Largo Winch, writer Jean Van Hamme and artist Philippe Francq's James Bond-like billionaire businessman adventurer, returns in his latest two part adventure in Cinebook's The Three Eyes Of The Guardians Of The Tao and The Way And The Virtue.
An aircraft manufacturing deal between one of the W Corporation companies and a Chinese business requires Largo to travel to Hong Kong to sign the contract personally. With Hong Kong now part of China this is a plot by the Chinese to get Largo back into the country to arrest him because of his past. Previously Largo had been imprisoned in Chinese occupied Tibet, a prison that he escaped from and the Chinese authorities want him back in it.
Largo escaped from that prison with the help
of a Chinese triad arms smuggler, Tan Ming T'Sien, whose triad later helped rescue Largo's good friend Simon Ovronnaz from a
Burma prison. But that help came with a price and the triad are now calling in that favour as they want an ancient religious document, the Tao Te Ching, the book of the Way and the Virtue, that is owned by the man who runs the Chinese aircraft business that Largo is dealing with.
Largo must steal from the man he is doing business with while avoiding the authorities...
This pair of titles are effectively the sequel to the much earlier book The Hour Of The Tiger but you really do not need to have read that book to understand what is going on here as Jean Van Hamme gives the reader all the information that they need in these new titles to appreciate the back story of this meticulously plotted tale of business, triads and friendship. Indeed the main story is so heavy that it is good that Van Hamme has introduced a new sidekick for Largo in the petite and pretty form of his new personal pilot Silky, as seen on the cover of the first book. As the main plot starts to get so serious, the sparring of Simon and Silky over Silky having much better luck with women than Simon gives the first book in particular some lighter breathing spaces.
Les Trois Yeux Des Gardiens Du Tao was originally published in France in March 2007 while La Voie Et La Vertu was published in November 2008 just before the release of the big budget live action Largo Winch film with Sisley Tomer and Kristin Scott Tomas. It is interesting to note that the film transposed the W Corporation headquarters from New York to Hong Kong, a fact that Van Hamme would presumably have known, and where he set so much of the spectacle of these books.
Philippe Francq's artwork plays well to that spectacle with various Bond film-style set pieces such as a car chase between an
ancient Renault 4 and a new Smart ForTwo Cabrio, or an aerial sequence
with an old and unarmed Beaver float-plane being chased between the Hong Kong
skyscrapers by a new and armed MD-520N Notar helicopter. It all comes
together to make this story feel like the big budget action film it
deserves to be.
It is easy to get used to how good Jean Van Hamme's various series can be but Largo Winch - The Three Eyes Of The Guardians Of The Tao and The Way And The Virtue are perhaps the most impressive Largo books yet. For those wanting to sample this series I used to recommend the pairing of See Venice... ...And Die! but now I would say that these are the best pair of titles in the series to date, and well worth picking up.
• There are more details of the English language Largo Winch books at the Cinebook website
• There are more details about all the Largo Winch books, as well as the two live action films, at the official Largo Winch website (in French).
Belgian artist Philippe Francq, best known in the UK for his Largo Winch series with writer Jean Van Hamme published by Cinebook, will be doing a signing in London later in the month.
The French Bookshop in South Kensington, who had a signing event with Jean Van Hamme in 2010, will be hosting Philippe for a signing on Saturday 24 November 2012 from 1130 to 1300. He will be signing the latest French Largo Winch hardback, Colere Rouge, which is the recently released 18th book in the series and the second part of the story begun in Mer Noire. Neither of these latest two Largo Winch books have been translated into English by Cinebook.
Largo Winch, writer Jean Van Hamme and artist Philippe Francq's James Bond-like billionaire, returns in his latest two part adventure in Cinebook's The Price of Money and The Law of the Dollar.
Appearing on a live TV business programme, The Price Of Money, Largo is as shocked as the viewers when Dennis Tarrant, the former manager of a company that Largo's W Group had taken over and caused 2500 redundancies in, puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger. With public opinion against him, Largo launches a W Group investigation of that business transaction before travelling to Tarrant's funeral. There he attempts to offer his condolences to Tarrant's blind daughter June but he receives a cold rebuff from her followed by a severe beating from some of the men of the town.
The accounts of Tarrant's company appear to have been altered to cause the redundancies and Largo beings to dig deeper just as June Tarrant launches a court case against him for compensation of $50 million. When the former accounts secretary of the company ends up dead, Largo is framed for her murder and, on the run from the law and with American public opinion turning against both him and the W Group, Largo is forced to go to ground.
Jean Van Hamme's name on a book is a sure sign of quality and when it is a Largo title then that normally means a James Bond-like action fest, except that this time it isn't really. Don't get me wrong, punches are traded, guns go off and there are motorbike and helicopter action sequences, but on the whole this is slightly more sedate and talky Largo story than normal and, if anything, it is to the story's advantage.
Van Hamme emphasises the insider trading/stock options information in the first book and repeats it as a text introduction in the second as an understanding of it is vital to the machinations of the plot. While it makes for a Largo story that is perhaps heavier on exposition than the previous episodes, it also makes for a story that requires more thought than the more normal Largo romps and I enjoyed that.
Philippe Francq's artwork is as slick as ever covering helicopters, bikes and even Mounties on horseback when Largo goes to ground in Canada yet, despite all the panels of talking heads explaining the intricacies of the plot, he never gets into a rut and his work is always enjoyable to look at.
These are translations of the 13th and 14th French Largo Winch albums originally published in 2004 and 2005. In France the series has just reached its 18th book,Colère Rouge, this month meaning that Cinebook have only two sets of two books each still to go before they are up-to-date. The first of those, and the next Cinebook Largo Winch title, is due out in February 2013 under the mouthful of a title The Three Eyes of the Guardians of the Tao.
Largo Winch - The Price Of Money/The Law Of The Dollar is not quite the runaround that we have become used to in the previous Largo books but it is no less of an intriguing read for it.
• There are more details of the English language Largo Winch books at the Cinebook website
• There are more details about all the Largo Winch books, as well as the two live action films, at the official Largo Winch website (in French).
It has been a while since we reviewed any Cinebook titles here on downthetubes so this week we will be putting that right with a selection of reviews of various Cinebook releases from the last few months.
Before that, and with a eye to the wave of big budget films based on US comics hitting our cinema screens over the summer, it is worth remembering that Steven Spielberg's disappointing The Adventures of Tintin is not the only recent Franco-Belgian bandes dessinee series to hit the big screen.
Indeed the live-action The Extraodinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, directed by Luc Besson, was everything that the Tintin film should have been but, while it is readily available on DVD in the UK, that fact that it is subtitled will put off all but the most determined fans. The Adele Blanc-Sec books are published in English (or perhaps that should be American) by Fantagraphics but there are also three bandes dessinee series that are published in English by Cinebook that have recently have had live-action outings.
The Largo Winch series, written by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by Philippe Francq, is the closest thing Cinebook has to James Bond and the French film industry thought so too as they took the character to the big screen in 2008 in Largo Winch: Deadly Revenge with Tomer Sisley as Largo and British actress Kristin Scott Thomas as the female lead. Moving the W Organisation from New York to the perhaps more picturesque skyscrapers of Hong Kong, the films tweaked Largo's origin story and built it into the feature film. The film is in a mixture of languages depending on the country any particular scene is set in although the main two languages are English and French with the British DVD having English subtitles for those sections that need them.
"Nerio Winch, self-made tycoon and head of the mysterious corporate empire known only as W Group, has been brutally murdered. Due to an absence of siblings Nerio's legacy is in danger of falling into the wrong hands. Without a suitable replacement the W Group will be destroyed. But Nerio had a dark past and a deadly secret: an adopted son by the name of Largo Winch. Adventurer, assassin, killer, maverick and international playboy, Largo Winch is the last of a dying breed. Now head of a global corporation he must fight for what's rightfully his and avenge his father's death. Bullets will fly and heads will roll in this highly explosive, spectacular thriller that gives Bourne and Bond a run for their money. Based upon the highly successful comic book series and novels by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, Largo Winch takes action cinema to another level. ...Largo Winch: Deadly Revenge."
Deadly Revenge was successful enough for a sequel to follow in 2011. The Burma Conspiracy again featured Sisley Tomer this time with Sharon Stone as his leading lady in a story that was even more like a Bond film than the original and, with Ms Stone rather than the Paris based Scott Thomas in it, the collection of languages featured were more weighted toward English.
"When the occupants of a Burmese village are massacred, the incident is linked to a billionaire playboy and international man of action and his deceased father's multi-national corporation. Determined to clear his name and hunt down the real culprits, he journeys into the hazardous terrain of the Burmese jungle in search of the truth, armed and loaded. Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct, Casino) and Tomer Sisley (Labyrinth, The Nativity Story) star in the explosive, high-octane thriller The Burma Conspiracy."
From the deadly serious Largo Winch to the much more humorous Lucky Luke and while there have been various television and cinema versions of Morris and Goscinny's cowboy character, the latest is the 2009 version simply entitled Lucky Luke with The Artist's Jean Dujardin as the title character (dealing with a horse rather than a dog) and the film also features Dujardin's wife, Alexandra Lamy, as Belle, Luke's romantic interest. With a multitude of Lucky Luke book characters featured, the film is completely in French as so is fully subtitled on its British DVD.
"Jean Dujardin (Oscar® and BAFTA® winning star of The Artist) stars as Lucky Luke, a crack-shot gunslinger with a lightning fast draw and a conscience to boot. After witnessing the savage murder of his parents at the hands of the vicious Cheater Gang, Luke dedicates his life to bringing the very wildest in the west to justice, that is with a non-lethal twist. Years later, when the President of the United States assigns Luke the task of cleansing the streets of his hometown, the crime-ridden cesspool known as Daisy Town, Luke is stirred back into action."
Finally there is the 2008 television mini-series XIII: The Conspiracy based on the early XIII albums written, like Largo Winch, by Jean Van Hamme and this time illustrated by William Vance. The XIII books share more than a numerical title with the 24 television series so it is perhaps unsurprising that US television would attempt a version of XIII while 24 was still popular. As this was made for America (unlike both the previous and more recent live-action XIII TV series) and so is in English with Steven Dorff as XIII, Val Kilmer as The Mongoose and Lucinda Davis as Jones, while the story diverges from the books by adding a new female character, Sam, played by Casino Royale's Caterina Murino.
"The first female US President Sally Sheridan is shot dead by a sniper during her Independence Day speech. Her assassin narrowly escapes the scene with his life, national security hot on his heels - or so it seems. Three months later, a wounded man is found. The young man (Stephen Dorff) cannot remember the slightest thing about his own identity. The only clue is a tattoo on his neck, "XIII". Could his lightning reflexes and killer instincts betray him?"
There are more details of the Cinebook publications of Largo Winch, Lucky Luke and XIII at the Cinebook website.
Largo Winch, writer Jean Van Hamme and artist Philippe Francq's James Bond-like billionaire returns in his latest two part adventure in Cinebook's Golden Gate and Shadow.
Winch's old friend Simon Ovronnaz has been hired to play Mike Shadow in a new TV series called Golden Gate, a series that is being made by one of the W Group's companies. However Ovronnaz isn't a great actor and the series is phenomenally expensive which leads the W Group to believe that it is a cover for money laundering and they send in a financial investigator, Sarah Washington, who quickly goes missing. With the series being bankrolled from the gambling den of Reno, Winch sets off meet his old friend, find the missing Sarah and get to the bottom of just what is going on.
Jean Van Hamme is so good at writing modern thrillers that it is virtually a foregone conclusion that any Largo Winch story will be both intriguing and action-packed and, with the luxury of being spread over two books, the reader is given time to get to know the characters and situations a little better before the climax. Golden Gate and Shadow are no different and we are taken on a roller coaster ride of money laundering, kidnapping, prostitution, people smuggling and snuff movies all told at the sort of non-stop pace that we have become used to from Largo Winch books. Yet despite the frantic pace the story does takes long enough to play out to allow Winch to be arrested and imprisoned (as the cover of the second book reveals) as well as finding himself literally up to his neck in trouble in the Nevada desert.
Philippe Francq's artwork rides the same roller coaster with 1930s style car chases (as part of the TV series), modern day motorbike chases, helicopter chases and even horseback riders chasing a train and he covers it all with his usual accuracy and eye for a pretty lady.
Largo Winch books are always great entertainment and there is almost a danger when reviewing them of getting complacent - I expect them to be a great read and they always are but how can the next story top the last? Yet, having said that, Golden Gate and Shadow continue the series trend of cracking Bond-like adventure and leave me hankering for the next pair to be published.
There are more details of the English language Largo Winch books at the Cinebook website.
There are more details about the Largo Winch series of books as well as the films at the official Largo Winchwebsite (in English).
Largo Winch is the Eagle Award nominated series that follows the life, loves and tribulations of one of the richest men in the world. Written by Lady S, Thorgal and XIII'sJean Van Hammeand illustrated by Philippe Francq, the series has reached 16 albums in French of which 10 have now been translated by Cinebook into English.
Largo is the adopted son of the billionaire owner of the W organisation which he inherited on his father's death. In Paris Largo meets up with Charity, an old girlfriend from his previous life, who he cannot persuade to return to New York with him. Instead she goes to Venice to meet her former lover Domenica who has just had a run in with Italian terrorists attempting to escape the police after assassinating a local banker. When the terrorists return and kidnap Charity, Largo and Domenica team up to attempt to retrieve her which leads them to the Masked Ball of the Doge of Venice, a man that Largo has already been warned about.
The character began in a series of text novels by Van Hamme in the 1970s which then became a series of graphic novels beginning with L'Héritier in 1990. It is a popular series in the French speaking world with both a live action television series based on the character and, more recently, a film which is due for UK DVD release in August.
Each Largo Winch story is split over two French language albums which Cinebook have always paired into double thickness English language books, so their decision to standardise all their publications as one French album to one English book perhaps affects Largo Winch more than the rest of their ongoing titles. See Venice... was originally published by Dupuis as Voir Venise... in 1998 while ...And Die was published as ...Et Mourir in 1999 and, while it has a one page recap, you cannot really read and make sense of ...And Die without having read See Venice... first.
That said the double length page count allows Van Hamme space to develop his characters and plots in the 92 pages that each story provides. As for the title character, it may be easiest to think of Largo Winch as a rich James Bond whose wealth allows him to operate outside of any government control but whose sense of morality keeps any excesses in check. In these books we see him fly between Paris, New York and Venice, dealing with terrorist kidnapping, a former girlfriend who is less than enamoured with his wealth and, while it doesn't appear that way in the first book, a considerable amount of corporate intrigue.
Personally I find that the books can be a little far fetched at times, with Largo's Bond-like ability to be surrounded by beautiful women somewhat trying, which perhaps is why I prefer the same writer's Lady S. That said the Largo Winch books are never disappointing with Francq's artwork always impressive and accessible. His women are indeed beautiful and his ability to draw detailed backgrounds is shown off well in these two books, with impressive views of Parisian and Venetian architecture and landscapes as the story progresses in addition to the more usual American skyscrapers.
Jean Van Hamme is a master when it comes to writing contemporary thrillers and the pairing of See Venice... And Die retains the reader's interest in both his ongoing and new characters while showing off his twisty but fast paced plotting to good effect.
There are more details of the English language Largo Winch books at the Cinebook website.
There are more details about the Largo Winch series at the official website (in English).
Successful Belgian bande dessinée series Largo Winch has been made into a live action film. Its writer and creator Jean Van Hamme was on hand at the Institut Francais in South Kensington in London to answer questions after a screening of the film. Joel Meadows reports...
Largo Winch, a co-production between France and Belgium, is in English with selected French and Croatian subtitles and captures the flavour of the graphic novel pretty effortlessly.
Largo is the adopted son of business magnate Nerio Winch who is incapacitated and so his multimillion dollar business is up for grabs from all comers. A playboy, Largo travels the world rescuing women in distress and generally living it up in a pulp adventure cut from the same cloth as something like The Shadow, with a dash of Bruce Wayne and James Bond thrown in for good measure.
Director Jerome Salle makes good use of the European settings in the film and Tomer Sisley as the eponymous hero is decent value. While the plot is a little convoluted at times, it rewards the viewer’s concentration and you are left with a satisfying romp of a film.
Despite the fact that it is predominantly in English, Largo Winch manages to preserve that very European feel that makes the graphic novels such a joy to consume.
The Q&A afterwards shed quite a lot of light on the adaptation process, with Van Hamme coming across as a passionate and intelligent man. Even though the film only received a week’s theatrical release, at the Institut Francais, it is coming to DVD at the end of July from Optimum Releasing, and a sequel is already being made, so the name Largo Winch is one that the English-speaking world will no doubt be becoming more familiar with over the next few years.
• Joel Meadows is the editor-in-chief of TRIPWIRE, Britain’s only features-driven comics and media magazine as well as having written about comics and genre for many of the world’s best-known publications including Time Magazine, The Times, Variety, Empire and many more.
Largo escaped from that prison with the help
of a Chinese triad arms smuggler, Tan Ming T'Sien, whose triad later helped rescue Largo's good friend Simon Ovronnaz from a
Burma prison. But that help came with a price and the triad are now calling in that favour as they want an ancient religious document, the Tao Te Ching, the book of the Way and the Virtue, that is owned by the man who runs the Chinese aircraft business that Largo is dealing with.
Pictures from the screening by and © Joel Meadows 
