In Review: The Scorpion - The Treasure Of The Templars

The tales of the 18th century adventurer known as The Scorpion, written by Stephen Desberg and illustrated by Enrico Marini, continue in The Treasure Of The Templars.

Pope Trebaldi has sent his warrior monks, lead by the mysterious Rochnan, after The Scorpion and his allies who are searching for the true cross of Saint Peter in the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Chased by both Rochnan and the Ottoman police force, the Scorpion finally arrives at the old Templar fortress of Saint-Serrac where the cross, if it still exists, is believed to be hidden.

The Scorpion is one of my favourite Cinebook series with Desberg's swash-buckling adventures being complemented with Marini's beautiful artwork. The Scorpion himself is a cross between 2000AD's Nikolai Dante and Indiana Jones, but the series strength is not just in the complicated relationships between the Scorpion and his allies but also in the characters of their enemies, former Cardinal, now Pope, Trebaldi and the leader of his warrior monks, Rochnan.

Trebaldi is a Pope that is not to be crossed, after all he strangles a woman to death with his bare hands within the first three pages of this book, and he leads a mafia style organisation descended from the Roman Empire that has ruled the Catholic church since it inception. Rochnan on the other hand has been somewhat of a shadowy figure in the series with his face covered with a golden mask with hints that this is due to him having been tortured. The whole truth is literally unmasked and the true horror of the torture that turned a Christian knight into a villainous warrior monk is finally explained towards the end of the book.

With its complex storyline by Desberg and excellent artwork by Marini, The Treasure Of The Templars brings the six album/four book Cross of Saint Peter arc of The Scorpion stories to a satisfying conclusion. There are currently three more albums in the French series so hopefully it won't be much longer before Cinebook translate them into English as well.


There are more details of The Scorpion books on the Cinebook website.

There are more details of the French Scorpion books on the Le Scorpion website (in French).

In Review: The Scorpion - The Holy Valley

Adventurer, womaniser, swordsman, thief, swindler, arrogantly self assured of his own survival, with blood ties to one of the most important people on the planet, and a woman whom he both hates and desires, and who appears to reciprocate those same feelings back at him - The Scorpion could quite easily be 2000AD's Nikolai Dante. Yet there is one big difference - instead of being set in the 27th century, The Scorpion is set in the 18th century.

In the Vatican the old Pope has been murdered and Cardinal Trebaldi, the Prefect for the Propagation of the Faith, which he propagates with warrior monks, has been elected in his place after showing the other Cardinals in the Conclave what he claims to be the true Cross of Saint Peter, the first Pope. Yet there is more to the deceit since the new Pope does not believe in God and is considerably more Roman than Catholic. The Scorpion is on a quest to find the true Cross of St Peter, a quest that takes him, his sidekick, a former Hussar, and the beautifully dangerous Egyptian woman, Mejai, to Cappadocia pursued by the leader of Tebaldi's warrior monks Rochnan and the new Pope's own treasure hunter, Ansea Latal.

The Holy Valley is reminiscent of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade with the Scorpion treasure hunting up an enclosed valley for a religious artifact hotly pursued by those who want the treasure for more nefarious means, yet to suggest the connection almost does the book an injustice. Written by Stephen Desberg, The Scorpion is a major departure from his other Cinebook series, IR$, which is built around international banking intrigue. The Scorpion is an historical swash buckling adventure with a dizzying array of double and triple crosses as the story progresses. Indeed the only person that the Scorpion seems to be able to trust thus far is Hussar.

The artist for the series is Enrico Marini who doesn't feature in any other Cinebook series which is a pity because of all the adventure artists that Cinebook publish Marini is my favourite. From his well defined and charismatic characters to his scene setting panels with their unusual angles, from the dynamism of his fight scenes to his use of colour, The Scorpion books look sumptuous whether the action is set inside the opulence of the Vatican or in an arid sun baked valley. I would certainly like to see Cinebook publish other series with Marini's art.

So is there a drawback? Sort of because The Scorpion isn't a series, it is a serial. The Holy Valley is the third English language Scorpion book which translates La Vallee Sacree, the fifth French language album originally published in 2004. Now since the previous two Cinebook titles, The Devil's Mark and The Devil In The Vatican, were both double length books no albums have been missed but you shouldn't really miss out on them either otherwise you will have missed a big chunk of the story, despite the short textual update at the start of each book.

The Scorpion is great fun, a well written and beautifully illustrated series that deserves to be read from the beginning and you will appreciate The Holy Valley much more for doing so. If you like Nikolai Dante, you should try it.

There are more details of The Scorpion books on the Cinebook website.

There are more details of the French Scorpion books on the Le Scorpion website (in French).

The next Scorpion book, The Treasure Of The Templars, is due to be published by Cinebook in August 2010.

In Review: IR$ - The Corrupter

The Corrupter is the second and final part of the IR$ story begun in Silica, Inc. which was reviewed on downthetubes when it was published earlier in the year. That first book left the reader wondering about a red haired woman and, to a certain extent, just how the apparently divergent strands of the plot were ever going to get pulled together.

Larry B Max, taxman with a gun, continues his investigation of the activities of a company, Silicia, that apparently deals in assassination. Learning from the CIA that they have used the services of Silicia in the past, Larry has a run in with the mysterious red haired woman who points him in the direction of a new tax trail before apparently attempting to kill him.

In this second half of the story, originally published in French by Lombard in 2004, the reader is given a lot more information about the redheaded Silicia and Max's own relationship with a phone sex worker in what seems, at times, to be an overload of irrelevant information. The Corrupter does eventually pull all these strands together but it certainly takes its own sweet time about it. Just who is genuinely corrupt and who is being forced into corruption and why is left to virtually the final scene.

Writer Stephen Dresberg manages to cram a lot of strands into his plot between the Internal Revenue Service, the police, the CIA and the American Mob as well as local and national politicians and a foreign government. While at times it does seem like too much, everything does eventually tie together. Bernard Vrancken's art is clear and concise without being overly showy and often has to content with large speech balloons as the plot gets more convoluted.

Overall The Corrupter does not quite live up to the promise of Silicia, Inc. but it does provide a highly intelligent, calculating and coldblooded villain in the form of Silicia herself, a character that hopefully the series will return to in the future.

There are more details of the English language versions of IR$ on the Cinebook website.

More details of the original French IR$ publications are available (in French) on the Lombard website including details of the 12th album, Au Nom Du President, which is due for release at the end of the June.