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Post by Dizzy D on Apr 6, 2021 6:03:57 GMT -5
I have finished O burlão nas Índias by Alain Ayroles and Juanjo Guarnido and it was a great read. It will probably be translated into English (if it hasn't already), as Guarnido's Blacksad was also a success in the US IIRC. and the issue has won several prizes. 150+ pages, hardcover: it's pricey but definitely worth it.
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Post by junkmonkey on Apr 6, 2021 9:37:23 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that. When I read Petit Hanneton serialised in Spirou I was more than lost at times.
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Post by Dizzy D on May 30, 2021 12:17:21 GMT -5
Upcoming (not read them yet, just got them from the store):
- Danthrakon #2: Another one of Arleston's fantasy series, this one is a complete story in 3 issues, so let's see where this is going.
- Detectives #6: John Eaton. A spin-off from Seven Detectives, each issue deals with a detective based on a famous fictional (or semi-fictional in one case) detective. John Eaton is based on Dr. Watson and I wonder if this issue will have heavy spoilers from Seven Detectives, because it kinda has to?
- Wanted: Lucky Luke: Matthieu Bonhomme, artist behind the brilliant Texas Cowboys, returns to do another Lucky Luke. "The Man Who Killed Lucky Luke" left me with mixed, though generally positive reactions, enough to see what he does with this issue.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jun 3, 2021 13:06:12 GMT -5
As promised:
- Danthrakon #2: The ongoing story of a young cook's assistant who absorbs a powerful magic book. Not much happening here; the journey continues. The opposing forces get some rearrangement, but I'd say to wait for the conclusion before picking this up.
- Detectives #6: Yep, I was right. *Heavy* spoilers for 7 Detectives, also call backs and spoilers for Detectives #1 and Detectives #5. Artwise, I like it a lot, but I was liking this series as a series of detective stories in different styles and this one is not a Detective story (except for the fact that it's a story starring a detective.) Writingwise, it's ok. If you want a good standalone in this series, pick #1 (Miss Crumble) or #5 (Frederick Abernaith), who both do the done-in-one stories very well.
- Wanted: Lucky Luke: Mmm... I like it a bit more than the Man Who Killed Lucky Luke, but still it's not Texas Cowboys. Story in short: Luke saves three sisters and helps them herd their cattle to a nearby city where they can sell them and start a new life, but in the meanwhile Luke is a wanted man, worth $50.000 and many are after that bounty.
Lots of callbacks here as well: references to Lucky Luke contra Joss Jamon, Lucky Luke vs. Phil Defer* and The 20th Cavalry (also the Daltons are mentioned, cause of course they are). I'm kinda annoyed with the three female characters early on proving themselves to be capable, but then needing Luke to repeatedly save them. Also with all the callbacks, it's a bit too busy for a single issue, a few parts less and more focus on the remaning things would probably have improved things.
I do like Luke lecturing a villain on the proper use of lasso's and saddle horns. We get Luke actually working as a cowboy, which I really like as well. The ending is a bit too convenient, though.
I do think it's more than worth it: The artwork is amazing and any storytelling through art in the story is great.
*= During Luke's early stories, the stories were more serious and occasionally darker. Anyway in the early stories, Luke kills 2 opponents; his doppelganger and Phil Defer, the assassin. In a later re-release, Phil is written as having been wounded instead of killed. Later stories also tell us that Luke has only killed once. This story kinda continues with that (though it has a mistranslation I believe in dutch: Luke meets three girls who have seen his wanted poster and think he is a murderer, he tells them that he has never killed. When later confronted, he tells them that he killed Phil in duel, so it was not murder. So I guess the earlier text should have read "I've never murdered anyone" and that would be an important difference to Luke, but in the current translation, he just comes off as either a liar or .. something far worse if he does not count shooting somebody as killing them. Anyway for this issue, Luke's 1 kill seems to have been Phil rather than his Doppelganger.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jun 4, 2021 11:36:32 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 4, 2021 21:41:56 GMT -5
I'd love to see him against Diabolik, though it probably wouldn't be that much different then the Grendel crossover, since they are similar types of characters (the Grendel is the darker side, more akin to Fantomas, while Diabolik was more like Arsene Lupin, the criminal on the side of the angels, though with a darker side). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 4, 2021 21:47:30 GMT -5
Just a question for anyone who has dabbled or had a steady diet of European material: anyone ever read complete stories of Hugo Pratt's earlier superhero strip, Asso di Picche (Ace of Spades)? It was in the mid-late 40s, but I have only seen some cover art and a single illustration, in Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics (original edition). Looks pretty cool, with a lot of the Phantom vibe to it...  |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 2, 2021 10:16:16 GMT -5
I'll be visiting my local comicshop more regularly again, so I picked up a couple of new books (no chance to read these yet):
- Spirou in Berlin (by Flix. Out for a while in Germany, but now also over here)
- Elric: The Dreaming City (earlier in comic form by Roy Thomas and P. Craig Russel, this version is part of Blondel/Cano/Telo's Elric adaptions. #4 in the series so far)
- MacGuffin and Alan Smithee - MIssion Montreal: I have no clue about this issue or series, it has a nice pink cover and gives a James Bond/Avengers (the John Steed and Ms. Peel Avengers) vibe off.
More detail when I actually get a change to read them.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jul 2, 2021 11:26:35 GMT -5
Evidently NBM published too many copies of Vittorio Giardino's No Pasaran v1, not enough of v2, and hardly any of v3 ... the first is avail online cover price, the second around $600, the third $1000. I guess I'll never find out how the story ends ...
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 3, 2021 7:35:52 GMT -5
- MacGuffin and Alan Smithee - MIssion Montreal: I have no clue about this issue or series, it has a nice pink cover and gives a James Bond/Avengers (the John Steed and Ms. Peel Avengers) vibe off. I really like that series. I can also vouch that its writer, Michel Viau, is an amazingly nice guy... and a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of the ninth art! |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 3, 2021 13:04:43 GMT -5
- MacGuffin and Alan Smithee - MIssion Montreal: I have no clue about this issue or series, it has a nice pink cover and gives a James Bond/Avengers (the John Steed and Ms. Peel Avengers) vibe off. I really like that series. I can also vouch that its writer, Michel Viau, is an amazingly nice guy... and a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of the ninth art! Still no chance to read it yet, but good to hear it's good. Sometimes covers just speak to you and while the old adage says not to judge books by their covers, in practice I've had a reasonable success rate by doing exactly that. |
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Post by berkley on Jul 3, 2021 18:21:04 GMT -5
- MacGuffin and Alan Smithee - MIssion Montreal: I have no clue about this issue or series, it has a nice pink cover and gives a James Bond/Avengers (the John Steed and Ms. Peel Avengers) vibe off. I really like that series. I can also vouch that its writer, Michel Viau, is an amazingly nice guy... and a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of the ninth art!
I'll have to look for this - sounds like it could be my kind of thing. Renaud-Bray has the first volume listed as non-disponible, unfortunately.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 6, 2021 9:28:54 GMT -5
I got around to reading McGuffin and Alan Smithee and Spirou in Berlin. No time to read Elric yet.
McGuffin and Alan Smithee: Mission Montreal. It's pretty much what I expected, a 60s period piece with John Steed and Emma Peel stand-ins as MI6 agents. Not bad, though the jokes were pretty predictable. I do like the idea of Alan getting one guess per mission at guessing McGuffin's first name.
Spirou in Berlin: There was a lot of overlap storywise with Spirou at the Soviets (which came out over here last year though I think this one was actually written first): The Count gets kidnapped by a communist country to help them build some invention that will help them conquer the world, but which is dependent on some mushroom related bit of knowledge only the Count has. Spirou and Fantasio infiltrate the country, are shocked by the circumstances and save the count. I didn't like the Soviets that much, but I did like this one. Flix is a German artist and he was born in the 70 so a personal connection to the story can make all the difference. The flow of jokes works, artwork is clean and the pacing is good. It's not a highlight of the series (which has some amazing issues overall and this specific issue has to follow up the amazing Pacific Palace earlier this year), but it's a solid comic.
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Post by Calidore on Jul 6, 2021 20:02:06 GMT -5
A little while ago, I made a what-the-heck buy of a big Humble Bundle collection of mostly European comics published by Humanoids. I'm unfamiliar with the vast majority of titles and names (excepting Jodorowsky & Moebius' Incal/Metabarons books), so I'd love it if someone(s) more familiar with these can toss out some recommendations to check out first, or skip until last.
Aftermath by James Hudnall & Mark Vigouroux
Armies by Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Picaret, & Jean-Claude Gal (vaguely remember this appearing in some old Heavy Metal magazines and being pretty good)
Balkans Arena by Philippe Thirault & Jorge Miguel
Book of Chaos by Mathieu Lauffray & Xavier Dorison
Carthago by Christophe Bec, Eric Henninot, Milan Jovanovic, & Ennio Bufi
Clockwerx by Jean-Baptiste Hostache, Jason Henderson, Tony Salvaggio, & Izu
Dark Rage by Thierry Smolderen & Philippe Marcele
Exo by Jerry Frissen & Philippe Scoffoni
Foligatto by Alexios Tjoyas & Nicolas de Crecy
The Fourth Power by Juan Gimenez
I Am Legion by John Cassaday & Fabien Nury
Izuna by Saverio Tenuta, Bruno Letizia, & Carita Lupattelli
Legend of the Scarlet Blades by Saverio Tenuta
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart by Alexandro Jodorowsky & Moebius
Metal by Butch Guice, Roman Surzhenko, Jerrold E. Brown, & Paul Alexander
Meyer by Jonathan Lang & Andrea Mutti
Muse by Terry Dodson & Denis-Pierre Filippi
Off-World Blues by JD Morvan & Bachan
Olympus by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger, & Butch Guice
Omni by Devin Grayson & Alitha E. Martinez
Orion's Outcasts by Julia Verlanger, Corbeyran, & Jorge Miguel
Pandemonium by Christophe Bec & Steffano Reffaele
Pandora's Eyes by Milo Manara & Vincenzo Cerami
Redhand - Twilight of the Gods by Kurt Busiek & Mario Alberti / Sam Timel & Bazal
Retina by Benoit Riviere & Philippe Scoffoni
Retroworld by Julia Verlanger, Patrick Galliano, Cedric Peyravernay, & Bazal
Sanctum by Xavier Dorison & Christophe Bec + Sanctum: Genesis by Christophe Bec, Philippe Thirault, & Stefano Raffaele
Savage Highway by Julia Verlanger, Mathieu Masmondet, & Zhang Xiaoyu
The Shadows of Salamanca by Christophe Bec & Stefano Raffaele
Shamanism by Igor Baranko
The Swords of Glass by Sylviane Corgiat & Laura Zuccheri
Thousand Faces by Philippe Thirault, Marc Males, & Mario Janni
The Tikitis by Jerry Frissen & Fabien M.
Wings of Light by Julia Verlanger, Harry Bozino, & Carlos Magno
Thanks!
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 23, 2021 15:44:38 GMT -5
Last winter, I noted that I had picked up the first issue of a new Croatian anthology series, Strop, and recently I received the second issue:  It features new installments of the three ongoing features by Biuk and Talajić, Stipe Kalajžić and Macan, plus - as in the first issue - a one-off story, this time by a guy named Matej Stić. As noted in that earlier post, you have to order these directly from Darko Macan, and this time for a little extra money he sent out an issue of a local comics fanzine called Endem, which comes out pretty erratically, but more or less once a year. It's filled with contributions from local comics creators (and by local, I mean not just Croatia, but also Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, etc.). Macan sent out no. 39 from 2019, and then a few weeks ago no. 40 came out and I picked it up in a comics shop.  As the covers indicate, each issue has an overriding theme, so that first one is a tribute to a kids' magazine called Plavi vjesnik ('Blue Herald') which was published in Zagreb from the 1950s through the 1970s, and often featured a lot of one page or single panel gag comics - so that's how the issue of Endem was compiled, although the comics therein are not necessarily kid friendly. Here's a sampling of the stuff you don't need knowledge of Croatian to understand...   The more recent issue is, obviously, dedicated to Conanesque barbarian comics. There's some really nice-looking stories in there. Each issue also has a number of 'pin-ups' as well, like this Conan image by Esad Ribić:  |
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