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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 29, 2022 17:35:07 GMT -5
Yragael/UrmPhilippe Druillet, 1975  The other Druillet book I had sitting on the shelf for what seems like forever. Like the previous one I reviewed, it is full of wonderfully ornate art, at times gorgeous and at times grotesque, but always compelling.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the stories. The first one, Yragael, which was scripted by Michel Demuth, is rather uninteresting. It’s kind of a bleak end of times story, but mainly involves the title character having very dramatic dialogues with various gods and demons or some such – although he gets lucky at the end. Honestly, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Also, the lettering for some of the text pages in this edition was really hard to read – I often had to go over something several times just to figure out what the individual words are.  The second story, Urm (sometimes called ‘Urm the Mad’ in various publications), is a sort of sequel to Yragael, as the titular, mishapen Urm is the latter’s son. Again, it’s a very dire and hard-to-follow story (albeit more coherent than the first one), in which Urm travels to some black city to fulfill a prophecy. He fights a bunch of monsters, etc., but frankly I found myself more interested in just studying the pictures rather than trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of the story. 
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Post by Dizzy D on Apr 3, 2022 8:10:52 GMT -5
A batch of comics from the past month or so:
1. Vesper #1 by Jeremy: "l'Amazon" (The Amazon, but I guess you don't need to know any french to get that): I've only read Jodorowsky's Knights of Heliopolis where Jeremy did the art, this is the first thing I read that's both written and drawn by him (and from what I read it's also his first solo-work). His artwork has always been great to look at and I get a very strong Kentaro Miura/Berserk vibe from this story (possible that Berserk has been a major inspiration, I haven't read any of the interviews with him). Vesper is an Amazon warrior, working for a small mercenary band. She is a skilled fighter, but also possesses magic power (which is forbidden, so she keeps those powers hidden from most). The mercenary band has a charismatic leader, who has the ambition to use his band's success to settle their own kingdom (and shades of Berserk's Griffith immediately come to mind, though this character seems far more sympathetic than Griffith). His ambition is not well received by nobles and the band are branded traitors and heretics.
This first issue has a rather high pace going on, Jeremy obviously wants to get to the good bits really quickly, so we get little time to get involved in the various characters before most of them are already removed from the board. I think I need some more issues to really judge whether this is going to be worth it or not, but the art at least is great.
2. Fausses Pistes by Bruno Duhamel (False Leads): Duhamel has done several westerns so far, but in the intro he confesses that he has never been to the Far West and COVID made a trip impossible. So fellow comicbook writer and artist, American-born, but living in France, Dan Christensen (Archer Coe and other works) worked as a critic/editor for this one-shot.
Frank Paterson Jr. is an actor who plays the legendary Marshall Jake "Wild Faith" Johnson (think Wyatt Earp) in a Wild West show, but is dismayed by the shows lack of authenticity. Frank is hired because he's getting too old for the role (but also because his friends have noticed that Frank has started to believe that he really is Jake Johnson from time to time and hope that this will snap him out of it). On a guided tour Frank meets an old Native American and is offered a drink. Drinking the mixture, he wakes up in the Old West and meets the real Jake Johnson. This version has little in common with the history Frank believed and waking up he starts to reconsider his life. Normally the story would end there, but this is only the first half of the story.
I liked this one a lot, it's more of a western deconstruction, but also about the lies people tell each other and themselves.
3. Le Dernier Dragon by Pecau, Pilipovic and Thorn (The Last Dragon):
Not related to any of the other Pecau series as far as I can tell (Secret History, Major Arcana etc.) set in the 15th century, a Scotsman finds a dragon egg in a hidden valley in the Middle-East. Several factions find out and each sends their agents on a mission to find the egg. It's mostly basic fantasy, but it does some interesting things with the influence of dragons on this world; Egyptian (The Sacred Ibis defends the world from plagues and serpents; in this story by eating newborn dragons before they can grow and become dangerous), Greek (the minotaur and Icarus myths), Judeo-Christian (angels and demons) and myths around Unicorns (only virgins can tame these beats) are among the stories incorporated into the larger dragon myth in this series.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 3, 2022 12:00:40 GMT -5
Yragael/UrmPhilippe Druillet, 1975 The other Druillet book I had sitting on the shelf for what seems like forever. Like the previous one I reviewed, it is full of wonderfully ornate art, at times gorgeous and at times grotesque, but always compelling. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the stories. The first one, Yragael, which was scripted by Michel Demuth, is rather uninteresting. It’s kind of a bleak end of times story, but mainly involves the title character having very dramatic dialogues with various gods and demons or some such – although he gets lucky at the end. Honestly, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Also, the lettering for some of the text pages in this edition was really hard to read – I often had to go over something several times just to figure out what the individual words are. The second story, Urm (sometimes called ‘Urm the Mad’ in various publications), is a sort of sequel to Yragael, as the titular, mishapen Urm is the latter’s son. Again, it’s a very dire and hard-to-follow story (albeit more coherent than the first one), in which Urm travels to some black city to fulfill a prophecy. He fights a bunch of monsters, etc., but frankly I found myself more interested in just studying the pictures rather than trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of the story. I've had the Lone Sloane stuff and a couple of other things and have always been astounded by his art, though the stories are a bit more esoteric than I really enjoy. However, it always reminds me of reading the entry for him in Maurice Horn's The World Encyclopedia of Comics. I first encountered it at the public library, in the late 70s, while I was trying to find the Nostalgia Press volume 1 of Flash Gordon, again. It was gone from the library system and a librarian got me a bunch of other comic-related references, all of which were relatively new. The Encyclopedia was one of them. It was filled with articles about comics features and writers and artists, throughout the world, up to about the early 70s (or so). The entry on Druillet has a panel from one of the Sloane stories, with a lobster-like spacecraft (or creature, I don't recall) and the copy just dismisses him as flashy art, devoid of substance and it was kind of shocking. I didn't come across another entry for a creator that was so negative. I got the impression, later, that there must have been something personal between Horn, who was a major figure from the French comics fan scene, and Druillet. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jun 13, 2022 8:49:48 GMT -5
- Le pré derrière l'église (The Meadow behing the Church) 1. Le Pink Clover by Crisse and Christian Paty: In a small town in Ireland, there is pub built directly against the town's church. The story is that the owner managed to convince the local priest to allow this and thereby managed to safe a bit of money. The pub is seen as an affront by the more pious villagers. Behind the church, there is a meadow, where the priest practices his sermon to the sheep before Sunday's mass. For the sheep, the priest is the word of God on this world (or at least for some of them, for others he is just a source of tasty snacks). One day the priest is assaulted and taken to hospital, an event that not only causes unrest among the human villagers, but also the sheep who are now undergoing a religious schism. Starts out fun, art is great. The ending I found to be kinda weak. - Robilar (#1 and #2. 1 came out earlier, but I only noticed the series with #2) by David Chauvel and Sylvain Guinebaud: I know Chauvel mostly from his fantasy series Wollodrin and his adaptation of the Arthur legends (focusing mostly on the Welsh versions rather than the later French adaptions). He apparently has also done adaptations of fairy tales and this is basically a version of Puss in Boots. Sylvain I know mostly for his work on 7 Detectives spin-offs. Robilar is set in a fantasy world and the titular cat tries to make his way into the world after his mistress dies in an unfortunate "stepped-on-by-giant" accident. Using trickery and deceit, he manages to get his lowborn new master a position of power and wealth, but where the usual story ends, the story continues here and Robilar has to deal with more and more complications and revolts as his lies and tricks tend to backfire in the longer run. - Meccano 5: Poppy by Hanco Kolk I love Meccano, it's a pretty unique series when it comes to comics. It's a very dark comedy with a very abstract art-style. Meccano is a small nation-state ruled by money and criminality. No happy endings to be expected here, even if some of the inhabitants are apparently pretty happy with their lot in life. Enter Poppy, a very skilled assassin for hire, who together with their partner Raoul, finds that their specific brand of precise and clean hits for a low price are no longer in vogue. Their current employer wants them to create some bloodbaths so that he becomes a druglord that rules by fear. It won't be for everyone, but if you want to check it out: it's freely available in english on his own website: hancokolk.com/hanco-kolk-meccano-poppy. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 10, 2022 5:30:39 GMT -5
The First ManJacques Ferrandez, 2017 (English ed., 2018)  This is an adaptation of the unfinished, posthumously published novel of the same name by Albert Camus. Although the main character is named Jacques Cormery, this is very much an autobiographical work, essentially telling the story of Camus’ own family history in what was then French Algeria. The narrative jumps around chronologically, from the late 1950s, in which Cormery, now a renowned writer in France, talks about his ambition to write his magnum opus, which would focus on Algeria, to different periods in his life as he reminisces about his childhood or recounts stories told to him by his mother, grandmother, and others. To me, the most interesting aspect, only touched upon in a few places, is the glimpse into life and society in Algeria in the years just before and during the Algerian uprising to eliminate French colonial rule. It highlights something that was deemed controversial back in the 1950s (and still is to some extent), i.e., the fact that Camus had a great deal of sympathy for the French/European settler community in Algeria (known as Pieds-Noirs) and here you can see some hints of something that Camus had advocated for during his lifetime, “a new Mediterranean culture” that extolled the multi-ethnicity of Algeria and full French citizenship for Arabs and Berbers. As a graphic adaptation, this isn’t bad; the art is nice and serves the story well, and there are places where it’s used effectively, as in this flashback about the ill-equipped conscripts from Algeria (both French and Arab) sent to the meatgrinder of World War I:  However, even here you can see the limitations – the huge blocks of text. Much of the book also contains numerous panels where the characters are just sitting and talking to each other. So basically, it doesn’t really differ much from just reading the prose book.  Still, if you, say, you like Camus and find these kind of loosely autobiographical stories interesting, and if you're interested that bit of history in the 1950s when Algeria became independent, you might want to read this – esp. if, like me, you find a copy in the library.
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Post by berkley on Jul 11, 2022 18:11:40 GMT -5
The Camus looks all right but I'm much more likely to read the book first.
Latest European comic and in fact the latest new comic of any kind that I've read is the new Marini one mentioned here a few pages back, Noir Burlesque. Very nice crime/noir story set in 1940s NYC. Possibly my favourite Marini of anything I've read so far, though I have also been enjoying his and Desberg's Scorpion lately.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 31, 2022 15:13:38 GMT -5
Martin Mystère, v2(originally published in Italy in 1982; this Croatian edition in 2007)  The second installment in the long-running Italian adventure series (I briefly reviewed the first book here a few months ago), in which the renowned “detective of the impossible” and his trusty Neanderthal companion travel down to Belize to help find a missing archeologist. Mystère is alerted by the archeologist’s distressed daughter that he had made some amazing discovery in the Central American jungles, i.e., evidence that the ancient Egyptians had visited the local Mayans about 4,000 years ago.  While Martin and his companions search for the archeologist and the reasons for his disappearance, they are trailed by a nefarious man who ends up being the same man behind the ‘men in black’ causing all of the problems in the first episode. We end up getting his back story – he’s a former friend of Martin’s who turned to crime, named Sergei Orloff (he’s the guy pictured on the cover above). This one isn’t bad, and it’s again by the same creative team as the firs issue (i.e., script by Alfredo Castelli and art by Giancarlo Alessandrini) but there is tons of exposition and flashbacks in the last third that makes the story kind of drag. Otherwise, for those who are interested, this is also one of the stories that was published in English by Dark Horse in the 1990s in the Martin Mystery series, in the fifth issue under the title “The Revenge of Ra,” (“La Vendetta di Ra” in the original Italian). It’s kind of kind of odd that it wasn’t reprinted in the second issue of that series, because it’s a direct sequel to the very first episode.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 7, 2022 14:48:53 GMT -5
Maršal Bass (Marshal Bass), v3 Darko Macan, Igor Kordej, 2021  I've previously reviewed the first two volumes of this series upthread; like those two, this one contains two stories that were originally published separately in France under the titles L’ange de Lombard Street (‘Angel of Lombard Street, 2019) and Los Lobos (2021). The first story finds the titular Marshal Bass in Philadelphia in 1776, where he’s visiting the World’s Fair – at which the right arm of the Statue of Liberty (the one holding the torch) is on display.  (cover to the original French edition of the story) While there, he gets mixed up in a local police manhunt for a fugitive who apparently made his way to the city from Washington, DC, where he had murdered a (Black) congressman. Not a bad story, but it’s never quite made clear what Bass is doing back East. In the second story (the cover is the same as the one for this overall volume, above), Bass is back in Arizona, looking for his wife, who left the family home with all of their younger children. Eventually he does track her down – she was taken in by a well-to-do Mexican landowner (and carrying his child). However, said landowner’s brother is a bandit leading a gang of self-proclaimed revolutionaries who call themselves ‘Los Lobos’, and he barges into the hacienda and basically takes it over. Things get ugly, and once Bass shows up it gets even uglier. Again, as with the preceding two volumes, I still don’t love these. The main attraction for me is Kordej’s art, which is, again, quite good, and often striking, throughout. 
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Post by berkley on Aug 8, 2022 0:44:09 GMT -5
Kordej's art really does look good. What are his best B-D, would you say? A quick image search gives me the impression that he might have changed his style a little from time to time on certain books.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 8, 2022 4:34:14 GMT -5
Kordej's art really does look good. What are his best B-D, would you say? A quick image search gives me the impression that he might have changed his style a little from time to time on certain books. Can't say I've read/seen enough of his work to make an expert assessment. However, my personal favorites include the Tarzan/Carson of Venus story (also written by Macan) published by Dark Horse back in the 1990s (I wrote about it briefly for the Classic Comics Xmas in 2019) and We the Dead (like the Marshal Bass material, originally published in France; don't think there's an official English translation) which I also wrote about in this thread a few years ago. Although done years apart, I think the art in both really showcases Kordej's talent. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 8, 2022 6:53:45 GMT -5
Love me some Kordej. His Batman/Tarzan team-up was great, and I've been impressed by his skill ever since -even in those X-Men issues he was given to draw in a rush.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Aug 8, 2022 11:15:43 GMT -5
I've had the Lone Sloane stuff and a couple of other things and have always been astounded by his art, though the stories are a bit more esoteric than I really enjoy. However, it always reminds me of reading the entry for him in Maurice Horn's The World Encyclopedia of Comics. I first encountered it at the public library, in the late 70s, while I was trying to find the Nostalgia Press volume 1 of Flash Gordon, again. It was gone from the library system and a librarian got me a bunch of other comic-related references, all of which were relatively new. The Encyclopedia was one of them. It was filled with articles about comics features and writers and artists, throughout the world, up to about the early 70s (or so). The entry on Druillet has a panel from one of the Sloane stories, with a lobster-like spacecraft (or creature, I don't recall) and the copy just dismisses him as flashy art, devoid of substance and it was kind of shocking. I didn't come across another entry for a creator that was so negative. I got the impression, later, that there must have been something personal between Horn, who was a major figure from the French comics fan scene, and Druillet. I've always appreciated Druillet's art, but never thought it made for particularly good comics. I'd love to see what'd happen if he did backgrounds, animation-style, for someone else doing the main figure work. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 8, 2022 13:55:22 GMT -5
Martin Mystère, v41(originally published in Italy in #64 and 65 of the original series in 1987; this Croatian edition, 2010)  Martin is visited by a fraught man named Tom Jones, who tells him this wild story that his girlfriend got swallowed up by this odd little flat-screened TV set (the story is set in the late 1980s) that he bought for her as a gift in a little odds and ends shop. Although accustomed to all kinds of weird happenings, Martin initially dismisses him. However, his girlfriend Diana later recalls his previous dealings with an unusual, stuttering inventor who dabbled in the occult and seemed to be able to make characters from television and video games manifest themselves in real life. When Martin, Java and Diana go to find Jones, he’s no longer in his apartment. They do find the little TV, which they take with them. Eventually Martin realizes that the TV is a portal to another dimension where all of the things imagined and dreamed in our world exist, and they are beginning to cross over into our dimension. The inventor, named Henry, is the key. When they track him down, however, he’d already been attacked by video game characters and and he’s hospitalized with severe burns. Meanwhile, all hell is breaking loose in Manhattan.  The story here is again by writer Alfredo Castelli and artist Giancarlo Alessandrini. I found this one pretty entertaining. I like the idea of the inventor who creates computers and TV sets by using magical talismans and spells. By the way, for those keeping track, this one was also translated into English under the title “Manhattan Ghosts” and published by Dark Horse in Martin Mystery #4 (in Italy, this was first published in two installments, “ Fantasmi a Manhattan” and “ Space Invaders”).  ( The cover to 'Space Invaders' included in the Croatian edition of the story)
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Post by Dizzy D on Aug 8, 2022 14:28:39 GMT -5
My latest European comic I bought was a biography of the Ramones (based on Dee Dee Ramone biography. I really like the Ramones, but I don't think it's a great comic. I do appreciate the annotations in the back.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Aug 12, 2022 11:14:09 GMT -5
The Dylan Dog comic That Never Was, from Atomeka Press"However, back in 1993, Britain’s Atomeka Press, now AtomekaArt, attempted to bring Dylan Dog to English audiences, two series, the character retitled “Damien Darke”, were trailed in Diamond PREVIEWS, and elsewhere: “The Living Dead”, with covers by John Bolton; and “Trapped in Time”, with covers by the late John Watkiss."
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