In Review: Dan Dare - Spacefleet Operations Manual

by Rod Barzilay; Illustrated by Graham Bleathman
Publisher: Haynes
Out: Now

The Book: Dan Dare is easily the most famous British comic hero. His adventures appeared in the original Eagle comic during the 1950s and 1960s, but he also featured briefly in 2000AD before returning in the re-launched Eagle of the 1980s.

This innovative Haynes Manual takes a detailed look inside the spaceships, space stations and various other craft that played such a huge part in bringing the excitement of space travel to the stories.

Beautifully illustrated with cutaway artwork by Graham Bleathman, and supported by fabulous contemporary comic-strip art, this is the ultimate technical guide to the spaceships of Dan Dare and a wonderful addition to every comic fan's bookshelf.


The Review: Rod Barzilay and Graham Bleathman have brought back the world of the original Dan Dare with a vengeance in this fun collection, delivering not just some great cutaways of the strip's well-loved vehicles and craft, but also making a coherent whole of the original Dare mythos, placing it in its own universe - no easy task given the character's long history. (The modern versions of Dare are not included in this Manual, consigned, perhaps, to other parallel universes).

While I'm sure there are Dare enthusiasts out there who will nitpick details of the chronology Barzilay has crafted (I have no idea if any of it is "wrong"), for me, the author has delivered a wonderful guide to a fictional universe, accompanied by some terrific cutaways from Graham Bleathman.

While some of the cutaways and art have been previously published (in Spaceship Away) there's plenty that is new to savour, and unlike some Dare-related books, its official status means there's no shortage of art from the comic strip itself included.

Back in its day, Eagle regularly published many amazing cutaways of real world ships, planes and other vehicles: it's wonderful to see the most memorable creation of Frank Hampson and his talented team put under a similar microscope in this Haynes Manual. The subject is treated with respect, but in a way that will rekindle an excitement and enthusiasm for the original in fans - and, hopefully, stir the imaginations of those new to the mythos.

There have been some who have commented on the format of the book: all the cutaways are printed across double page spreads and there has been some griping at the loss of some detail as a result. But to do as others have suggested - utilising gatefolds and landscape formats - would simply have made this marvellous title overly expensive, a barrier to bringing the world of Dan Dare to a new audience.

This is a glorious title, recreating the world of Dan Dare with aplomb. Worth tracking down - before the Mekon buys every copy for his spies!

Detail:

• A personal introduction by the Controller of Space Fleet, Dan Dare.
• A history of spaceflight, propulsion systems and our first steps to the Moon and Mars.
• Fully detailed and comprehensively annotated cutaway drawings of the principal ISF spaceships, space stations and installations, along with many of the alien craft that Space Fleet has encountered to date, by renowned cutaway artist Graham Bleathman.
• Profiles of ISF personnel, and the aliens they have faced over the years.
• Space Fleet history: a guide to ISF’s missions and Dan Dare’s adventures.

Based on the classic Dan Dare comic strip that appeared in Eagle magazine during the 1950s and 1960s, this Haynes Manual is fully authorised by the Dan Dare Corporation Limited.

• Buy the Dan Dare: Spacefleet Operations Manual from amazon.co.uk

•  Buy the Dan Dare: Spacefleet Operations Manual from Forbidden Planet

• More Dan Dare books from Forbidden Planet

• Read Jeremy Briggs interview about the book with Rod Barzilay

• Read Jeremy Briggs interview about the book with Graham Bleathman 

• Daily Mail feature, 18th May 2013: Looks like your electrosphere primary accelerator's gone, mate

• Haynes Dan Dare Page

In Review: Largo Winch - 3 Eyes Of The Guardians Of The Tao/The Way And The Virtue

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).

In Review: Peter Pan by by Régis Loisel

by Régis Loisel
Out: Now (UK and Europe only)
Publisher: Soaring Penguin

The Book: Before he became Peter Pan, before his arrival to Neverland, he was a boy fighting for survival. Born into the suburbs of harsh, Dickensian London, to an alcoholic mother who leaves him in an almost-orphan state, Peter’s only retreat from reality is the fantastical stories given to him by a friendly neighbour — allowing him to escape temporarily from the darkness of the adult world.

Told in language as strong as his mother’s brandy, Peter’s story is no less intoxicating. While nearly devoid of comfort and compassion, Peter’s world becomes rich in magic. Lost fairies, pirates and sirens form a cast both shocking and strangely familiar — this is J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan story for an adult audience.

Outside of Peter Pan - which he spent years working on - French creator Régis Loisel is best known for his work on the best-selling series The Quest of the Time-Bird (La Quete de l’Oiseay du Temps) and has also worked with Disney on various animated films such as Mulan and Atlantis.

The Review: For the first time this six-volume bande dessinée series - which has sold over one million copies in French and has been adapted into a film by Nicholas Duval - has been translated into English and collected in one hardcover, omnibus graphic novel. Through emotive and engaging artwork, Loisel offers a unique take on a well-known tale, a prequel to the original story that offers up a grim and dark world; the type of childhood where staying a child is not an option.

Let's be absolutely clear - this version of Peter Pan is not one you leave lying around for young fans of Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys. Its language, art and storyline offer a complex, multi-layered and very adult take on the Peter Pan mythos, with some twists throughout that might leave you scratching your head but hopefully, in a good way. (I don't want to spoil the surprizes, so I won't be mentioning some aspects of the plot in this review).

The story starts and ends for some characters on the grim, dangerous streets of Victorian London - streets where Peter, estranged from his family, hated by his broken mother, is freed when he encounters the fairy he comes to call Tinkerbell.

Over the course of 300 plus pages we learn how Peter gets to Neverland, his first meeting with Captain Hook, the origin of the Lost Boys - and how the deadly (and we mean deadly) Croc got his Tick. Along the way, we're treated to a sumptuous, beautifully realized and quite haunting story: the artwork alone will delight.

Facing battles with Indians, Pirates, a dangerous storm, encounters with drunken and violent men and women, Peter Pan slowly develops into the character we know from JM Barrie's story - although Loisel prefers to focus on the darker aspects of the tale, and, as mentioned, there are some aspects that will challenge the 'reality' of Peter's tale and suggest, perhaps, a more sinister one to events in this prequel story.

This take will not be to everyone's taste and at times, I suspect the 14 year gestation project of the French version took its toll on some of the plotting of the story - at times, I got the impression that the final twists developed as the story unfolded, rather than being the original plan for the story. But the artwork is truly stunning and despite my reservations about the plot, the story fully deserves this new, English edition.

John Anderson at Soaring Penguin made an inspired choice when he decided to chase the rights for this incredible bande dessine: its English publication is welcome and long overdue. While again stressing this is a tale for adults, I recommend it to our readers.

• Soaring Penguin Press will be debuting Peter Pan with special guest Régis Loisel, the creator of this brilliant series, at BD and Comics Passion in London: www.bdandcomicspassion.co.uk

• Soaring Penguin Press: www.soaringpenguinpress.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SoaringPenguin.Press

Peter Pan by Régis Loisel
Translated by Nicolas Rossert, with Paul Rafferty, Nora Goldberg & Cheryl Anderson
ISBN 9781908030078
Cover Price: £29.99
Format: 336 pages, full colour, hardcover
Rights: UK & European English Print Rights only
Available through Turnaround UK and Diamond Comics UK (Order code: MAY132444)

French Links
• Peter Pan Micro Site (with character outlines, sketch books and more): http://peterpan.ventsdouest.com
• An interview with Loisel: www.bdparadisio.com/intervw/loisel/loisel.htm
• Trailer for the film by Nicholas Duval (official web site: www.peter-movie-2012.com)




• On adapting the story for film: item from France Télévisions Poitou-Charentes

In Review: Antares - Episode 3

Brazilian artist and writer Leo (Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira) continues his Worlds of Aldebaran saga with Antares Episode 3, the (presumably) middle part of the third series of his incredibly alien tales of 22nd century interplanetary settlers and the beasts and plants they find on the worlds that they settle.

While the main expedition to Antares 5 sets up a base camp, a second shuttle has crashed. The rescue party finds the survivors but loses its aircraft in the process and so the few survivors of both craft are now attempting to return to the base camp location - a journey of many months that they are ill prepared for.

Kim Keller, her daughter Lynn, lover Mark Sorenson, and friend Mai Lan, are all part of this disparate group of survivors who have little food or room in the tracked truck that must be their home. As they skirt the huge forests of the continent that they are trapped on, they must try to avoid the more dangerous of the alien beasts they encounter.

Antares is the third in Leo's Worlds Of Aldebaran sagas, the previous two of which, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, were serialised over five French albums each. Antares is currently up to Episode 4 in French (due to be published in English in August 2013) and so I would assume that this story will also be five albums long making this the middle point of the story.

Episode 3 is very much a character piece in which we discover more about the group of survivors as they struggle to cope with the planet, the beasts that inhabit it, and the rest of their group as the vehicle slowly makes it way back to a base camp that isn't that keen on finding them. As ever Leo's imagination for alien flora and fauna is the highlight of each individual book and, despite being the 13th album of this overall series, this book is no exception with trees bearing transparent eggs and fast moving crustaceans that appear from nowhere.

I enjoyed this one, as I have enjoyed all Leo's previous books, but I'm also very aware that his sagas are often more than the sum of their parts. Individual books in the series can seem flat as apparently unrelated sequences build toward the bigger story and it can often be the fifth and final book in which everything falls into place and earlier encounters make sense.

With Antares each book to date has ended on a puzzling cliffhanger, none of which have so far been explained, and Antares - Episode 3 is no different. It makes for a somewhat frustrating read when you know that the next book is not yet available however, once they are all available, I suspect that the same plot device will make them just as addictive, and as demanding of all being read in one sitting, as the two previous sets in the saga.

There are more details of Antares (and Aldebaran and Betelgeuse) on the Cinebook website.

Antares - Episode 4 is due to be published in August 2013.

The downthetubes review of Antares - Episode 1 is here and Episode 2 here.

There are more details of all Leo's books on The Worlds Of Aldebaran website (in French).

In Review: Thorgal - Ogotai's Crown

Thorgal - Ogotai's Crown picks up directly from where the previous book, Brand Of The Exiles, left off. However this Thorgal title is very different to the more traditional Viking tale of exile and slavery of the preceding book as writer Jean Van Hamme and artist Gzegorz Rosinki give readers a major dose of time-travelling science fiction.

After Thorgal lost his memory, the treacherous Kriss of Valnor convinced him that he was a merciless pirate called Shaigan as well as her husband. Shaigan and his men have been roaming the seas terrorising all travellers, including Thorgal's own people, the Vikings, ever since. When one Viking survived to tell his tale, Thorgal's true wife, Aaricia, was branded an exile and with his two children Jolan and Wolf Cub, set out to find him. When Aaricia was recognised by Kriss, Kriss had her and Wolf Cub imprisoned and taken to Shaigan's castle as slaves. Meanwhile the young Jolan buys a boat and with two friends sets out to rescue his mother and sister.

Losing his boat and friends to a storm, Jolan is washed up on an island with a man who seems to know rather too much about him - a man who turns out to be from the far future and who uses a sword-like device to time travel. He displays his ability by retrieving the lost crown of Ogotai. a device that increases Jolan's own psychokinetic abilities giving him a fighting chance to free both his mother and sister from Shaigan's castle and also to free Thorgal from Kriss' influence.

As with the previous Thorgal time travel story, The Master of The Mountains, the plot gets very complex very quickly as time lines are crossed and and an older Jolan is recruited to help his younger self. However at the core of the story, and its strength, is Jolan's single-minded determination to rescue his family from the injustice foisted upon them in the previous book.

It is worth pointing out that for all the stylistic differences between this and the previous Thorgal book, they are two halves of the same story and you really need to have read The Brand Of The Exiles to appreciate fully what is going on in this book. It may not be as brutal as the 'one story = two books' of Van Hamme's modern day series Largo Winch, but like the Largo books it gives him plenty of time to set up his situations and secondary characters which is always to the benefit of the story.

As the second part of the story begun in The Brand Of The Exiles, Thorgal - Ogotai's Crown was not how I was expecting the story to continue yet, as ever, Jean Van Hamme weaves a masterful story with more than enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing its outcome right through to its conclusion.

• There are more details of the English language Thorgal books at the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the French language Thorgal albums at the official Thorgal website (in French).

In Review: Thorgal - Brand Of The Exiles

Cinebook may have completed Jean Van Hamme's XIII series of books but they still have others from the bandes dessinee master and one of them is the Viking fantasy series Thorgal. Illustrated by artist Gzegorz Rosinski, The Brand Of The Exiles takes readers back to some characters the series hasn't dealt with for a while, Thorgal's wife Aaricia and their children Jolan and Wolfcub.

In their village the women, children and old men wait for their men to return home from a raiding expedition with food and treasure but instead a lone survivor of the ships appears. He tells the story of their ships being attacked by a pirate known as Shaigan The Merciless who killed or enslaved all but him, a pirate that he recognised as the missing Thorgal.

Because of this the women of the village turn on Aaricia demanding blood money for their dead menfolk. She is tried under Viking law and literally branded an exile, the brand on her cheek meaning that she must forever be shunned by all. Taking her children, Aaricia has no choice but to leave and make the dangerous trek to the coast in an attempt to find Thorgal and understand what has happened.

It has been some four books since we last saw Thorgal with Aaricia when she gave birth to Wolfcub and, in that time, while we have been following Thorgal's adventures, his family have been getting on with life, so it is good to have Van Hamme return to these characters. Indeed it is also good to see one of his books written from the underdog's perspective and, with her very visible branding, her young children, winter weather, and little rations, Aaricia is most definitely the underdog here.

As we discover more about the situation when the ever treacherous Kriss Of Valnor appears, it is Thorgal's son Jolan who comes to the fore and quickly becomes the hero of the piece. As his mother is captured and he is faced with the choice of watching her and Wolfcub sail off into slavery or attempt to free the Viking slaves to help him, he shows his resourcefulness.

Rosinski's rich artwork shows off the Viking village and its population before the story moves on to the family's trek through the forest and mountains, before he his given the chance of a night-time battle between the slaves and their jailers. As ever Rosinski's artwork reminds me of John Ridgway's colour work and it never disappoints.

While Thorgal himself appears in only a single panel of The Brand Of The Exiles, this should not put potential readers off as this is a book that shows off Jean Van Hamme's ability to write just as well for his secondary cast of characters in this series as he can for its hero.

• There are more details of the English language Thorgal books at the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the French language Thorgal albums at the official Thorgal website (in French).

In Review: Ron Turner's "Space Ace"

Out: Now
Publisher: John Lawrence
Originally published by Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd

The Magazine: Four vintage stories from the pages of Lone Star Magazine and Lone Star Annual featuring Space Ace.

"Space Ace was a labour of love for Ron," says John Lawrence, who was Ron's agent, in his introduction to this collection. "It attracted possibly the lowest page rate ever compared to much of his other work, but it was free from any editorial constraints ... His enjoyment shines through in the four stories I've selected... These stories originally appeared in black and white, but now, for this publication, Ron's marvellous artwork has been enhanced by the superb colouring of John Ridgway, an artist absolutely in tune with Ron's own colouring sensibilities."

The Review: While Ron Turner wasn't the first artist to work on Space Ace, a character first appearing in Lone Star but who later gained his own title in the 1950s, published by Atlas, he made the character his own during his time on the strip.

(The strip was taken over by the Selecciones Ilustradas agency on his departure - Turner was to go on to drawing many covers for magazines such as Practical Mechanics, drawing The Daleks for TV Century 21 and more, right up until his death in 1998).

The central character was Ace Hart, sheriff of Tarrant County Texas, who is struck by a meteorite and gains immunity to radioactivity. He becomes Space Ace, Space Squadron Commander, captaining the new spaceship LS1, aided by a crew that at one point included an inventor and a monkey but, by the time of the strips in this volume, is partnered only by Ace's NCO, Sergeant Bill Crag.

Produced by John Lawrence, this first volume of Space Ace tales presents four complete stories from Lone Star Magazine and Lone Star Annual. (Together with Philip Harbottle John created Nick Hazard: Interstellar Agent in the 1990s, which was illustrated by Ron in black and white originally, but more recently was also re-coloured and re-formatted, also by John Ridgway).

The Space Ace strips were drawn in the early 1950s - a period in which Turner also drew Rick Random - Space Detective for Fleetway's Super Detective Library. While Rick Random is perhaps better known - and there too, Turner gave that strip a distinctive look - Space Ace has a similar quality, enhanced further in this edition by John Ridgway's tremedous work on colouring the stories.

While the stories themselves are positively quaint in comparison with today's SF – humanoid Martians rubbing shoulders with other bipedal aliens as well as humans – there's no disputing Turner's flair for designing stylish future vehicles and buildings.

This 40-page collection may have a high cover price but it's a price on a par with similar short-run comic magazines such as Spaceship Away and definitely something fans of Ron's work should be tracking down.

John Lawrence has produced this first Space Ace as a non-profit publication, purely for the love of Ron Turner’s work. The number of copies sold that will determine whether or not there are future volumes published.

• Space Ace: Volume 1 costs £8.95 including p&p. To order, send John a cheque (John Lawrence, 39 Carterweys, Dunstable, Bedfordhire LU5 4RB) or pay via PayPal (larryjohn.21 AT tiscali.co.uk).

• Ron Turner Cover Collection: www.flickr.com/photos/gems_from_the_collection/sets/72157600000117243/

In Review: Illustrated British Classics Volume 1

Publisher: Book Palace Books
Out: Now

The Book: The Illustrated British Classics: King Solomon's Mines + Allan Quatermain + Montezuma's Daughter features the talents of Jesus Blasco, Mike Hubbard, Cecil Doughty, Bill Baker and John Millar Watt (cover).

The strips are reproduced from the original artboards and have never looked better. Based on the novels by H Rider Haggard, the 'father of the lost-world genre'.

The Review: The first in a series (Volume 2 will feature Arthur Conan Doyle stories), this first collection of three British comic strips (albeit only one of the three in a 'modern' balloon and panel format) and it's a welcome collection. The stories were first published in Look and Learn and Ranger.

The adaptation of books to comic form has a long history offering both good and bad results. Many of a certain generation may have been introduced to the work of Dickens and his like through America's Classics Illustrated. (And of course, Classics Illustrated is still published  in the UK).

More recently, Classical Comics has delivered some stunning adaptations of Shakespeare, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and more, while SelfMadeHero have published Manga Shakespeare and other equally eye-catching and page-turning comic versions of famous novels - Rob Davis' quite brilliant version of Don Quixote and Ian Culbard's stunning At the Mountain of Madness, to name but two.

These publishers are continuing a long tradition of literary adaptations by British publishers and while the three strips in this first Illustrated British Classics may be slower paced, the artwork throughout is of an incredible quality, well deserving of this 'treasury' collection, created, luckily, from original art boards (luckily, because the treatment of art boards by most British publishers a most woeful tale of poor storage and ill-considered disposal to skips or through wholesale sell off).

King Solomon's Mines is one of the most famous of all adventure novels: Allan Quatermain helps find his friend's brother who is presumed lost deep in the unexplored interior of Africa whilst looking for the legendary mines. The artwork is some of Bill Baker's best, although he did not draw the full story: the equally talented C. L. Doughty took over part-way through, whose own style complements Baker's initial pages well. Speaking from my own recent experience, finding an artist whose style is a near match to another can be a fraught task.

In Allan Quatermain, in mourning for his only son, Quatermain persuades his friends (jncluding Zulu chief Umslopogas) to accompany him into Maasai territory. Travelling by canoe, they find themselves in Zu-Vendis, a country ruled by an isolated warlike white race… The artwork is in line and wash by Mike Hubbard, who delivers some fantastic figure work and battle scenes. It's perhaps a rare story for its time, too, given the heroic status afforded the Zulu character.

(One should bear in mind that both Haggard's original tales and these adaptations were published at a time when general attitudes were very different).

Montezuma's Daughter is the most modern story, superbly illustrated by Jesus Blasco, perhaps best known for his work on Steel Claw and Invasion for 2000AD. In the story,  Thomas Wingfield sets off to avenge the murder of his mother. After a brush with the Spanish Inquisition, shipwreck and slavery, his search leads him to the shores of Mexico where he is captured by the Aztecs. He is taken to the emperor who will decide his fate. Then the Spaniards arrive…

For me, this final strip is the best of the three, but it's a close call. Blasco's work and is attention to detail is simply breath-taking.

Illustrated British Classics accompanied by an excellent overview of Rider Haggard's body of work by Steve Holland.

• This edition of Illustrated British Classics from Book Palace Books, ISBN: 9781907081163 is priced at £15.99

• Buy it from Book Palace Books here

In Review: Laptop Guy Issue 2

Created by artist Sha Nasir, Laptop Guy is one of the comics titles published by Glasgow's Black Hearted Press.

The first issue was something of an oddity - a US-size, anthology humour comic that played with the somewhat nonsensical idea of a guy with a laptop for a head in a mixture of situations - dating, TV presenting, going to a convention, appearing in Star Trek. It could so easily have been a one-off title consisting of a menagerie of ideas and writers that, like any anthology, had some ideas that worked and some that didn't.

However the one that perhaps worked the best was 'You Can't Sell Out If Nobody's Buying' written by Jack Lothian in which artist Sha's comic alter-ego tries to explain that he is using the character of Laptop Guy as a comment on society.

So it is good to see that the second issue of the title takes that basic concept and expands it into a comic length story. With Sha Nasir on the majority of the art and Jack Lothian providing the script, the reader is taken through several days in the life of Sha's alter-ego as he frustratedly tries to illustrate the comic character Marine X (a brutal version of 2000AD's Rogue Trooper and illustrated here by David Braysher). However on arriving at his drawing board one morning he discovers the artwork for Laptop Legion, a Marvel/DC take on Laptop Guy, artwork that he didn't draw but which draws him into a downward spiral that could lead towards madness.

This was not what I was expecting from the title, given the humorous first issue, as it takes it away from the single page gags into something much deeper and more interesting. It's not biographical, or at least I hope for Sha's sake that it isn't, but it does give the impression of a dark take on the 'slice of life' comics that are popular within small press circles.

For those people walking around a mart or convention looking for something out of the ordinary then Laptop Guy 2 is well worth picking up.

There are more details of Laptop Guy on the Black Hearted Press website and it can be purchased from their webstore.

Black Hearted Press will be at the Dundee Comics Expo (Table 18, College Hall) on Saturday 30 March where Sha Nasir will be leading a Comics Workshop at 11:30am (outside the Baxter Suite).

Sha Nasir recently illustrated the factual graphic novel Telling Scotland's Story written by James Crawford for the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF) which features a series of stories including the Storegga Tsunami, the Frankenstein Mummies of South Uist, and the 15th century Buannachan Mercenaries. The book was featured on the BBC News site and is available to download free from the Society Of Antiquities Of Scotland website.

XIII x 18 = A Full Set

With our review of The Last Round, downthetubes has now reviewed all 18 of the XIII books published by Cinebook over the last two and a half years - from the beginning of the saga of the amnesiac agent in The Day Of The Black Sun, through two presidential assassinations in America plus an attempted military coup in between them, a Central American revolution and the search for century old Mexican gold coins, right up to its finale.

Written by Jean Van Hamme and translated by Jerome Saincantin, with art by William Vance plus a guest spot by Jean Giraud/Moebius, the series has been, along with Lucky Luke, one of the two mainstays of Cinebook since 2010 with a new XIII title appearing every two months as the company showed its dedication to a series which had never been translated beyond book three before.

Due to the non-graphic novel nature of the 13th French book, The Investigation, and it basically retelling the story up to that point, it was not included in the main Cinebook series although the company have plans to publish it in English later in the year.

Cinebook publisher Olivier Cadic and XIII translator Jerome Saincantin spoke to us about the series in 2011 in XIII Questions About XIII while each of the 18 book reviews are listed below.

1 - The Day Of The Black Sun

2 - Where The Indian Walks

3 - All The Tears Of Hell

4 - SPADS

5 - Full Red

6 - The Jason Fly Case

7 - The Night Of August Third

8 - Thirteen To One

9 - For Maria

10 - El Cascador

11 - Three Silver Watches

12 - The Trial

13 - Top Secret

14 - Release The Hounds!

15 - Operation Montecristo

16 - Maximillian's Gold

17 - The Irish Version

18 - The Last Round


• Details of each of the XIII books are available on the Cinebook website along with the first two pages of artwork for each.

• Details of the original French XIII books, and the spin-off series XIII Mysteries, are available of the official XIII website (in French).

• View all the XIII books on amazon.co.uk

In Review: Hit-Girl

By Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
Publisher: Titan Books
Out: Now
Warning: Contains swearing and extreme violence. Not for younger readers

The Book: Hit-Girl spins off into her own blood-soaked saga in this prelude to the Kick-Ass 2 film. Mindy McCready tries to settle into life as a regular school-girl, but wants nothing more to be dispensing hot justice to the scum of New York City.

Her mother thinks she's doing her homework, but in reality she's taken Kick-Ass on as her sidekick and training him up to punch, shoot and stab ... just like Daddy would have wanted. And in return, Kick-Ass is helping her learn to survive middle school - without spilling anyone's blood.

But when Kick-Ass gets benched, leaving Mindy to take on the mafia solo, even Hit-Girl may be in over her head. Meanwhile, Red Mist pursues his goal of becoming a super-villain ... and faces a final test of his own. Hit-Girl is the first act of the upcoming Kick-Ass 2 movie!

The Review: Regular Mark Millar and Kick-Ass readers will know exactly what to expect from this stor and, sure enough, there's more than enough blood, high octane action, mass murder and shock moments to satisfy them. But what about the rest of us?

Despite a by now surely trademarked torture scene in its opening episode, this gritty, no holds-barred adventure, set in a world where real people turn superhero, only to find the role is often far from the comic books that inspired them, opens quite slowly. Millar focuses instead on character building: fleshing out the background to the psychotic 12-year-old vigilante, a girl trained for combat by an equally deranged, now dead father. A parent who clearly took to this ask with all the commitment to his work of one of those equally deranged parents that determines to turn their child into a tennis star or beauty pageant queen from the age of three.

This characterization, accompanied by moments of black humour, are what ensure the Kick-Ass series delivers an underlying if truly warped snapshot of humanity. "Nasty, brutish and short" pretty much sums Mindy up, as she fails in everything except her mission to kill bad guys, in the most brutal and revolting ways possible (feeding body parts through a lawn mower and decapitation being just two in this volume, in case you're wondering). Her inter personal skills are lousy: although her means to deal with a school bully - dropping her from a roof into a dumpster - will probably appeal to many. (Drugging her parents to cover her activities as Hit-Girl, probably less so).

Alongside Mindy's gruesome trail of death and vengeance, other threads continue to build in the background. The world's first super villain, Chris Genovese, is seeking vengeance for the death of his gangster father and heads to Asia to train with martial arts experts. He's ripped off, royally - but there's a twist in the tail by the end of the book which will cost Kick-Ass dear as the story continues.

The Kick-Ass series is brutal, bloody and steeped in violence. On the surface, it would appear to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, appealing directly to a desensitised mass audience for whom the shock value of grisly death and violence has become some twisted norm. While Millar's storytelling pushes and exploits those demands, while perhaps overplaying the superhero and popular culture references, Hit-Girl proves a riveting, if horrifying, read because of his characterization, complemented by John Romita Jr.'s distinctive art.

Let me be clear: Hit-Girl is not a title for younger readers. This is nasty, violent fare, referencing and dependent to some degree on the audience's awareness and familiarity with not just superhero but gangster fiction. But it merges both genres to great, if unpleasant effect.

In Review: Dead Space - Liberation

By Ian Edginton and Christopher Shy
Publisher: Titan Books
Out: Now
Warning: Contains violence and swearing - not for younger readers

The Book: Following the events of the video game Dead Space 2, we follow Earthgov Sergeant John Carver whose wife and son are attacked by fanatics trying to liberate the Marker site where she works. Racing to solve the clues his wife left behind, Carver teams up with Ellie Langford, survivor of an earlier Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl, and EarthGov Captain Robert Norton. Together they unlock deep secrets about the Markers in an epic adventure that will determine the fate of mankind.

The Review: For the benefit of non-gamers, Dead Space is a series of best-selling games centering on a carefully crafted mythos in which humanity is being influenced - and distorted - by alien 'Markers', whose 'technology' includes the gruesome ability to turn the dead into slavering, murderous zombies. In short, it's Aliens meets Dawn of the Dead, but the makers of the games have, I'm told, taken this concept and made it an impressive saga.

In the games, the chief protagonist, systems engineer Isaac Clarke, takes on not just space zombies but the might of a dangerous religion that has protected and actively sought out the deadly 'Markers', a cult that has backers in high places.

Promotional art for Deep Space: Liberation - an example of all the right things about the art on this book...

This third graphic movel - Titan have also re-released the first two - is something of a curate's egg as it blends an ongoing comic story with the overall narrative. In this prequel to the latest game, Ian Edginton offers more character building to the story's main characters and, as the race to find Marker secrets hots up, there are some great insights into the battle hardened, emotionally-scarred Carver and his companions.

Christopher Shy also delivers an atmospheric take on the tale, with some genuinely impressive scenes, particularly those involving spacecraft and aforementioned 'space zombies'. The panels where the parasitic, visceral zombies spring from some dark corner are truly haunting and visually impressive.

There's a fantastic sequence, also, in which Carver returns from a foray against his enemy bathed in what I assume is the blood of his foe, that emphasizes how far he's prepared to go to defeat them.

-- but the lettering style proves a major stumbling block in terms of best presentation of the tale

Sadly, though, these impressive elements of the art are let down by the static, wooden, possibly photo referenced figure work in scenes where characters discuss tactics or helpfully move the plot forwards. There's little or no animation to the faces - although perhaps this is a deliberate choice, suggesting the human characters are as dead as their enemy. But the results are rather disappointing and stilted.

What really lets down the whole story, for me, is the lettering. In dispensing with traditional word balloons in favour of a chalk marker, which lack much emphasis and sensible placement at times, this jars with the storytelling rather than enhances it. Good lettering should be 'invisible'; that is, it should complement and not distract from the art and story. This design choice fails achieve that objectives and consequently mars the delivery of this Dead Space tale.

A good game tie in? Yes. A good comic? In part yes, in terms of script and some of the art - but largely, could be better.

In Review: XIII - The Last Round

It has been a long haul, 18 books over almost two and a half years, but Cinebook have stuck with Jean Van Hamme and William Vance's amnesiac tattooed agent XIII and that has lead us all to the final book of the series, The Last Round.

XIII and his friends are still in their safe house in Mexico as they decide what must be done to clear their names in the USA where, unknown to them, two books have been published about the "XIII Mystery" which has made what has been happening public. However before they have a chance to return to the States, their safe house is discovered and attacked.

Pretty much everyone who has survived the last 17 books is in here which is as it should be as the series comes to a conclusion. The last couple of books have tied up the plotlines of the Mexican gold and just exactly who XIII is, although XIII doesn't yet know, which leaves Van Hamme with the problem of clearing the name of a supposed presidential assassin and IRA terrorist in front of a fascinated media which have just read two expose books about the XIII events.

One of these fictional books, The XIII Investigation, is the original 13th French book that Cinebook skipped in their series as it was neither a regular graphic novel nor vital to the ongoing plot due to it retelling what had happened in the series up to that point, while the other fictional book, The Kelly Brian Story, appropriately released by Moebius Publishing, is the equivalent of the XIII series' prequel title The Irish Version illustrated by Jean Giraud.

It is hard to say much about the plot of The Last Round without giving too much away, but Jean Van Hamme gives us an instalment that is both action packed and full of political intrigue as the different factions try to manoeuvre themselves to safety.

As always William Vance's artwork is more than up to the job and, while it was nice to see Jean Giraud's take on the characters' younger selves in the previous title, it is good to see Vance back with his planes, explosions and close-ups of pretty women - and he even manages to squeeze another fight in the rain in there as well.

I first read XIII via CatCom's Code XIII American publication of The Day of The Black Sun, the first book in the series, but I never expected that any English language publisher would ever have the dedication to get deep into the series let alone finish it. It is to Cinebook's credit that they did and, given that it has been such a backbone of their publishing schedule over the last few years, it will be interesting to see what they choose to replace it with.

XIII - The Last Round is a more than satisfying conclusion to a series that has never disappointed over a total of 18 books. If you haven't indulged yet, what are you waiting for?

• There are more details of the English language XIII books on Cinebook's website.

• There are more details of the original French XIII albums on the official XIII website (in French).

• You can read an interview with Cinebook publisher Olivier Cadic and XIII translator Jerome Saincantin on downthetubes at XIII Questions About XIII. 

In Review: Yoko Tsuno: The Curious Trio

Roger Leloup's Yoko Tsuno returns in the seventh of her books to be translated into English by Cinebook, The Curious Trio, which was actually the first of the Yoko Tsuno albums published in France back in 1972.

Vic Van Steen and Pol Paris are a TV director and cameraman who, on leaving the station late at night, spot some unusual goings-on at a nearby building site where they follow a female cat-burglar into a laboratory. There they discover the 'burglar' is actually testing the lab's security and is a Japanese engineer called Yoko Tsuno who is between jobs.

Yoko accepts the job of a sound engineer from the two men and a few days later is part of a camera team shooting a documentary in an underground lake. However as they dive in the lake attempting to discover where the water exits to, they are drawn into a current and end up in an underground cavern populated by an advanced race of blue skinned humanoids.

It is not unusual for Cinebook to publish their various series out of order when the stories in those series are not sequential. This origin story that introduces Yoko to Vic and Pol was first published as Le Trio De L'Etrange in the weekly Spirou comic between May and September 1971 and then combined into an album in 1972 - a further 25 have since been published. So here readers see writer and artist Roger Leloup's early versions of the now familiar characters and they are not that different - Yoko is resourceful, Vic is unshakable and Pol is the comic foil.

What is different is the artwork and here Leloup uses a more humorous style of art than his later ligne claire, indeed Cinebook felt the need to for a brief introduction to point out that this is the earliest book due, presumably, to the difference in art style to what they have published from the series before. While I prefer the later artwork, the art style and the science-fiction nature of this story mean that this bears quite a resemblance to the early Valerian and Laureline books that Cinebook are also currently publishing.

Like all Yoko Tsuno titles this is aimed at a slightly younger audience, late primary school girls would probably be the bulls-eye, with a relatively straight-forward tale of futuristic underground railways, sleeping aliens and a dangerous main computer. While it is not too taxing for an adult reader, it always remains imaginative and fun.

Yoko Tsuno - The Curious Trio maintains the series style of good, adventurous story telling for a younger audience and, in a market lacking in good graphic novels for younger girls, it comes especially recommended for daughters and nieces.

• There are more details of all the English language Yoko Tsuno books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the original French books on the official Yoko Tsuno website (in French).

In Review: XIII - The Irish Version

As XIII the series nears its end, writer Jean Van Hamme takes time out to explain the beginning of the saga, and just exactly who XIII the man is, in The Irish Version and forsakes his regular artist for Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius.

Two college students go up a mountain, but only one comes down, and that one goes on to become the amnesiac killer known as XIII. But which of the two men was it - the American political science freshman Jason Fly or the Irish history freshman Kelly Brian? Except that neither was really who they said they are - Jason Fly is actually Jason McLane, the son of a left-wing journalist, and Kelly Brian is actually Seamus O'Neil, an IRA killer.

Long time readers of XIII already knew part of this story as it marked the chronological beginning of the "Who is XIII?" arc but here writer Jean Van Hamme gives readers the full story which acts as a stand-alone prequel to the entire XIII series. It begins with Seamus O'Neil telling Jason Fly/McLane his life story, not the cover story he had as a college student but the real one of growing up in Belfast during the Troubles and his desire to join the IRA told, obviously , from an anti-British republican perspective. This is then tied into the CIA's attempt to compromise O'Neil's cover using the rather familiar secretary of Dick Giordino. It all works very well indeed given that long time readers know what happens at the end, the big reveal here is who it happens to.

After Van Hamme's mis-step in Top Secret when he gave his IRA terrorist the unlikely name of Angus, and had him bizarrely fighting for the independence of Ulster, his research on the Troubles for this book is much better with real locations such as Crumlin Road Gaol and Court House coming to the fore. While the anti-car bomb measures around the Court House at the time would have prevented anyone jumping from its roof, as shown on the cover, actually reaching the roof of a lorry parked beside it, it makes for an intriguing, and very XIII-like, way for O'Neil to elude British justice.

Giraud's artwork works well as a replacement for series regular artist William Vance, albeit it feels a little too darkly coloured at times due, in part, to the skulking around that the characters do. While it does have that inevitable feel to British eyes of a non-British artist drawing the United Kingdom, I'm sure that Vance's version would have been similar. However I suspect that Vance's knowledge of military hardware would have prevented the wrong armoured cars appearing and the rifles used by both sides being less generic than what actually appear. That said, while Cinebook have not made a fuss about the artist, any new English language book by Giraud/Moebius is to be appreciated at the moment.

XIII - The Irish Version is an impressive stand-alone prequel to the entire XIII series which works just as well for Jean Giraud/Moebius fans, who would not want to have to read the rest of the series to make sense of what is going on, as it does for regular XIII readers as a resolution to the question of just exactly who XIII is.

• There are more details of the English language XIII books on Cinebook's website.

• There are more details of the original French XIII albums on the official XIII website (in French).

• You can read an interview with Cinebook publisher Olivier Cadic and XIII translator Jerome Saincantin on downthetubes at XIII Questions About XIII.