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Rugger Boys 1:Why Are We Here Again?  Beka & Poupard   

48pp comic album $9.99/£5.99

Originally titled “Les Rugbymen-On n’est pas venus pour etre la!”,you can guess that there’s a bit of a rugby theme here!

Now,considering I’m not a big humour comic man,my first thought was “uurgh?” But let me tell you:I am glad I got this one.  I am not familiar with Poupard’s art but there are some wonderfully drawn characters and superb scenes -and some AWFUL jokes!!  You’ll see what I mean if you buy this book;the players sat around watching pigs is so old a joke that the rib I cracked laughing at it when I was five years old cracked again!

The team’s visit to London is a hoot as is the obligatory London fog gag.  You don’t have to be a rugby fan to appreciate this comic but there are moments when,if you are a former rugby playing-now fan,you’ll appreciate.  Beka’s script seems to have translated well.

Again,this is another top quality Cinebook from cover to cover and whatever age you’ll enjoy.

Yakari And The Grizzly  by Derib & Job  Comic album 48pp

£5.99/$9.99

Yakari is a small Amerindian boy and these books are his adventures packed full of fun and humour.  Intended for the 6 years up age groups,I found the tale of Yakari going up against a grizzly who has captured several animals and is using them as slaves,fun.

Again,I’ve seen Yakari in German but never English.  There are other books available:

Yakari And The Great Eagle,Yakari And The White Buffalo and Yakari And The Beavers.

These are very nicely priced so great gifts for youngsters if you want to get them started on comics and reading in general.  I’m not even going into print quality here because it is a given fact that Cinebook are…oh,just superb!

Lucky Luke[7]:Barbed Wire On The Prairie   by Morris & Goscinny   Album  46pp  $9.99/£5.99

For ages 8 years and up?  Yeah,right.  So why is it that most fans of LL seem to be adults?

By the #7 you’ll have guessed that there are other LL adventures available.  These are:

[1]Billy The Kid,[2]Ghost Town,[3] Dalton City,[4] Jesse James,[5]In The Shadow Of The Derricks,[6] Ma Dalton,[7]-guess! to follow [8]Calamity Jane,[9]The Wagon Train,[10]Tortillas For The Daltons,[11]Western Circus and [12]The Rivals Of Painful Gulch.

I have seen the previous English versions by Hodder-Dargaud[?] but,again,the Cinebook quality is better.  As for the Lucky Luke stories,they are classics and Barbed Wire On The Prairie is no exception but will “the man who shoots faster than his own shadow” luck out here?

Of course!

Biggles Recounts The Falklands War  [writers]Bernard asso & Joel Rideau  [Artists]Daniel Chauvin & Marcel Uderzo

Comic album 48pp   $9.99/£5.99

I’d no idea Biggles was still around!  The character does not appear in this book but can be called the “figure head” in a series of real history books in which aviation plays a major part -the second book covers The Battle Of Britain.

If,like myself,you used to read the weekly war comics you’d be familiar with the way these comics dealt with real war events?  This is similar.  For ages 12 years on seems a bit harsh because I would have had no problem with my younger brother reading this when he was 8 years old.

Luke Spears does the translating so I’m assuming it’s accurate;some of the dialogue seemed stiff or cliched. But when I thought about it this became a very minor point -the book is trying to deal with the complexity of the Falklands-Malvinas conflict in 48pp and so that people far -far!- younger than I will understand.

The hardware of AFVs [Armoured Fighting Vehicles],aircraft,ships,uniforms and equipment is rendered to an accuracy that even I cannot complain about [did notice a paratrooper had his beret on crooked,though -joking!].  Even “The Mother Of A Thousand Dead”,sorry,Margaret Thatcher is well drawn -as are all the pertinent historical figures.

School libraries should get this book and if you’ve kids and want to educate them -buy this one.

Melusine:Hocus Pocus   by Gilson & Clarke

48pp comic album  $9.99/£5.99

Melusine is a sorcerer’s apprentice;she tries everything to become a powerful witch but,as we can guess,things never go quite to plan!  Firstly,she works as a nanny in a Transylvanian castle where the lady of the house is a rather bad tempered phantom whose husband is a rather cool vampire.  The,uh,footman,bears an uncanny resemblance to the Frankenstein monster..

Colour work is by Cerise,and I note that because the colour work here really is lovely.  The characters are drawn so well that I’d have to say this was an “all ages” book.  I cannot recommend this book enough.

And,for me,the wait til book 2 -”Halloween”,is too long!

Yoko Tsuno:On The Edge Of Life   Roger Leloup  comic album   48pp  $9.99/£5.99

Our young Japanese heroine is called to the bedside of a friend,Ingrid,who has been struck down by a mysterious disease.  Before long Yoko realises that a strange vamppire dressed all in black is shadowing her!

Set in Rothenburg,Germany,there is well drawn architecture and both the night and day-time scenes are wonderfully rendered.  American artists keep telling me it’s difficult to draw European cities but if they got just this one book for reference they’d never go wrong.

Hospital or crypt -well drawn.  The sight of Yoko astride a huge model of the town [buy the book to find out why] is great and can’t be faulted.

Apparently,The Time Spiral is the next book and I’ll be waiting eagerly!

Ducoboo[2]:In the Corner     by Godi & Zidrou    comic album  48pp   $9.99/£5.99

Ducoboo is an amiable joker but also a notorious “dunce” who has to be resourceful to avoid the humiliation of the “dunce” cap -er,ask your grand parents! 

I must say that,initially,I thought this would be a big mistake by Cinebook,especially in politically correct times.  So I started to read,fingers crossed that I might get at least one bad review out of Cinebook publishing line.

In fact,”a hugely humorous” book says it all.  But this is not about making fun of educationally backward kids.  The blurb says it all:

“Through gags,some stranger than others,this series champions values such as friendship and the right to be different,and tackles subjects such as boy-girl and parent-child relationships”

The first volume,”King Of Dunces”,I’m sure will be as good as this one but I can see liberal ears whistling as they vent steam!!

Blake & Mortimer:The Yellow “M”    Edgar P.Jacobs  comic album   72pp  $14.45/£7.99

When I mentioned to people that Cinebook were publishing European albums in English,apart from “ooh!” the first question/statement was “I wonder if they’ll ever publish Blake and Mortimer?”

Yes,they are!

The Yellow “M” is a classic.  In this book you’ll find a full-page frontispiece of the characters and at the back is a page with the three cover versions in French and this is followed by a full page colour “rough” of this particular volume.

Robbing the Bank of England,stealing the Crown Jewels and many more audacious exploits have turned The Yellow “M” into a household name.  The villain even mocks Scotland Yard!!!  Baaad mistake.  It’s like the murderer saying to Columbo:”you’re just a plodding,closed-minded civil servant”!

Captain Francis Blake is called in by the Home Office to get to the bottom of the Yellow “M” mystery.  And Blake calls in old friend and scientist Professor Philip Mortimer.  Soon the hunt is on!  It’s like Nayland -Smith and Dr Petrie after Fu Manchu -a real fun tale of mystery,action and adventure.

This post-World War II series has been in existence for 50 years now and,having read B&M in German I’m really,really hoping that Cinebook have other volumes ready to publish.

Intended for 8 years of age and up,this book is yet another quality book.

The question I have to ask here is this;in a market where Marvel and DC get all the publicity,and often for not such good material [DC take note],can a company such as Cinebook  which produces superb quality printed/packaged albums and has selected some of the best of Franco-Belgian BD,succeed?

If not,it will not be the company’s fault.  These books must get far more prominent promotion in UK shops.  If you are a parent then buy and donate copies of the albums to your school.  Ask your local library service to get copies in!

These albums are really a fresh breath of air in the UK -as they will be in the US and elsewhere.  Perhaps the Marvel and DC promoting shops don’t want to push these books in case some of their customers stopping buying the latest Absolutely Final End Crisis series?