zondag 1 september 2019

Second Thoughts - a Graphic Novel Review



I don't have it often, but sometimes after reading a comic or graphic short story, I think; what was it about?... After reading the album "Second Thoughts" I had that too. The feeling of not knowing what to make of it does not always mean that it is a bad comic or graphic novel. And to be honest, I should have known this feeling would come when I read the title; "Second thoughts."

The Story is about relationships. What is, what could have been, what has never been and what has never become. Not necessarily in that order. It is not my favorite subject, but writer and draftsman Niklas Asker begins his story in an interesting way. We are presented with a telephone conversation, but it is unclear who is conducting the conversation. Asker has made good use of the fact that, unlike in a movie, you cannot hear characters in a comic. He also makes good use of the fact that, unlike in a book, you can see the characters. But like most people who make comics, he uses the same technique as is used for film. By not revealing everything with images, it makes me curious as a reader.
Although at some point you know who the main characters are, he knows how to keep it interesting through combining two story lines.

Asker's realistic drawings work well in black and white. Black and white always reminds me of the work of Bernie Wrightson and Charles Burns. I have always had a weakness for artists who can use their blacks and whites so optimally that a perfect illustration is created. But a comparison would be inappropriate in this case because "Second Thoughts" is a completely different genre and you can hardly compete with these masters. But the Swedish Niklas Asker is still young and I don't think it's impossible that he could ever reach the level of Wrightson and Burns.

When I finished reading this graphic novel I doubt whether I will write a review about it. "Second thoughts" is a story without humor, but also without morality, without relationship tips or whatever tips. "Second Thoughts" is an album with... second thoughts. Well I can only say; a well thought-out title for a graphic novel that, despite the subject, still is a good read.

maandag 1 juli 2019

Manuel Montano - a Graphic Novel Review



“They offer a fortune for the person who finds something for them. What was it again? Oh yes, the source of the night! ”

You have one of those things, you want to do something and every time something else comes up. Private detective Manuel Montano now also has that. Montano, which has considerable rent arrears, can make good use of the promised capital. And as a detective, he is often on the road at night. So finding the source of the night should be a breeze for him, you would think. But every time an other case comes up. If he didn't lose the money he earned with cards, he would not need that fortune that could be made by finding the source of the night. Although he is intrigued by the night, he doesn’t get around to solve the mystery surrounding the source of the night.


"Manuel Montano" contains a large number of short stories. Montano has to investigate especially small things that make him end up in the strangest places and where he meets the strangest people. Although he seems to take on the image of Humphrey Bogart with his trench coat and Fedora, he certainly does not want to be a "troubled detective" like Philip Marlowe. I like the little investigations that seem unimportant that Montano is involved with. Although it is not a humorous album, funny things happen that make me smile. They are the things from the daily life of a private detective. All stories are also more about the life of Montano himself than about solving a mystery or even discovering things for which he was hired.


I think Fernando Luna has written fun stories. By the way, I wonder if Luna is his real name. Luna is Spanish for moon, could he be the source of the night? As far as I know he only wrote this graphic novel.
The drawings are from Miguelanxo Prado. He probably loves women because he draws them quite realistic. The men are a bit more caricatural. But for me, a comic or graphic novel doesn't always have to look realistic and polished.


As far as I know this is the only Manuel Montano album. As far as I am concerned I wouldn’t mind if there were more. I certainly enjoyed myself with “Manuel Montano".


zaterdag 1 juni 2019

Les Quatre Coins du Monde - a Graphic Novel Review


“… And this is how we live together with nomads from the Hoggar, French and natives, in this beautiful area and we fulfill our civilizing role on behalf of France! That, of course, is our version of history ... That of the victors, because the victors are the ones who write history, right? ”


With these words, Captain Barentin explains in 1913 what the French are doing in the Sahara. The somewhat cynical undertone gives a good indication of what kind of person Barentin is. He is the French Lawrence of Arabia. Just like Lawrence, Barentin feels a close connection with the Arabs and the Arabs, in their turn, have great respect for Barentin, just like they had for Lawrence.


From 1881, France had gradually acquired a large number of colonies in North Africa, the last of which was conquered in 1911 when part of what is now Morocco became French. Since the French had great difficulty in controlling the natives, it was decided to use the nomads to get a better grip on the population. Someone who enjoyed great respect from the local population came in handy of course.


The story begins in 1919, a year after the First World War ended, with the search for Captain Barentin and his men. Second Lieutenant Dupuy tells a new recruit the story of this remarkable captain of the French army. In this flash-back we also learn more about the life of the narrator and thus also about the relationship between the settlers and the Arabs and vice versa.


Hugues Labiano, who has both written the story and did the illustrations, has made sure that this story did not become a second Lawrence of Arabia. The mentality of Barentin and Lawrence is the same and the similarity ends there. The pace of the story is slow, but certainly not boring. Although I'm not a fan of it myself, I understand the reason why Labiano chose to use flashbacks in flashbacks. In the largest sandbox in the world, all you have to spend time is the stories you tell each other.
By showing both the struggle in the Sahara and the senseless massacre on the western front, we notice that the contrast between the two continents could not be greater at that time. The same war, two completely different circumstances.
A soldier on the western front remarks: "Our generals are reading their strategy textbooks ... and apparently they read faster than they understand what they are reading!" And the result is the same everywhere. But in Sahara, the strategy textbook still needs to be written, so the generals haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.


I think Labiano's realistic drawings are very beautiful. The characters have beautiful weathered heads. He is also very good in facial expressions, even when you see only the eyes. For example, one of the characters walks almost always with a covered face, but you can see his character and emotions from the eyes alone. I also want to mention the coloring of Jérôme Maffre. He gives the term "in the heat of battle" a whole new meaning. What you see in other war comics is that the intensity of the battle is shown in the bright red colored spattering blood that contrasts sharply with a dark or drab environment. Maffre chooses to give the blood a darker shade of red and shows the intensity of the fighting by making the colors that are always very prominent in the Sahara brighter. During the battle, the temperature in the Sahara rises considerably, both literally and figuratively.


Although I do not understand why this graphic novel is called "The Four Corners of the World", I think this is a wonderful graphic novel. It is not always a cheerful album, but you can also follow Barentin's line of thought: "Dreams make you live, reality kills you". Then let's dream, I would say.

woensdag 1 mei 2019

Harry Dickson - Le démon de Whitechapel - a Comic Review



"Now that we are relieved of that consequence of the rise of feminism, we can gather some information about that dear Professor Richardson ..."

In the story "Le démon de Whitechapel", the first issue of the Harry Dickson series, two scientists accidentally liberate a centuries-old demon. If this demon sows death and destruction in London's Whitechapel, it is up to private detective Harry Dickson to capture him. A difficult female journalist appears to be more useful than Dickson had initially thought. I forgive him for the remark quoted above, because most men in the early 1930s, in which this story is set, still had to get used to the idea that women could also do something different than the household and have children.


I am not very impressed with the story. It is entertaining, but that’s all that can be said about it. Although I think a good story is one of the most important elements in a comic, there are other reasons why I collect certain comics.
The era in which the story takes place, for example. I have always been fascinated by everything that has to do with the first 35 years of the last century. There is a good chance that I will buy a comic that is unknown to me if I see an old automobile, a double-decker plane, a lady with a Louise Brooks bob or a man with a Fedora when browsing through the comic. And since Olivier Roman's drawing is fine, I have nothing to complain about in that regard.


But there are other things that make this comic fun for me. The position of the woman was changing drastically during that time. During the First World War, women had proven that they were perfectly able to take over the work of men and many of them didn’t want to go back to the kitchen anymore. The first, and certainly not the least important, success of these feminists was the acquisition of voting rights for women. But although I take human rights and the democratic process very seriously, I did have to chuckle at Dickson's remark about those troublesome feminists. What would he have said if he knew that Britain would someday be ruled by a woman?
I also like the many references to both historical events and other detective fiction.
For example, reference is made to Jack the Ripper who murdered and maimed a number of prostitutes in London in 1888. One of those victims was Annie Chapman who was murdered in Whitechapel. The first victim of the demon from "The Demon of Whitechapel" is called Anna Chapman.
Reference is made to explorer Robert Falcon Scott who embarked on an expedition to the South Pole in 1910 and died there in 1912. He was very popular with people and after his death he became a hero. In 1948 the film "Scott of the Antarctic", with John Mills in the title role, was made about this expedition.


The title page says "Harry Dickson The American Sherlock Holmes" and this famous detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is also referred to several times. For example, Dickson lives on 221B Baker Street. The address where Sherlock Holmes also lived. Remarkably, Mrs. Hudson has never died or moved since the time of Sherlock Holmes because she is still the landlady of 221B Baker Street. Well it’s possible I suppose. If in 1887, when she first appeared in a Sherlock Holmes story, she was 30 years old and this Harry Dickson story is set in 1932, she would be 75 in this story. But it looks like she must have used a whole load of botox though.

There are more fun references in this album.


Although it is stated on the cover of this album that this is the first Harry Dickson story, it actually turns out to be story number 4. It is the first Harry Dickson comic that was published by the Talent publishing company. And to be more precise, this is the 180th Harry Dickson story. In 1907 the German publishing company Verlagshaus für Volksliteratur und Kunst started with the dime-novel series "Detektiv Sherlock Holmes und seine weltberühmten Abenteuer". Because the publishing company expected problems with copyrights, the series was later renamed "Harry Dickson of the American Sherlock Holmes". The name Harry Dickson comes from Harry Taxon, who replaced Watson in the German Sherlock Holmes, and the Australian detective Allan Dickson, a creation by Arnould Galopin.
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes' equivalent would appear in nearly 200 pulp magazines in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. In France, the series even became so popular that it could compete with that of Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupine.


In 1986, Dargaud started publishing adaptations of this pulp detective stories. And in 1992 publisher Soleil started a new Harry Dickson series with brand new stories. This is the reason why two different Harry Dickson comic series are released. Also, not all comics are translated into Dutch and therefore the numbering of the Dutch-language albums differs from that of the French ones. Yes it does not make the collecting of this series any easier. For those who still dare, a new Harry Dickson comic was published last year; "The gold of Malacca". Story 13 according to the catalog, but I dare not say this for sure anymore.

maandag 1 april 2019

Enemy Ace - a Comic Review


‘If any question why we died.
Tell them because our fathers lied.’

Kipling wrote this in 1915 when he heard that his son, who fought on the western front, was missing. In these two sentences Kipling captures the essence of the cause of not only the First World War, but of all wars. Each chapter in "Enemy Ace" starts with a quote about this terrible first world war.


When I first opened this album, I was so impressed with the illustrations that it just took my breath away. And 20 years after I first read ‘Enemy Ace’, the drawings still move me. George Pratt, who also wrote the story in addition to the illustrations, puts so much emotion into each drawing that it almost seems as if they were made by a soldier at the front in the heat of battle. The action splashes off the pages without the glorification of violence or any sensationalism being involved. They are almost no longer illustrations, but true paintings. I find it amassing that Pratt knows how to put so much spontaneity in the drawings and that they never get messy or unclear.


The story is about a journalist who interviews a German First World War veteran for a report on the very first fighter pilots. Slowly the journalist, who himself is a Vietnam veteran, discovers that basically every war is the same. Every war begins as Kipling described so beautifully and the result is the same every time, apart from the redistribution of land. We all know it, but it is always different and more though for the soldiers who have had to go through the horrors of war. Yet "Enemy Ace" does not have the cynicism of the graphic novels of Tardi, the French authority in the First World War area in comic and graphic novelland.

"Enemy Ace" is without a doubt the best American comic, or actually it is a graphic novel in comic format, that I have read so far.


vrijdag 1 maart 2019

Web of Mystery - a Comic Review


The first Pulp magazines were published in the late 1800s. These cheap magazines were printed on newspaper-like paper made from the cheapest wood pulp. It was reading for the common man and he had to be able to afford it. Publishers started publishing reading material, mostly Penny Dreadful's and Dime Novels, for the average working Joe in the 1830s. But the new pulp magazines focus more on lurid and sensational stories. Countless series were printed. About almost every subject there was a pulp magazine. You can compare it a bit with the countless exploitation films that were made in the 70s.


In the 1930s, when the pulp magazine reached its peak, about 150 different series were issued.
In this period the pulp comics also arose. Initially these were superhero comics such as Ōgon Bat (1931), in Japan, and Mandrake the Magician (1934), Superman (1938) and Captain Marvel (1939) in America. With these comics the Golden Age of Comic Books would begin.



In 1928 A.A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers started publishing pulp fiction magazines and books under the name Periodical House. In 1940 they started publishing comics under the name Ace Magazines, with 'Super-Mystery Comics'. In 1951 they started to publish horror comics in addition to superhero comics. And so in February 1951 the first issue of the Ace comic 'Web of Mystery' was published.



In this first issue we are treated to a mummy, roaming spirits, vampires and a very cruel hunchback who makes church bells in the black forest instead of hanging around in the Notre-Dame.



Although in 1951 the horror genre in the film was largely over its peak, there were still enough young people who were still interested in horror comics. I think the reason for this is that these boys and girls were too young to see the horror classics of, among others, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The television was already invented but I think we can assume that the TV was not yet a much sold product in 1951. So stories about mummies, vampires and ghosts might have been completely new to them.



What I have often noticed about this kind of pulp comics is that the stories are often surprisingly good. They are short and therefore usually have a simple plot. I think that often works best too. With films, do I have that same feeling and are comics not basically a sort of storyboard for a film that will never be made?
But the most brilliant story in this issue is 'Model for a Madman', which is about an artist who makes a very strange demand on his models. These are the only two pages in this comic that contain no illustrations. Normally I always skip these stories in comics, but in order to be able to write a good review of this comic I thought I should read it.
The story is very compact, extreme compact. There is no word too much and too little. The pace is insanely high, but not one moment I get confused or lose the thread. From this story you could easily make a graphic novel of 48 pages A4 size.



What I always find unfortunate about this kind of pulp comics (and not only the American, but also the Italian) is that most of the time the artists are unknown. They were employed by the publisher, so they all had to draw in the same style, and if you can not distinguish yourself, it does not matter who drew it. Some of those artists later became famous because they had their own series that became popular. Think of Wallace Wood and Milo Manara. And then it becomes worthwhile for many, including me, to figure out what they have done in the service of a studio. Fortunately, there are more people who are interested in this and have done the research as far as possible.



Like I said, all the stories in this comic are drawn in the same style, but if I look more closely, I like the drawing work of 'Ghost Ship of the Caribbean’ most. Often you see that the ladies are very nicely drawn and that the men look a bit rough. Someone once told me that that is probably because the artist makes the most beautiful drawings of the subjects he loves. Sounds logical, actually, but the weird thing is that in most pulp comic stories only one or at most two women play a part. The helpless damsel in distress and sometimes a witch or something. But let me look at it in a historical perspective; it was the 50s, the first feminist wave had yet to come. What I really want to say is that both the women and the men of Ken Rice, because it is almost certain that he made the drawings of 'Ghost Ship of the Caribbean', looks beautiful.


The Golden Age of Comic Books would last until 1953, when the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established to investigate the cause of juvenile crime. Soon it was concluded that this had to be the violent comics that young people read. In the research, even a few Ace stories, including 'Web of Mystery' number 19, were cited as an example. For the sake of convenience, the committee ignored the fact that the approach of Ace Comics was that crime should always be punished. In 1954 Wertham published 'Seduction of the Innocent'. This not only objected to the violence in comics, but comics also would encourage masturbation and homosexuality. Batman and Robin were apparently homophile because they lived together and Batman stood a bit too often with his legs spread wide. That he had his pants on and Robin’s hands never went near his crotch made no difference.



It became almost impossible for publishers to continue the horror comics they published and the last 'Web of Mystery' number, the 29th, was published in September 1955. Most publishers started to focus more on detective and science fiction comics. It was only from the mid-60s that the horror comic would slowly return.

vrijdag 1 februari 2019

Paquebot - a Graphic Novel Review


"You remind me more of a kind of Hercule Poirot than a purser, whose job is to let the ladies dance and watch over the welfare of the men ..."


When I open this album I feel like I am going back to 1912, the year that the unsinkable Titanic proved to be sinkable. But the ship, on which this story takes place, turns out not to be the Titanic and is not 1912 but the 1950s. On the Horizon, as the ship is called, there is a grab-bag of people. The ladies, who are introduced on the first pages, suggest that this story is about a meaningless tea-party. But although the pace of the story is not very high, this is by no means a boring graphical novel. The ladies talk about seemingly insignificant things that I feel are only necessary to give the characters more depth. But slowly a more complex story unfolds in which not only the Ladies of the Horizon, but also many other people on board do not appear to be who they say they are.


It sometimes happens that I collect comic books and graphic novels from a number of specific artists and later find out that many of those comics have been written by the same writer. In this case it is Pierre Christin, who wrote the story for 'Paquebot'. In the 90s I started collecting everything made by Tardi, one of the first Tardi comics I bought was 'Rumeurs sur le Rouergue'. In the same period I also collected Bilal graphic novels, which I later gave away to somebody else because Bilals colours were depressing me. But this is just by the by. Charmed by the pastel colours of Annie Goetzinger, who also drew 'Paquebot', I also bought some albums made by her. In this way, I also noticed a growing number of albums in my collection whose stories were written by Christin. When I noticed that I liked the stories of these albums and found out that they were all written by the same man, I decided to collect everything written by Pierre Christin. I even bought the Bilal albums that I had given away again.


Christin had worked together with Goetzinger before they made 'Paquebot' together in 1999. I think his writing style fits very well with the style of drawing by Goetzinger. Or maybe it is the other way around, they complement each other very well in any case. Goetzingers beautiful realistic drawings in soft, friendly colours match the suave pace of the story. 'Paquebot' has an intriguing plot that is doing very well without chases and fights.