-- CONTAINS SPOILERS --
Right. Notice how antagonists/situations/the economic systems in place are never exactly the same - it's always the variation. Many gray tones as well. In that particular episode JS Bach, the older brother, is the one who re-build the dam and basically that entire community, is essentially not a bad guy. Sure he runs underground narcotics lab, which was the main source of income, but without that they would have nothing. It is his completely criminally insane brother, for whom he has a huge soft-spot, that tips
the scale against him. (Simon of course never build the thing in his life.) Even so, after all the mess Bach pulls it off at the end, comes out all right (and survives).

That was the first episode where Kurdy kills unarmed man outright in cold blood. After he kills Simon, Simon's doctor gets into the verbal outburst, rationalizes to defend Simon, how he was sick and not evil ("morally challenged" or something). I thought Kurdy will just turn around and go, but no he ends him right there. Even thought doctor didn't see Simon torturing Kurdy previously, Kurdy sized him up perfectly, because he tortured Esra as well - and that he (doctor) knew!
Of course - as he was Simon's personal physician he knew - it was always all about the torture with Simon. The Esra incident from the start was the clue.

His art was never less than excellent, even as far back as the early '70s.

I personally love his western series Comanche (written by the legendary Greg); it rivalled Lieutenant Blueberry in terms of excellence for a while. 

Bernard Prince was a really cool adventure series that could be described, I guess, as a more adult version of Tintin. 

Hermann's Les tours de Bois-Maury is set in the middle ages, and although I never read it I heard only praise about it.

Quoting myself here, but as we were talking about Hermann.

Here is one author you never heard of - Matthias Schultheiss:

Went well ahead of his time.
Bells Theorem was published by catalan communications in the US.

Sadly even when translated, translation is often flat, as if translated by people who never actually spoke the language in real life.

Passengers of the Winds is a real page-turner. Burgeon wrote the sequel (collected in Girl Bois-Caiman), we meet Izzy (Isabeau) right after the US Civil War, now in her 90s, and she basically tells her life-story to her cousin (whom we follow prior to that point). It's quite good, 1st class, but it's sad as hell (and condensed).
Her original adventures (collected in vol 1) are just radiant and unpredictable - it's like a nexus of personal dramas, life at sea, slave trade, politics and customs of the 18th century, exotic landscapes, female perspective on things, coming of age, and other ingredients.

At the end of the original adventures (vol 1, which we follow "in real-time"; not as flashback or 3rd person POW), the very last page is in IMO the very best closing in comics of all times, when she says to her friend "What do you say?.. Rain?.. You think I'll get wet?..." and than they both laugh. Took me awhile to figure out - she was contemplating the suicide.

[low res and b/w, but you get a picture]

When it comes to Jodo's work, if I were "bandes dessignees" editor - I would commission the man himself to inspect/correct a solid Spanish translation (he was born in Chile I think). Perhaps perfect Spanish-English translator easier to find.

WOW! I thought I knew quite a bit about Franco Belge BD (I own around a thousand, I've read a few thousands), but I always thought Jeremiah was a western in the vein of Blueberry and Buddy Longway. I have NO idea why I never checked it out. Thanks for this great post Bran, I will definitely be on the hunt for these books!