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: 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).

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: 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: 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. 

In Review: XIII - Maximilian's Gold

XIII reaches book 16, Maximilian's Gold, in which writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance give readers the conclusion to the golden treasure hunt arc that began in book 11, Three Silver Watches.

XIII, Jones and co have left Costa Verde and are hiding out in Mexico from the US authorities as NSA chief Dick Giordino continues his attempts to capture XIII. In the relative safety of a friendly hotel, they start to unravel the mystery of the numbers and letters that are engraved on the three watches which gives them what they believe may be the location of the 100,000 gold coins that could be worth up to $15 million. However the suggestion that there may be something worth hunting for in the Mexican mountains attracts some unwanted attention.

With only two other books to go after this one in the XIII series, Jean Van Hamme is starting to complete some of the story arcs that he has so carefully plotted in the previous books. Maximilian's Gold is the conclusion to the buried treasure arc as XIII, Jones and others finally decipher the information on the watches and set out to find the gold that Sean Mulligan, who may or may not be XIII's father, has been searching for much of years. However as that goes on, the political machinations in Washington over the presidential assassination and power play that began way back in the first book in the series also begin to reach a climax as NSA chief Giordino shows that he is prepared to do anything to preserve his power base.

The last quarter of this book gives artist William Vance scope to provide some quite unearthly vistas and locations in the mountains where the gold may be hidden to go along with his much more familiar planes, boats and rainfall at the beginning of the book.

We are so close to the end of the XIII saga and Maximilian's Gold gives me hope that after all the plotting and side tracks that Van Hamme and Vance have taken readers down over the last 750+ pages of this ongoing story that the final conclusion will be just as interesting as the trip we have  taken to get there.

• 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: Blake and Mortimer - Curse Of The 30 Pieces Of Silver

EP Jacobs’ adventurers, Professor Phillip Mortimer and British agent Captain Francis Blake, return in a pair of modern books, The Curse of the 30 Pieces of Silver Parts 1 and 2, written by Jean Van Hamme, illustrated by three different artists, and originally published in France in 2009 and 2010.

When Colonel Olrik is broken out of an American jail, Captain Blake is called in by the American police to advise them while Professor Mortimer is invited to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens to consult on a ancient coin that may be one of the 30 pieces of silver given to Judas to betray Jesus to the Romans. Meanwhile Olrik discovers that his 'benefactor' is a former Nazi officer who believes that if he can find Judas' 30 pieces of silver he will command the wrath of God and so be able to dominate the world. With Blake after Olrik, Olrik after Mortimer, and Mortimer after the coins, the scene is set for a cat and mouse treasure hunt around the Greek islands.

Jacob’ original Blake and Mortimer books can be long winded due to the author’s often lengthy speech bubbles full of exposition making even the single book stories feel very long due to the amount of reading involved. The modern ones can still give the originals a run for their denarii when it comes to long bubbles but with The Curse of the 30 Pieces of Silver, Jean Van Hamme, who we are more used to writing the modern day tales XIII and Largo Winch, gives us a double length story in the same way that he always uses two Largo Winch books to tell one long story.

Here we have a 1950s tale that owes much to Raiders of the Lost Ark as our heroes battle Nazis who are out to recover a Biblical relic, though in this case the 30 denarii of 'blood money' given to Judas Iscariot rather than the Ark of the Covenant. This provides us with a military tinged thriller set in and around the Greek islands as the RAF, MI6 and FBI agents are called on to help out the Greek police. As with the majority of the modern Blake and Mortimer books, female characters are heavily featured, with Greek archaeologist Eleni Philippides teaming up with Mortimer while Blake is accompanied by FBI agent Jessie Wingo previously seen in Van Hamme's The Strange Encounter.

The first of these two books had something of a tortured gestation as the original artist, René Sterne, died suddenly while working on it and it was finished by his girlfriend, Chantal De Spiegeleer, eventually being published in 2009, three years after his passing. The second book was then illustrated by Aubin Frechon and published a year later. Since the art style of the B&M books has always be ligne claire, this mixture of artists is not as jarring as it would initially sound. Indeed there is little to find fault with in the internal artwork and it is the cover of Part 1 of the story which is perhaps the greatest let down.

The cover, which shows Mortimer bobbing in the ocean as a ship sails away from him, is part of the storyline but really has to take the biscuit for the dullest Blake and Mortimer cover ever with far too much sky and sea which, since it is set at night, is all virtually the same colour. It’s certainly not Cinebook’s fault, they use the original French covers, but it does make me wonder what the original French editor was thinking when he gave this image the nod to be used on the front of the book. It is interesting to note that the French PC game based on this B&M tale uses a much modified, and visually more striking, version of the cover.

While it does feel like a post-war take on Raiders of the Lost Ark, the two parts of Blake and Mortimer – The Curse Of The 30 Pieces Of Silver are an enjoyable romp around the Greek Islands with more than enough twists and turns to keep our heroes perplexed and the reader entertained.

• There are more details of the English language Blake and Mortimer books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details on the series in general on the official Blake and Mortimer website (in French). 

In Review: XIII - Operation Montecristo

With Operation Montecristo, XIII the series reaches the 15th book of the 18 that Cinebook are releasing and, after a run of solo adventures, writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance get XIII the man back with his friends - albeit not in the most friendly of  situations.

XIII, Major Jones, Colonel Amos, General Carrington, and the Marquis De Preseau and his wife, and ex-SPAD, Betty, have all taken refuge in the central American country of Costa Verde, the president of which is XIII’s former wife Maria De Los Santos. Under pressure from the US, Maria is forced to imprison XIII while the US authorities attempt to extradite him for his “terrorist” activities.

However Maria organises a jail break to free XIII and his friends and get them to a safe house in the country. Whilst there Sean Mullway, who claims to be XIII's father, tells them that he believes he knows the location of the third silver watch which in turn will reveal the location of the gold that XIII’s ancestors hid. He believes that the watch is in the old church of Montecristo which, unfortunately, is now 150 feet below the surface of a dammed reservoir.

After the solo adventures that XIII had in the last two books, which harked back to the style of the earliest books in the series, it is good to get the gang back together again and off on a what is basically a secretive treasure hunt with little of the political machinations that the series has had recently. While it does feel that writer Jean Van Hamme has added a story that doesn’t really need to be there, there must have been a quicker way for XIII to find that third silver watch, this story is great fun with American agents trying to locate XIII and his friends, while they try to find the final clue to the treasure haul.

With XIII and Jones diving into the reservoir in scuba gear, artist William Vance gives readers five consecutive pages of silent underwater panels as our heroes search for the submerged church and then battle the US agents sent to kill them. With only two speech bubbles with question marks in them, those five pages tell the story of the search and battle remarkably well and are a highlight of the book.

As we get close to the conclusion to the XIII series, Operation Montecristo provides a breather to the heavier aspects of the on-going saga and gives readers a fun, action adventure.

• 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. 

From all at downthetubes, we wish Cinebook’s sales table maestro Aldous Russell a speedy recovery and hope to see him fit and well at comics events later in the year.

In Review: XIII - Release The Hounds

Just when we thought that we were on top of who exactly XIII is, writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance are out to turn more than just the two cover characters on their heads in the latest book in Cinebook's XIII saga, Release The Hounds!

XIII remains on the run from America's National Security Agency, the NSA, and their double agent Jessica Martin who also works for the illegal Executor organisation run by former KGB agent Irina Svetlanova. Jessica and three other NSA agents are prepared at all costs to stop XIII escaping from them while they are all on a sleeper train in California but, inevitably, he does with a reluctant Jessica in tow and after the high speed action in and around the train, they make their escape in, of all things, a hot air balloon. But can XIII trust a double agent who has tried so hard to kill him?

After the James Bond shenanigans in the second half of the previous book, Top Secret, the train fight on a stormy night at the start of this one comes as no surprise, especially since fights in the rain are such a XIII staple. Yet the aerial escape in a hot air balloon proves to be a short lived quiet interlude as XIII continues to make his way back to his friends in San Miguel via Mexico with a multitude of killers after him.

Jean Van Hamme almost pushes a little too far with this one. Partially I think it is to give William Vance a chance to show off his accurate aviation art as a selection of aircraft (Bell 206L Long Ranger, OV-10 Bronco, and a Cessna Skymaster) put in appearances as XIII heads south from the USA towards his friends in the Caribbean in a succession of different modes of transport. Partially it is also because Jessica's apparent change of heart over killing XIII early on seems a little too convenient to the plot and, given that we already know that she is a double agent, why does XIII suddenly trust her quite so much? However by the end we have an explanation and another twist that leaves XIII in yet another awkward position.

As for that awkward position on the cover, with both XIII and Jessica upside down with Jessica's hair seeming unaffected by gravity, you'll understand it when you read the book.

XIII - Release The Hounds! is not the best chapter in the ongoing XIII story but it remains an enjoyably entertaining one and, with Cinebook skipping the retrospective book in the series, The Investigation, that means there are now only four books to go before the conclusion of the saga when, hopefully, all will be explained. 

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: XIII - Top Secret

Who is XIII? Writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance's renegade agent/spy has reached a section of his story arc when we as readers know a lot more about him and the machinations that were going on in the previous books in the series. With major characters from previous stories now dead, XIII is in no less trouble than before in the XIIIth book in the XIII series, Top Secret. 

The events of the previous book, The Trial, despite being in the national interest have left XIII himself on trial for crimes against the United States. The secret trial, orchestrated by the American intelligence community, was never going to be easy for XIII amd while he escapes custody, he ends up captured by former KGB agent Irina Svetlanova who, having lost an eye to XIII in a previous encounter, is in no mood to given him any help.

With the Mongoose dead, writer Jean Van Hamme has to introduce another lurking dangerous killer into the series and so brings the glamorous Irina, who readers have seen in previous books, to the fore. He also adds another American traitor to the cast in the form of NSA agent Jessica Martin and cannot resist the temptation for lesbian undertones in the relationship between the two women. Van Hamme gives this section of the story a James Bond feel, unusual for a XIII plot, by placing Irina in charge of a secret international killing organisation headquartered in a ocean-going ship. Yet for all the Bond styling for the middle of the book the last section of the book gets us back to what the series is best at with XIII on the run for his life.

The Irina/Jessica section of the story gives artist William Vance a brief chance to inject some of the female glamour that would be more common in Van Hamme's Largo Winch books into XIII before getting back to the grim and gritty action that he has shown that he is so good in previous books in the series.

There is a minor trip up in the story when a Provisional IRA terrorist with the unlikely name of Angus Brannigan is brought to the trial to give evidence against XIII and who claims to be  fighting for "the independence of Ulster". That is not something either side has fought for in Ireland over the last century, indeed the concept would be an anathema to the Provisional IRA, and it does seem to suggest that Van Hamme did not have a strong understanding of the conflict was about when he wrote this in 2000. This misstep does concern me a little as to what the penultimate book in the XIII series, The Irish Version, will be like when it is published in English in 2013 but, given that the original French versions were published five years apart, I can hope that Van Hamme would have researched the situation better for that later book.

XIII - Top Secret is a book of two halves with the trial section somewhat exposition heavy and action light while the second half heads off into James Bond/Largo Winch action territory against a somewhat over-the-top villain, yet it remains a XIII book and XIII books are always worth reading.

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. 

Cinebook will be selling their range of books including XIII at the Comica Comiket Fall 2012 Independent Comics Fair in the City Of London on Saturday 10 November 2012 and at Thought Bubble's Royal Armouries Hall in Leeds on the weekend of 17-18 November 2012.

Largo Winch Artist Philippe Francq Signing In London

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.

There are more details of the signing at The French Bookshop's website.

Largo Winch reviews on downthetubes:

• See Venice... / ...And Die
• Golden Gate / Shadow
• The Price Of Money / The Law Of The Dollar

In Review: Largo Winch - The Price Of Money/The Law Of The Dollar

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).

 

In Review: XIII - The Trial

Who is XIII?

For the last two years of these reviews I have listed the current pseudonyms that XIII the man was using over the course of the many books in this series - a list that has grown rather long. However over the last couple of books writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance have revealed the man and his family background so that readers have a much better understanding of who he is and what had happened to him prior to his amnesia shown in the first book. XIII - The Trial, while furthering the main thrust of the XIII story, uses much of that back story as the basis for its plot.

The XIII saga began with the assassination of American President William Sheridan and, over the course of many books, readers discovered that his brother, Wally, was the instigator of that assassination and much of what happened afterwards which finally resulted in Wally becoming the new president of the United States Of America. At his retirement ceremony, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Ben Carrington, whose daughter Kim had been used as part of the greater assassination plot, uses his access to President Sheridan to kidnap him and hold him hostage in a disused underground missile silo. With the American public unaware of the kidnapping, and the US military unable to recapture the silo without the President being killed, Carrington advises that XIII and Major Jones must recapture the dangerous assassin known as The Mongoose and bring him to the silo. With both the President and the Mongoose under his control, General Carrington intends to put President Sheridan on trial for his crimes and broadcast the proceedings for all the nation to see.

The Trial sounds like the rather credulity-stretching plots of one of those cheap TV movies that clutter the evening schedules of the less well known satellite channels. However Van Hamme is such a good writer that he can take the so-so bare bones of the story and weave his XIII tapestry around it resulting in a book that harks back to much of what has gone before and reuses many characters familiar to long time readers, yet remains surprisingly accessible to new readers due to the format of the trial explaining the whole assassination plot. The book is effectively split into three - the initial kidnapping and official reaction to it, XIII and Jones capturing The Mongoose, and finally the trial in the underground silo, and with this episodic timeline it is perhaps not as satisfying as other titles in the series but the ending does establish the characters for the books to come.

Vance's artwork, while dealing with a lot of closed rooms and talking heads during the first and last sections of the story, gets to shine during the middle as XIII and Jones plot to retrieve The Mongoose from his luxurious Caribbean hideaway. While the Pentagon building, Caribbean island and underground silo locales leave Vance little chance for his rapidly-becoming-a-XIII-trademark of a fight in the rain, Jones adds yet another accurately illustrated military jet to the rather long list of Air Force and Marine Corps aircraft that this US Army officer is able to fly (and in this case crash... and walk away from... in the rain).

Twelve books into the series, and with such an overarching plotline, it can be difficult to recommend a jumping on point for this series other than the first book. XIII - The Trial, despite being deeply embedded within the main XIII assassination storyline, is just such a jumping on point as it provides a taster of what has gone before along with the promise of more intrigue to come.

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: XIII - Three Silver Watches

Who is XIII?

Book 1 - Mr Alan Smith?
Books 2 and 3 - Captain Steve Rowland?
Book 4 - Corporal Ross Tanner?
Book 5 - Agent Jason Fly?
Books 6 and 7 - Writer John Fleming?
Book 8 - Agent Jason McLane?
Book 9 - Arms Dealer Karl Meredith?
Book 10 - Revolutionary El Cascador?

XIII - Three Silver Watches is about to tell us, at least from the point of view of his family history.

The revolution in Costa Verde is over and XIII's wife from his previous life, Maria, is now in charge just in time to discover that the former regime's military commander is planning to attack the capital with the remainder of his troops to take back the country. Maria orders XIII on a suicidal mission to blow-up the one bridge that the tanks must cross over to reach the city. American Sean Mullway goes with him and, as they travel towards the bridge, he uses the time to give XIII the history of his family beginning with three Irish friends who travelled to America to find their fortunes, married three sisters and who were each given a silver watch by their father-in-law.

From the first XIII book showed us all the covers and English titles for the 19 books in the XIII series, this particular book has always intrigued me - just what does the F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighter launching a Sparrow air-to-air missile on its cover have to do with three silver watches? The quick answer is - nothing.

This is a book of two parts, the part in which XIII must lead a small team to destroy a bridge in Costa Verde that will prevent a column of tanks starting a counter revolution, and the part in which Mullway tells XIII a century's worth of his family history. It is the family history that is the most intriguing since the bridge plot, which by the characters' own admission sounds like a war film, only serves to give XIII something to do as he listens to the story of his family.

Indeed this sequence in the book is not helped by the F-15 being the wrong aircraft for the job firing a Sidewinder missile that, as well as being a different missile to the one on the cover, couldn't do what the plot needs it to do. It is the first time in 11 books that writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance have made such a major mis-step in the technical hardware of the series. Vance's art is as accurate a depiction as reader's have come to expect of him which, ironically, is why I can say that the missile is the wrong type. While Van Hamme throws in a couple of the staples of the XIII series - Major Jones being able to fly any aircraft that is put in front of her as well as proving once again to be seemingly indestructible, Vance is able to add one of his own as yet another fight takes place in the rain.

However for all the talk of bridges, planes and missiles, it is the family history that is the main part of this book and a major data dump as regards XIII the man. It begins slowly, almost like the "begats" at the beginning of the New Testament, where we were are inundated with names, marriages and children in a way that does make the reader wonder just where it is heading and if it might actually get interesting at some point. Then all of a sudden the three brothers are fighting for first one side and then the other in the Mexican civil war and the surnames of characters from earlier XIII books are introduced and previously unknown family relationships between them and XIII are established.

XIII the strip first appeared in issue 2408 of the weekly Spirou comic magazine in 1984, while this book was first published in French over ten years later. Had Van Hamme worked out the family relationships of his on-going plot at the beginning or, as the titles in the series sold well enough that the series was bound to continue, did he construct at least part of this family history around what he had already written? In all probability is the latter of these and this book, for all its flaws, just goes to show how skillful a writer he can be.

XIII - Three Silver Watches brings a new depth to the XIII saga and, with its new links to many of the series already established characters, presumably sets the scene for encounters yet to come. While the XIII books always leave me wanting to read the next in the series, this one leaves me wanting to reread it again to make sure that I have all this background information straight in my mind before I move on to those next books.

• 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: XIII - El Cascador

Who is XIII?

Book 1 - Mr Alan Smith?
Books 2 and 3 - Captain Steve Rowland?
Book 4 - Corporal Ross Tanner?
Book 5 - Agent Jason Fly?
Books 6 and 7 - Writer John Fleming?
Book 8 - Agent Jason McLane?
Book 9 - Arms Dealer Karl Meredith?

While holidaying with Jones at the Caribbean home of Marquis Armand Preseau and Sgt Betty Barnowsky, XIII has become involved with the Santosista rebels on the neighbouring island of Costa Verde. XIII goes to Costa Verde undercover to help free the imprisoned Maria, sister of Angel, the rebel leader, and just possibly the amnesiac XIII's wife, but he is exposed and imprisoned. Jones, Betty and the Marquis lead a rebel attack on the prison island to free XIII at the same time that the main rebel force launches their revolution but, in the aftermath, XIII is accused by Angel of conspiracy with the old regime and put on trial by a revolutionary court.

Leading on immediately from the previous book, For Maria, El Cascador is very much a book of two halves - the fast moving and vicious battle for the prison island leading to the freedom of both XIII and Maria, which is then followed by the considerably slower and more static explanation of the complex motives of the various characters and XIII's trial in a kangaroo court. Indeed after the action of the beginning of this book, the talking heads of the trial could have been something of a let down, yet writer Jean Van Hamme maintains the intrigue as the various factions in the story vie for supremacy in the courtroom. It gives away nothing of the Costa Verde story to say that the book ends on a revelation that sets the scene for a continuation of the "Who is XIII?" story arc into the next book.

William Vance's artwork as always remains impressive, maintaining his usual level of accuracy from the Bo 105 helicopter to the mixture of Kalashnikovs and Armalites that the rebels use in their struggle against the regime. As we have seen from earlier stories, Vance seems to enjoy drawing his characters in rainstorms and this book is no exception with the prison attack taking place in a deluge while the subsequent hunt through the swamp also throws up a lot more water into the panels.

Prior to Cinebook releasing their first XIII book, I had read some of Van Hamme and Vance's stories via the American ComCat Code XIII publication but that, along with the Marvel US version, never got past the third French album yet, with El Cascador, Cinebook have reached the halfway point in the original 19 album series. When they published the first XIII book less than two years ago, they included English language versions of the covers of all 19 books in the series in colour on the inside covers of the book. They have continued to print these in all their subsequent XIII books and with El Cascador they have now completed all the books on the inside front cover and the next book, Three Silver Watches, will take them onto the inside back cover. Cinebook's dedication to XIII is impressive and they have taken English language readers far beyond where any other publishing house got to with the series. As a reviewer I am wary of getting used to how good each XIII title is as it arrives every other month. Having read the first book in the series the writing and art left me wanting to read the second and now, another nine books later, I'm still just as eager to read the next book.

El Cascador, in conjunction with the previous XIII book For Maria, provide something of a jumping on point for new readers. These two books could be read and followed without the need to have read the preceding eight XIII titles whilst giving the reader a revelation that will draw them back for the next instalment.

• 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: Lady S - Game Of Fools

Suzan Fitzroy, writer Jean Van Hamme and artist Philippe Aymond's reluctant spy who is codenamed Lady S, returns in Game Of Fools, the third of her books from Cinebook, originally published in the French weekly comic Spirou before being complied into the album Jeu De Dupes in 2007.

Suzan and her adoptive father James Fitzroy, who is an American ambassador without portfolio, are on holiday at his villa in France. Unknown to them the CIA have discovered that Suzan is linked to the mysterious European counter-terrorist organisation that, despite sharing the same objectives, the CIA has little information on and is therefore suspicious of. In an attempt to learn more about this organisation, the CIA stage her father's abduction by 'Islamic terrorists' in an attempt to force Suzan's handlers into the open.

Believing her father kidnapped, Suzan's handler Orion, who has been injured by the CIA, puts her on the run to apparent safety at a retirement home in a remote mountain pass. With the CIA's operatives hot on her trail, Suzan soon discovers that there is more to this retirement home than meets the eye while the French police begin to suspect that the on-the-run daughter of the kidnapped American ambassador is somehow involved with a notorious cat-burglar.

In Game Of Fools Suzan/Shania/Lady S is presented with a situation that has the potential to expose not just her spy life but also her criminal past as she attempts to find the retirement home where Orion told her to find a new contact known as Betelgeuse. Otherwise the book as a relatively linear plot of a girl on the run being passed from handler to handler until she reaches her destination followed by the big reveal of what that destination is hiding.

Whether this revelation is actually good for the series is debatable although there are another three French albums waiting to be translated. One of the strengths of the previous Lady S books was the fact that writer Jean Van Hamme left Orion's organisation mysterious and that Suzan did not really work for them as much as being blackmailed into doing things by them. Indeed the organisation is not even named in the previous books yet in this one its name appears in the very first panel of the book. So in Game Of Fools everything is revealed and Suzan asked to formally work for the uninspiringly acronymed CATRIG (Centre For Anti-Terrorism Research and Intelligence Gathering) which somehow sounds so much more interesting in the original French book as CIRCAT (Centralised Information And Research Centre Against Terrorism).

Philippe Aymond's artwork remains as grounded in reality as in the previous books. His clear artwork, as ever, portrays Suzan as a pretty young woman living in a real world of trains, truckers and motorcyclists rather than portraying her with a distorted body image and capable of physical feats that would put any real person in hospital.

Game Of Fools is not the strongest of the Lady S books translated to date but it does open up the series so that the reader has a better idea of the background to Orion and the organisation that he, and by default Suzan, works for. Whether this is a good thing for the plotlines of future books remains to be seen.

• There are more details of the Lady S books on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the French Lady S books on the Dupuis website (in English).

• There are more Lady S images, as well as preparatory sketches for the books, on Philippe Aymond's blog at http://philippeaymond.blogspot.com