pretty uniformally wonderful. McKelvie I’ve talked about, but David Aja, Michael Lark, Alex Maleev, and Stuart Immonen all excel themselves here, with Aja in particular doing breathtaking stuff.”

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.