Suske & Wiske: De sonometer by Willy Vandersteen (concept, unfinished), Francois Corteggiani and Dirk Stallaert.

I haven't bought a Suske&Wiske in the last 35 years, but this was a special one.

So a bit of backstory: Suske&Wiske is a Belgian (Flemish) comic started by Flemish writer/artist Willy Vandersteen in 1945 (originally under the title Rikki&Wiske, but Rikki , the older brother of Wiske (Flemish diminutive for Louise) was replaced after the first issue by a friend of the same age instead. So from the second issue Suske (Flemish diminutive for Francis) is the co-star of the series. It's a very popular series and has over 400 issues in the main series and many spin-offs titles. The books have been translated in many languages, Bob & Bobette or Spike & Suzy in the UK, Willy & Wanda in the US. From 1974 onward Willy Vandersteen stepped back from this series and creative tasks were taken over by his Studio (also the point were my interest in the series rapidly decreases).

The original titles were all published in collections with a notable bright red framing, but from 1950-1959 Vandersteen, in an attempt to increase its popularity in the french-speaking parts of Belgium and France, published 8 issues in Tin-Tin magazine that form their own continuity. These issues were later published in collections with a notable blue framing and are therefore known as "The Blue series". (The Blue series was even later republished with the same red framing once the series went full colour and all older issues were republished in full colour).

Hergé (creator of Tin-Tin) did find the original series too common (bit of Flemish/Walloon tension as well, where the Flemish were seen as poor and peasants by the generally more richer Walloons, though these are of course stereotypes) and absurd, so he demanded changes made to the series. Vandersteen complied and in the blue series, various more absurd characters are not appearing. Suske, Wiske and Lambik (the only other main character that made it to the Blue series) were redesigned and portrayed as considerably richer and upper class than their previous incarnations and the artstyle was changed to resemble Hergé's ligne claire style more. Fantastical elements were to be toned down (though time-travel, aliens, dinosaurs, intelligent animals and supertechnology are all elements that are seen within the Blue Series). After 8 issues and 9 years, Vandersteen had enough; he always said that he learned a lot from Hergé, but there were differences of opinion and the popularity of Suske&Wiske in the dutch speaking countries eclipsed Tin-Tin, so there were some tensions there as well.
A ninth issue "De Sonometer" was started, but abandoned in the rough draft phase. With Suske&Wiske's 75th birthday, two creators took the rough concept and completed it as a full issue.

So we have an issue that was set up some 60 years ago and now completed by two different creators. The issue is set in the appropriate time period and takes place for a large part in Japan.

The main plot revolves around professor Tellenbol and his invention the Sonometer, a device that can analyze and negate all sounds in its vicinity (see Sophie #12 by Jidehem "La Bulle du silence" or Spirou by Nic & Cauvin "Les faiseurs de silence" for stories with a similar device). Tellenbol hopes that his device can restore silence and calm to modern busy life. The professor is abducted with his device by Japanese criminals and the heroes follow them to Japan and find that the criminals are working for the evil Dr. Takatazare, who is the former discipline of the noble scientist Dr. Tezuka (nod to the Astroboy creator).

Overall it does a good job of emulating Vandersteen's Blue series style and it captures the late 50s Belgian and Japanese setting pretty well, even with all the fantastical elements surrounding it. The Japanese part does have a lot of classical Edo era elements in it though with Samurai, Ninjas and conspirators wearing traditional masks)

I have some issues though: In 1957, Vandersteen published "De Stemmenrover" (The Voice Stealer) in the regular Suske&Wiske series, an album set in Edo era Japan, where Lambiek's voice is stolen by a dark magician (as part of a complex scheme to claim the throne) and the group goes to recover his voice. I think there are some obvious similar elements (a plot device that can mute characters, an issue taking place in Japan) between the two titles (and I guess this is also the reason why Vandersteen never finished the Sonometer, the two titles were very close to each other in creation (1957/1958) and he already worked out what he wanted to do in the Red series.) Now this is not so much my issue, but the Japanese characters Vandersteen drew back in 1957/1958 were not racist charicatures but some of the characters (specifically Takatazara and his assistant Sato. The other characters are mostly fine) that Corteggiani and Stallaert portray in this 2020 title are.

There is also a "joke" about Takatazara's father dying by drowning after failing his Kamikaze attack on an American carrier during WWII, which is a real mean spirited joke for Suske&Wiske (deaths in the regular series are few and far between and when somebody dies, even a villain, it is always portrayed as a tragic event) Also Vandersteen never mentions the war in his stories (if a war is mentioned (a rare occassion), it's 1914-1918, when Lambiek digs up his old, rusted military equipment from that time whenever he panics.). Which may have to do with Vandersteen's own role in the war (he created Nazi propaganda under a pseudonym, which was only discovered very recently).

Other jokes feel very on the nose (Takatazara complaining that he has to walk to the telephone and that's about time somebody invents a mobile phone), Tezuka mentioning that he's going to draw manga as a way to make people happy when the project with the sonometer turns out to be a bust.
There also some unexplained plotholes: Takatazara manages to kidnap Tellenbol by spraying sleeping gas into the plane he's on and then sends his men, disguised as doctors to grab the sleeping men from the just landed plane... but how did they get the sleeping gas into the plane? Takatazara only finds out which plane Tellenbol is on as it has already left Europe and the sleeping gas is sprayed throughout the plane before it lands in Tokyo and we see no agents from Takatazara on the plane itself.

So overall, nice thing to have as a curio, but it was a pretty underwhelming story. Buy the other Blue series comics or "de Stemmenrover", these are better comics.

I promised to do Cafe Noir #3, but I left my copy with my dad last weekend, because he likes the series to.

So this is from memory:

Cafe Noir #3 by Eric Corbeyran (story), Luc Brahy (art) and Cyril Saint Blancat (colours)

Also responsible fore the series Cognac, which I enjoyed, but found the ending to be weak and the Master Chocolatier, which I enjoyed, but is only on the first issue.

So does Cafe Noir stick the landing where Cognac kinda dropped the ball? Well, it's a better ending IMHO.

Backstory: A former perfumist, Albane is hired by a Fairtrade coffee company to develop a new high quality blend of coffee beans. She is send to South America to determine the perfect blend, but does not know that the company is engaged into some criminal activities; the Fairtrade label is very important to the company, drawing in many wealthy customers who want to feel like they are doing something good for the world, but it limits the profits the company can made. The director wants to raise his profits and he can't do this by either raising the price of the product or paying the farmers less. Their plot to lower the price of coffee itself by sabotaging some local farmers, backfires in the 2nd issue though, when a plague/pest damages the coffee harvest at many farms that year, skyrocketing the price of coffee beans.

In the third issue the company tries to mend their damaged relationship with the farmers they hoped to exploit. They try to pay off Albane and the farmers (not directly of course, their lawyer is smart enough to just make deals that they can't refuse). Where in Cognac the main villains are shortsighted and in the end incompetent (because if they were competent, the murder in Cognac would have never taken place), in Cafe Noir, the villains are smart and pragmatic. They are not infallible and their mistakes cost them dearly. Our "heroes" are also not perfect; the two farmers who are our secondary main characters (sorry, book not here so I'm not going to guess the names) are torn between their pride and their circumstances; one does not want to take a deal from a company that tried to ruin them not long ago, while the other is willing to, because she sees that it's either accept or start from scratch.
Also my complaint with Cognac was that the whole framing device of the production of Cognac was just that, a frame and the same story could be told with any other type of luxury good, in Cafe Noir the Fairtrade coffee business is at the heart of the story and is not easily displaced with another product.

On the downside, Albane, our main character, feels very much like an observer for most of the story. She is not completely inactive, but her influence on the events is very limited.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the story and art. The characters are realistic and complex. Also with only 3 issues, the plot moves at a good pace and nothing is getting drawn out.

I talked about Olivier B. Bommel with coke&comics when he was visiting over here way back when and how it would have been almost impossible to translate.

Marten Toonder introduced so many words and expressions into the dutch language with his stories, it's almost like Shakespeare and the english language.

As for Suske&Wiske, it has become basically a mass-production IMHO with each new issue written and drawn by the studio (and it has been so since at least the 80s, so I lost complete interest in the series as even a 10 year old, going for other series that were less formulaic and predictable). I think if you take the main series, the blue series and various spin-offs and reinventions, you can easily get to 500+ issues. I know there was a store over here that *only* sold Suske&Wiske comics and no other titles and I never understood how it stayed in business (even if it was only selling online).


Unrelated: lots of European comics in dutch translation the past few weeks (new Carmen McCallum, new Travis, new Scorpion, new Thorgal main series (though I think I'm done with it), new Les vieux fourneaux and some other comics)

So short reviews for Carmen McCallum, Travis and The Scorpion's latest issues:

Carmen McCallum #12 The Water of Golan: It's the middle/end of the current story-arc and it's all about water. In the second half of the 21st Century, fresh, clean water is valuable (a story in Travis taking place around the same time is titled "Blue Gold") Dommy, an AI who wants to fight climate control and save live on Earth, but has not such a benevolent opinion of humans, has placed herself as an implant inside Carmen's head. This way she has taken Carmen hostage, but she has also trapped herself; should Carmen die, Dommy will be stuck inside.
The current issue takes place mostly in Jerusalem. The city is plagued by drones, released during one of the recent wars by one side to target another, but who have now evolved to target any and all humans. Military patrols are occassionally send into the city to curb the drone population to keep it somewhat under control. Carmen sneaks into the city by enlisting in one of the patrols, but she's there for other reasons: 1. To follow Dommy's instructions, or the AI will kill her and 2. To rescue an old friend who has been in cryogenic sleep in the city, while the city was abandoned. Meanwhile Carmen's friends have hired an expert to get the AI out of her head, Pac-man, the Jamaican hacker who is one of the main characters in Travis.
Overall: not an issue for new readers, it's the end of another story. As always it's a very good Cyberpunk series, the world-building is excellent, the heroes are flawed and even the 'villain' is sympathetic this time.

Travis #12 "The Children of Marcos"; first part of a new storyline and... Travis does not appear at all in this issue. Travis is missing, his shuttle found abandoned docked to an orbital, its AI infected with a virus that has replaced her whole memory with copies of Marx Das Kapital. Travis family asks Vlad Nyrki, former assassin and villain of this series, but by now a trusted ally to find him. Vlad has been retired and is waning himself of his nano-tech enhancements because of their addictive effects, but as far as I can tell, he's still enhanced as he deals with various treats without breaking a sweat. Travis has been smuggling into Mexico, like many places in the late 21st Century, an open warzone where remains of the government and the drug-dealing syndicates fight over the lands and international parties are mostly concerned with protecting some cultural landmarks. Posing as a reporter, Vlad infiltrates Mexico to find a trace of Travis.
It's mostly Vlad this time, the rest of the cast do either not appear or only have a short appearance (also the reason that Vlad goes to Mexico alone). And again I don't have much to say about it. Good Cyberpunk is rare, so I'm happy that both these series keep on going along with good characters and great worldbuilding.

Unrelated: I've only know noticed in their bios that Carmen and Travis share a birthday (November 7th, though Travis is 3 years older, being born in 2018.) Could be a misprint, as I've not noticed it before in their bios.

The Scorpion #13: A weird issue. Desberg is still writing, but Marini is gone on art. Marini and Desberg disagreed on the direction the series would take, so it was initially cancelled, but Desberg has now continued with a new artist, Luigi Critone (so at least he sticks to using an Italian artist). It's a shame because Marini's art is one of the main draws of the series and Critone does not live up to him.
Plot: Last issue: The Scorpion has refused his legacy of the wealth and power of the Trebaldi family, but Mejai, who was carrying his child, had left when he returned.
Now, more than a year later, the Scorpion leaves for Istanbul where Mejai is working as an assassin once again in the hope of meeting his child. Things as usually do not go as planned and before long the Scorpion is suspected of murder and shortly after released into the debt of a mysterious woman, known only as the Sabbatian. She asks him to translate some ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the first step that sets him on the path to what actually happened to the ancient city of Jericho and the role of the pharaoh Achnaton in the whole story. Meanwhile a group of Russians, led by a murderous Albino Cossack, try to eradicate all references to this story.
Overall: As said the loss of Marini is a big one and I'm not sure I'll continue this series, but Desberg has done his homework as usual, so it's still a fun series for somebody who is interested in history, mixing fact with fiction. Most of the cast is gone, leaving only the Scorpion and Mejai from the Desberg/Marini issues and there is a hole there in the series that needs to be filled and none of the new characters seem to fit. I'm curious what direction Marini wanted to go.

I also have the new les vieux forneaux lying around, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Mi, mrtvi (Croatian translation of Nous, le morts)
Darko Macan & Igor Kordej, 2016

Another book I checked out of the library, another Croatian translation of something that was originally published in France. The title translates to “We, the Dead.” Like the Marshal Bass books I reviewed above, this was also originally published in four separate volumes (under the titles Les Enfants de la peste, Le Continent cimetiere, Le céleste empire and Les Enfants d’Abel).
This is quite an epic. It’s alternate history meets partial zombie apocalypse, with a dose of very dark humor thrown into the mix. It takes place in a present (2015-ish) in which there is no longer a European civilization, because the Black Death in the 14th century killed everyone and turned them into zombies. The basic story is that Prince Manco, the son of the Incan emperor (the Incas are one of the two most powerful empires on Earth, the other being China), is sent by his father to Europe to find the secret of immortality – because a few zombies made their way to America’s shores in a derelict ship centuries before, and the aging emperor is fascinated by the fact that the shambling oddities never die. After their dirigible crashes in England, the prince and his party decide to make the overland journey to Han (China), a supposed ally of the Incas – with a zombie English priest in tow.
I liked this a lot better than the Marshal Bass books I reviewed above, although I had certain quibbles with certain aspects of the story. The more I see of Kordej’s art, though, the more I like it. It’s quite lush throughout this book, and you get some interesting visuals, like a few Incans fighting zombies in Europe, with a very steampunkesque Chinese warplane providing aerial support.

Yeah, I'm no fan of zombies, either, believe me. However, the kind of gross zombie stuff that I hate (you know, when they're shown ripping apart and eating people's bodies) doesn't really appear here. It actually works pretty well as a plot element.
As for Kordej, he has much more published work here in Europe. Out of the stuff that's easier to find in the US (that's in English), I would recommend the Tarzan and Carson of Venus mini-series and a Tarzan one-shot, "A Tale of Mugambi," both published by Dark Horse and both written by his fellow Croat, Darko Macan. There's also another DH Tarzan series called "Rivers of Blood" but that one was never finished in the US (a hardcover edition containing the entire story, with the last few chapters consisting of the unpublished b&w art and sketches, was published a few years ago in Serbia).

These look great! Reminds me a bit of Blueberry by Jean Giraud (The covers). Unfortunately the libraries here don't seem to have them.