Cinebook Ltd - Black Mary 1 - The Departed / Black Mary 2 - Passage to the Hereafter

 

Authors: Rodolphe; illustrated by Florence Magnin
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 INCL vat

ISBN: 9781800441378
Publication: July 2024

The peace of Mordwick, a small coastal village, is shattered by the news that mysterious individuals have come ashore to dig up the recently departed. They looked like pirates, and rumours swell that the infamous captain Black Mary, a legendary, freedom-loving marauder desperately wanted by the Royal Navy, is involved. Could she be the cause of a wave of spectral apparitions sweeping through the kingdom – including that of the ghost of the recently departed king himself?

Authors: Rodolphe; illustrated by Florence Magnin
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 INCL vat

ISBN: 9781800441385
Publication: July 2024

Rescued at sea by Black Mary, Lord James, the libertine aristocrat who longed for adventure, is utterly enthralled by the fierce pirate captain – enough so that when she boards a royal warship, he chooses to fight at her side. With her ship badly damaged, though, Mary must return to her hidden base, an island not on any map. For good reason: the inhabitants of the island are … the men and women who died at sea, and remain there until it is time to move on to the afterlife … 

I have to say that I wish I could remember all I wrote in the first draft!

We have here what appears to be just another pirate story but throughout -odd though it may sound- there is a strange atmosphere to the story. I think that "atmosphere" would be lost if this was a "wait for part two" type  series.  What Cinebook has done is publish both volumes in one go and that helps.

The story is interesting and the ending had the feeling of one of those 1940s Hollywood movies -and I can't tell you why or it spoils  the end. It is a good read and I did read both in one go.

I have no idea what it is about the art but it really works and catches the eye and Magnin does an excellent job. Not sure what technique is used but I gave up questioning why I liked a certain style of art long ag because trying to explain why is difficult.

If you like your pirate action with a ghostly twist then you'll enjoy this. If you like ghost comics you will enjoy this. Highl;y recommended.

Cinebook Ltd: Rin Tin Can 2 - The Godfather

 

Authors: X. Fauche & J. Léturgie; illustrated by Morris
Age: 8 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 INCL vat

ISBN: 9781800441330
Publication: May 2024

After inadvertently thwarting a convict’s escape attempt, Rin Tin Can flees the penitentiary and ends up with two sheep herders who are being targeted by wool thieves. The robbers, Giuseppe and Aldo, are actually looking for a specific sheep skin tattooed with a treasure map, in order to post their father’s bail. 

Unwittingly – as usual – Rin Tin Can becomes first the accomplice of the two not-too-bright brothers, then their ‘godfather’ …  

The review of the first album is here https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2023/09/cinebook-ltd-rin-tin-can-1-mascot.html

How does a dog become a "god father"? Look, if you are looking for a straight forward and rational story with no slap-stick comedy or visual gags then I am guessing you nevber read the first album?

We have a dog that thinks dollar bills are pastry and consumes quite a few... and as those dollars are the troopers wages you can imagine they are not that happy.  Anything Rin Tin Can does correctly is purely accidental!  

The visual gags are there and the story , which might seem chaotic at times, delivers a good read and ending. The art is nice and the colour work does add more to it but some of the characters can be called "comical grotesques" -it is a style used for a very long time in European comics and it works.

None of this answers the question of how Rin Tin Can becomes a "god father" or what that exactly entails. Do you want to know?   Buy the book!  It's fun.

Cinebook Ltd: Spirou & Fantasio 21 - The Prisoner of the Buddha

 

Author: Greg, illustrated by Franquin and Jidéhem
Age: 8 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 64 colour pages

£11.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441354

Publication: May 2024

Spirou and Fantasio, paying the Count of Champignac a visit, discover that he is hiding an imposing visitor: a towering Russian genius who has created an anti-gravity ray. Unfortunately, the KGB is already hunting him, because he’s decided he wants to keep his invention secret. And to make things worse, his former associate, who knows almost as much as he about the ray, has been captured by Chinese authorities. Spirou decides it is vital to free the prisoner … 

 ISBN: 9781800441354

Regarding frequency of this title 18 came out in August 2021 and 19 in January 2023 and 20 was in September 2023 and I mention this for a specific reason; with this series (apart from where they refer to a past event or villain) the delay does not matter as each comic album has its own self contained story. 

We have our more-than-hapless adventurers (and Marsupilami) getting into all kinds of situations and all wonderfully drawn.  The visual gags abound and the colour work is as nice as you could wish for.  What I am still amazed at is the amount of detail in each panel with 7-8 panels on some pages the backgrounds can be as busy as the foreground.  Last page was a quirky bit of fun.

What is still a wonder is that we have had 20 Spirou and Fantasio adventures in comic albums -Running Scared, Virus, Wrong Head, Who Will Stop Cyanide? The Clockmaker and the Comet, Shadow of the Z, Z Rises Again, The Visitor from the Mesozoic to name a few and all just waiting to be purchased and read and chuckled over!  Twenty years ago people in the UK hardly knew what a comic album was and now Cinebook has deluged us with them!

To think my generation looks back on Buster, Valiant, Dandy and Vulcan but in future adults will recall growing up with Cinebook albums!

Cinebook Ltd: Yakari 22 - Yakari and the Pronghorns

 

 

Authors: Derib & Job

Age: 6 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages
Publication: September 2024

£8.99 incl VAT

 ISBN: 9781800441446

On a lovely spring day, Yakari happens upon Quiet Rock, the tribe’s elder, busy admiring a Pronghorn – an American antelope. The young Sioux then spends a few days with the Pronghorn’s family, learning about their everyday life. With the help of several of his animal friends, he even helps them through several incidents –  from coyote attacks to prairie fires – and learns a valuable lesson about humility while he’s at it. 

Hmm. Not sure that I approve of the coyote as it is portrayed in this book as it does give youngsters the impression that coyotes are just plain nasty  -hey, I am a mammalogist specialising in canids and this is my blog so 😝

The idea of a young indigenous boy who can go out and peacefully walk amongst the wildlife and learn all about them works well even though in the past the story has gotten quite serious.  Of course this series is meant for youngsters so it is colourful and entertaining while educating to a degree and I know the books also appeal to older readers because, lets face it, this is pure escapism from a rather grim world.

Despite the coyote business (which may be blown out of context by me) I would still suggest this title for younger readers and with reading and comics these days you need to get them young and why not a comic album?

Cinebook Ltd: Thorgal 25 - The Blade-Ship

 

Authors: Rosinski & Sente

Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£7.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781849184984
Publication: August 2024

While Jolan and his companions finally learn from Manthor what their grand destiny will be, Thorgal is still on the trail of the men who kidnapped his other son, Aniel. Along with jolly mercenary Petrov, he sails down a frozen river aboard a Blade Ship – a trade vessel equipped with heavy metal blades to break the ice. The journey is fraught with dangers – storms, raiders, spies, wild animals … and a group of shipwrecked Vikings looking for a mysterious chest …

Once you have started on Thorgal you are in it for the long run. Well, we have seen Thorgal in Mesoamerica and in a hot air balloon and a lot far weirder places and this time there is a race across the barren ice plains, pursuing tigers, Vikings up to all sorts of nasty things and mainly being very bad to villagers -it goes all Orca Killer Whale (if you ever saw that movie).

The pacing and story is excellent and the art top notch. Will he live long enough to find his son? He better had since the final words uttered in this volume are: "They've condemned your son to death, you know" and the promise of the final confrontation with the Red Mages is enough to get excited about!

Some 25 volumes in and I'm hoping I get to see the conclusion of the Thorgal saga!

Cinebook Ltd Emilie's Inheritance vol. 1 - The Hatcliff Estate

 

Author: Florence Magnin
Age: 8 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441361
Publication: June 2024

Ireland, 1801. Two men are walking across the moors when they chance upon an unearthly mausoleum lost in the mists. 122 years later, Emilie Bertin, a cabaret singer going through difficult times, is contacted by a lawyer, who explains that she is the only heir to a man who vanished in mysterious circumstances, and now stands to inherit a castle and estate … in Ireland. Thus begins for Emilie the most fantastic of journeys. 

This book starts off with a  hint at the magical with two adventurer types or, more accurately, one treasure hunting "adventurer" and one moaner who you have to ask "Why his he involved in this?"  Our heroine, Emilie learns about an inheritance from a lawyer who appears to be doing what a rather dubious character tells him to -including leaving Paris.

This is a tale of adventure but with a fairy tale of sorts interwoven.  Is it any good as a story? Yes.  Is  the characterisation good? Yes.  The art is just lovely and the colour work is equally as good and not a surprise since Magnin writes, draws and colours this work. 

My interest has not been so high to see a next volume because this is a series that could turn out to be a masterpiece or a let down., If things continue in volume 2 as they do in this volume my guess is that it will be a series to be recommended.  I know eagerly await that second book!

Cinebook Ltd: XIII Mystery 3- Little Jones and XIII Mystery 4- Colonel Amos

 

Authors: Yann & Eric Henninot
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages

£9.99 incl VAT

 ISBN: 9781849182744
Publication: June 2024

Chicago, the Seventies. Life is tough when you’re an orphan in the streets – and even more so if you’re black. Little Jones, 10, doesn’t even know her real name. All she has is a brother who flirts with the Black Panthers, a streak of cunning and determination a mile wide, and a dream: that of some day enlisting into the Army. A chance encounter with war hero Major Whittaker will change her life forever...

Authors: Alcante & François Boucq
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages

£9.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781849182768
Publication: June 2024

Colonel Amos is the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. His current investigation sends him on the trail of an agent of Mossad – Israeli intelligence. The ensuing operation – a joint FBI/CIA effort – will prove to be a difficult one. Not only because of the agent’s skill, or because the colonel and his CIA counterpart Giordino don’t get along, but also because before coming to the USA, Samuel Amos was a founding member of Mossad...

I reviewed volume 1 -Mongoose- here and in September 2014

https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2014/09/cinebook-9th-art-xiii-mystery-i-mongoose.html

and volume 2 )Irina- here in January 2022

https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2022/01/cinebook-ltd-xiii-mystery-irina.html

With those dates you can see where I am going. I got these books and had no idea what they were about and yet they were the third and fourth volumes in a five volume series (I really do hope to live long enough to see volume five but at my age it's a case of "fingers crossed").

I stand by everything I have written about the original XIII series as it had suspense, mystery, gripping action and when I read through it a couple weeks back my opinion had not changed.  Everything since that time has seemed to be cashing in on XIII.

Do not get me wrong; the writing is good and the art is of the quality we expect from European comic albums but they are just not gripping me.  Why was Clint Eastwood's character "The Man With No Name" so successful? Because we had the story and action but he was still a mystery to us. We had XIIIs story and now it is almost like making a movie to tell the store owner's life story or the guy running the stables when everything we needed rested on the mystery of Clint's character.

What happened in Mongoose or Irina and were they parts of a continuing saga picked up by Little Jones and Colonel Amos?  I have absolutely no idea since part one was eleven years ago -I keep double checking that date because I still can't believe it was that long ago. And the other volume was two years ago.  Nine years between volume 1 and 2 is not good and  two years between 2 and 3 and 4...not good. I do not have enough time to read all the past volumes in this and other series to catch up.

It does not matter how good a series or story is waiting between issues can kill a book. Look at when Fantagraphics decided that Love and Rockets (my favourite Indie book) was going to go yearly. I think I got as far as remembering up to volume 3 and then comic shops said it was not worth ordering in. Readers lost interest.

I do not know what goes on at Cinebook but I have been the company's biggest supporter since it started publishing but to open a package with 10 or so books and find that there were years between volumes kills the excitement and fun. There are other books I know that are part of a series but only two volumes have appeared a good while ago.  Hopefully, Cinebook can get caught up at some point.

At least the reader can buy volumes 1-4 and know that it leaves one issue to get and then the series is complete.