Miscellaneous Reviews 09: Yoko Tsuno and Samuel R. Delany

Yoko Tsuno: Le Matin du monde (The Morning of the World):

The seventeenth album in the series, Le Matin du monde asks a pretty important question: is a bande dessinée still good when it’s a simple story told by a highly skilled storyteller? I would argue that yes, it’s still good but it makes for a slightly disappointing read.

The story is very straightforward. Yoko visit Monya in Indonesia (confirm) and they, along with Rosée du matin, Vic and Pol (confirm name) travel back in time to 1350 in order to save the life of a dancer who’s condemned to death because of Monya who interfered in the local village during a previous visit. Monya’s reason for travelling back in time in the first place was that she simply wanted to. After making Indonesia her adoptive home in the present at the end of La Spirale du temps, she began to study the country’s history. This led to an exploratory trip back in time. That’s pretty irrational behaviour for someone who’s seen the negative side effects of time travel. You would think she’d be more responsible. Likewise, it’s kind of unsettling to see Yoko endangering herself without a second though to her newly adopted infant daughter, Rosée, on so many occasions. I can’t say I’m happy about it but at least her friend Vic (dark haired one, confirm name) called her out on it.

I get the feeling that Leloup liked the idea of the special bond Yoko developed with the mural of the dancer at the temple near the home of her cousin Izumi and he wanted to explain that bond through a time travel story. That seems to be a pretty clear starting point when thinking of a time travel story, start from the end and work your way back. It’s unfortunate that Leloup couldn’t think of anything more interesting than a time travel rescue mission, especially when the end of the story is a breakneck race to the finish line, as if Leloup ran out of pages in which to tell his story.

For a series that has regularly been defined by its intelligent plotting, it’s disappointing to see Leloup produce something with so little depth. I can forgive him because his art continues to be top notch but I sure hope the next Yoko Tsuno story I read seems him once again in great form.

                                                                

My review is based on the French edition published by Dupuis in 1988.

The resolution sucks. It went all wonky when I shrank it down.

The Jewels of Aptor written by Samuel R. Delany:

The Jewels of Aptor is the second book written by Samuel R. Delany that I read. I’m not sure exactly how I discovered him, it could have been because some of the writers I like listed him as an influence or maybe I regularly found his work on lists of best science fiction and fantasy books. I don’t know. I can’t remember but he’s been on my radar for a little while so naturally I looked for his books at my local used bookstore. I found most of his oeuvre and many of the novels were there in multiples. The first I read was Babel-17 because I liked the title and the cover. I read this one because it as a slim volume and I wanted to read something quick between other novels. I was good but I’m not blown away. I had a similar reaction to Babel-17 thought the latter is a much better work and I think I would enjoy it better during a second read because I know what to expect. One great thing about Babel-17 is that it defies expectation of a science fiction novel of the 1960s. I doubt I would enjoy rereading The Jewels of Aptor and it’s a shame because I really want to like Delany’s work.

The story is one of those often strange and regularly unappealing combinations of fantasy and science fiction. It might be better described as post-apocalyptic fantasy. There isn’t much science so I’ll just drop that entirely. The story is set approximately 1,500 years after the Great Fire, a nuclear holocaust of some sort. The Great Fire resulted in many different birth mutations and other strange phenomena. Even after all those years women are still giving birth to children with multiple limbs or to children with magical abilities. Sometimes the mutations are obvious and other times they are more subtle, such as a man who’s grown larger and stranger than any other man. His mutation has gone unnoticed for most of his life while others, such as people with four arms, are easily identified as mutants.

It’s in this setting where a goddess, or one representation of the goddess, sends two men to the island of Aptor to acquire her daughter (or yet another facet of the same goddess) and the titular jewels of Aptor. The men in question are Geo, a young poet, and his friend Urson, giant sailor. Most of the book focuses on their time spent on the island and their various theories as to what is going on. The characters frequently discuss what is happening to them and they try to make sense of it all. The one constant of the book is that everything changes. Perceptions, allegiances, individuals, magic and technology, religious and mythology, everything is constantly shifting. It’s one of the main themes of this work, mutability. Knowledge, understanding and discussion also play an important part but it doesn’t make for a captivating story. Yes, the prose is dense yet filled with poetic language and turns of phrase. Delany, who wrote this novel at the tender age of 19, shows tremendous potential and he’s lived up to that potential.

Like the story, The Jewels of Aptor constantly changes. It’s a story that works within a few different genres; the characters are both fascinatingly original in how they’re presented but also very familiar. Events that take place seem to involve science of old on moment and the next, something more akin to magic. Parts of it are great, they really art but parts of the book are also a real bore. While I didn’t love Babel-17 I could recognize why it’s considered a classic novel. It was, at the very least, interesting. I haven’t enjoyed The Jewels of Aptor nearly as much but I’m still glad I read it as it’s helping me better understand the works of Samuel R. Delany. I’m not done exploring his oeuvre, I have at least two novels waiting on my book case. I just hope they’re more along the lines of Babel-17 or something even better.

Miscellaneous Reviews 08: Lucky Luke and Yoko Tsuno

Lucky Luke: Le fil qui chante (The Singing Wire):

I didn't appreciate it when I was young, a least not consciously, but Morris and Goscinny make Lucky Luke seem so effortless. The words and picture work so well together. They combine seamlessly into a fun yet informative narrative. It's professionals at work and it makes for a really fun read. The effortless storytelling translates to a breezy read. But Lucky Luke manages to have substance too so it doesn't feel like a throwaway comic.

James Gamble, an engineer, is given the task to bring the telegraph wire from Carson City to Salt Lake City and completing half of the First Transcontinental Telegraph. Lucky Luke, recently put out of a job with the Pony Express due to the telegraph, is hired to protect Gamble’s team and help out wherever he can. There is a second team whose job it is to install the singing wire from the east coast all the way to Salt Lake City where it will join up with the wire installed by Gamble’s team. Morris and Goscinny give the plot a bit of weight by having the team strike a bet: the team who makes it to Salt Lake City first will get $100,000. This obviously makes Luke’s job much more difficult since he’s now convinced that there is a spy within Gamble’s team and he’s right, of course.

The setup is done in just a handful of pages and the rest of the album focuses on the journey from Carson City to Salt Lake City. Gamble’s team encounter numerous challenges, some natural, some logistical and quite a few caused by the traitor. Many of the situations are humorous and the overall tone is light-hearted. Goscinny maintains some suspense with the mystery of who the traitor is and the reveal is pretty satisfying considering the length of the comic. The jokes are regularly predictable but I’m not sure if that’s because I read it numerous times before or if it’s truly obvious where the jokes are coming from. I don’t think it really matters because seing it happen on the page is still enjoyable, in great part due to Morris’s expressive cartooning. Le fil qui chante is good fun and it’s guaranteed to please and it’ll certainly make you smile. It’s a fine example of an all-ages bandes dessinées. 

My review is based on the French edition published by Dargaud in 1977.

Yoko Tsuno: Le Dragon de Hong Kong (The Dragon of Hong Kong):

There are three main types of Yoko Tsuno stories. The first kind involve her background as an electrical engineer to tell cutting edge (for their time of publication) science centric stories. Those stories often have science fiction elements but they’re grounded in the real world thanks to Roger Leloup’s crisp and detailed art. The second type of stories are pure science fiction often involving the Vineans, technologically advance blue skinned humanoids. The third type of stories are the time travel stories. After writing La Spirale du temps (The Time Spiral), Leloup revisited Monya and her time machine in several other time travel stories. It doesn’t sit perfection in either of the two types of stories because it has an important science fiction element to them but they’re also ground in reality (either the present or well researched representation of the past). As such, I consider those stories to be a separate type.

Le Dragon de Hong Kong, published in 1986, is one of the Type-1 stories. The story jumps right into the thick of it and by the second page Yoko is already acquainted with the dragon of the BD’s title. She is in China to visit her cousin and decides to make a trip to Hong Kong (alone, because her cousin doesn’t like the bit city). After a tooth is left behind in the junk’s wooden banister, Yoko takes it upon herself to uncover the mystery of the dragon’s origins.

Overall, the story is simple but what’s impressive here isn’t really the story itself (though there is nothing notably bad about it) but Leloup’s masterful skills as a storytelling. I was particularly impressive by the pacing of the comic. It’s plotted very well and the story moves very briskly while also maintaining a certain rhythm that allows for ease of reading and enough time for the reader to enjoy the artwork. There really isn’t a single wasted panel in the whole comic and it’s filled with detective-like investigating, human story elements (a bit of Yoko’s family history and the beginning of her own family), action both high-tech and low-tech and everything wraps up in a final page that is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.

As always, Leloup’s art is one a treat. One of the best things about Yoko Tsuno is Leloup’s attention to detail. It’s quite spectacular how he can convey so many realistic depictions of buildings, people, machines, and boats. Most of the art is done using a single-width ink line. Because the inking is so uniform everything is given a more equal importance on the page. Leloup still maintains focus on the characters and the action, but everything is drawn with equal attention to detail and it helps to immerse the reader into the real-life settings of the story. He changes his inking a bit for the dragons, likely in order to convey the scales more realistically. It also helps to make them stand out more from the rest of the art. He also used another technique to make the scenes with the dragons pop, that of using larger panels. Le Dragon de Hong Kong is entirely made up of pages that have three or four tiers. The four tier pages are used for the non-action scenes and they mostly serve to advance the plot or develop the characters. The three tier pages are used for the action. This allows for larger panels which is necessary to show off the Hollywood blockbuster-like action.

There is a noteworthy real-life parallel between Leloup’s live and that of his heroine, Yoko. This album is dedicated to Keum-Sook, Leloup’s adoptive daughter of Korean descent. Yoko adopts her own daughter in this story and Rosée du matin, the little girl in question, will become a staple character of the series from that point on. It’s actually quite nice to see Yoko evolve so gracefully into this new role but it’s not surprising given her easy relationship with other children previously in the series. Le Dragon de Hong Kong is a typical Yoko Tsuno story, which means face pacing, stellar art and an interesting lead character. It was good when I was a boy and it’s still very good now.

My review is based on the French edition published by Dupuis in 1986.

Miscellaneous Reviews 07: Batman: Ego and Other Tails and Lucky Luke: La Diligence

Batman: Ego and Other Tails:

Batman: Ego and Other Tails is nearly all written and illustrated by Canadian comics creator Darwyn Cooke. It’s a collection of shorter works by Cooke, all of which feature Batman except for story that focuses on Catwoman. Paul Grist wrote one of the stories and Bill Wray and Tim Sale drew one story apiece. My enjoyment of the collection was lukewarm as far as the Batman stories are concerned. Nothing really engaging or truly original happens. I enjoyed the art by Cooke, Bill Wray and Tim Sale but the writing that accompanied those stories was flat. I remember very little from the stories and I read them less than a day ago. It’s pleasant to read but it left no impression on me.

The Catwoman story, titled “Selina’s Big Score” was a different thing all together. In essence, it’s about Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman, pulling a heist. At the beginning of the story she does a job that ends without pay and she quickly finds another job to pull, one with a big payout if everything goes right. The rest is played out like a novel written by Richard Stark. People who are familiar with Cooke’s body of work will know that he’s no stranger to Richard Stark, particularly his Parker series. “Selina’s Big Score” follows the formula of the Parker novels and the effect makes for a stellar comic. It’s also a little strange as it also works as a crossover story between Catwoman and Parker. Parker is named Stark and visually he is based on Lee Marvin except he’s uglier which suits the character just fine. The structure is just like that of a Parker novel. It’s in four part and the third part is presented from a different point of view, namely that of Slam Bradley a private detective who resides in Gotham City. The idea to make a crime story starring Selina Kyle is a stroke of genius. Her thieving background makes it a natural fit. It’s not surprising that this 80-odd-pages graphic novel led to an ongoing Catwoman series by Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke. It’s solid work in an otherwise unimpressive collection.

Alfred Hitchcock cameo in La Diligence.

Lucky Luke: La Diligence (The Stagecoach):

I’ve mentioned before that my childhood was filled with hours spent reading. I devoured my dad’s collection of bandes dessinées for years. The only reason I stopped is because I eventually moved out of my parents’ house when I finished high school. Since then I’ve occasionally read a BD but nothing has quite captured me like the titles I read in my youth. Last weekend took a few Lucky Luke albums from my dad’s collection and La Diligence is the first of those that I’ve reread. Lucky Luke is still one of my favourite all ages BD.

Originally created by Maurice De Bevere, better known by his pen name Morris, Lucky Luke has been in publication since 1946. It’s a giant in the BD industry and new stories continue to be released even after Morris’s death in 2001. La Diligence is written by René Goscinny, Morris’s most famous collaborator on Lucky Luke. The story is pretty straight forward. Lucky Luke is hired to protect a Wells Fargo & Co. stagecoach as it travels a vast distance to transport gold and passengers from Denver to San Fransisco. The whole thing is a publicity stunt to show the world that Wells Fargo stagecoaches are a safe means of travel. The gold cargo is heavily advertised and as such the stagecoach becomes a target for desperados and thieves throughout the entire journey.

Morris and Goscinny use this simple story to provide the reader with numerous funny scenes in which Lucky Luke gets to show off his skill as a cowboy and the passengers each get their little moment in the spotlight. It’s a fun story that never forgets what it’s all about; that is to say a fun western adventure story with some jokes, some less subtle than others. What makes this is many other Lucky Luke stories is how it takes a few aspects of American history from the 19^th Century and spins it into an entertaining BD. This album obviously dealt with the realities of traveling by stagecoach and it’s notably for its inclusion of Black Bart, a notorious thief who specialized in robbing stagecoaches. The historical aspects are often caricaturized but there is still considerable attention given to historical accuracy. At the very least, Lucky Luke: La Diligence tells the kind of story that will not only entertain readers of all ages, it will likely inspire you to do a bit of research on the more historically interesting elements of the story. 

My review is based on the French edition of La Diligence published by Dargaud published in 1984.

Yoko Tsuno: La Spirale du Temps (The Time Spiral) review

Back in my introductory post for Shared Universe Reviews I mentioned how I first got introduced to comics via my dad’s collection of bandes dessinées. So far I’ve only ever reviewed one of them (the latest volume of Blacksad, read about it here) but it wasn’t very representative of the BDs I read in my youth. I read a whole bunch, the entire Tintin series, all of Lucky Luke and Astérix. I also really enjoyed reading the zany adventures of office slacker Gaston Lagaffe but one of my favourite series to read was Yoko Tsuno by Roger Leloup.

For those who don’t know him, Roger Leloup is a former collaborator of Hergé on his most famous creation, Tintin. He’s mostly known for creating the series and eponymous character of Yoko Tsuno which he has been writing and drawing since 1970! The most recent album came out in 2012. I haven’t read all of them albums but by reading through my dad’s collection and the albums available at my primary school library, I’ve read nearly 20 out of the 26 album and one novel long series. It’s been ongoing for forty years and with good reason. It stars Yoko Tsuno, an electrical engineer, and the many adventures she has throughout Europe and the rest of the world. She also regularly has adventures in space with the Vineans, blue humanoids with advanced technology. Nearly all of the stories deal with advanced science but I wouldn’t typically categorize the series as being firmly in the science fiction genre. That’s probably because Leloup ensures that each story is firmly grounded in reality by providing the reader with strong characters.

La Spirale du Temps begins while Yoko is spending time in Borneo visiting her cousin. While visiting the local ruins she witnesses a strange event.  A whirling device materializes out of thin air and a young woman emerges to meet with two men who seem to have prepared for the arrival of the machine. Yoko rescues the girl after she’s attacked by the men and soon she’s wrapped up in what will be her first time travel adventure.

The young girl Yoko rescued is called Monya and she’s from the 39^th century. It was her father’s wish that she travel back in time to prevent the destruction of Earth during their time period. Aided by Yoko, she sets out to find Dr. Webbs, the inventor of “la bombe a contraction” or the contraction bomb. When they meet up with Webbs he shares part of his research with them but chooses to ignore Monya’s warning that his experiments will one day lead to the doom of mankind. After finding a sealed door bearing her great uncle’s name on in in Webbs research facility, Yoko decides to travel back in time to uncover the secrets of Webbs’ antimatter research.

La Spirale du Temps is a notable entry in the series because it introduces the concept of time travel as well as the recurring character of Monya. Leloup also shows that he’s adept at writing a time travel story that doesn’t get stuck or bogged down by the details. He merges two types of time travel paradoxes together into a tale that doesn’t feel overly constructed but unquestioningly dealt with time travel. What’s interesting is that one of the paradoxes is used for travelling back in time and the other is used for travelling forward in time. Leloup uses the Novikov self-consistency principle in how Yoko travels back to the time of World War II and the events that happen during her visit affected certain things like what Yoko’s mother chose to name her daughter and the difficulties her great uncle alluded to in letters to his wife. In this sense, everything Yoko did back in time was meant to happen since it had already happened. When Yoko asks Monya if she will leave for the future she replies that she’ll be staying in the present. It’s dangerous to travel to an unknown future. She goes on to explain the branching universe hypothesis which Leloup uses for future time travel. The event that took place in the present changed the course of history which means that tomorrow now holds just as many secrets for Monya as it does for Yoko since history has branched off, using the present events as the split in direction. It’s an interesting approach to time travel but I think it works rather well, both paradoxes being used at the same time but separately based on the direction of travel.

One of the reasons I enjoy this series so much is the art. A bit unsurprisingly, considering his background, Leloup uses a “ligne claire” (clear line) style of art. Hergé, creator of Tintin is often regarded as the father of ligne claire, a detailed style of art that is also notable for its clean and crips finish. All of the details are produced using a single, uniform ink line. Leloup doesn’t use crosshatchings to creating shading; in fact shadows are used sparingly. Leloup is very good at combining both key elements of ligne claire, the use of strong cartooning skills for the characters and a highly detailed and realistic style for the backgrounds. Leloup’s characters are usually less cartoonish than what is traditionally found in other ligne claire BDs. Yoko’s stories take place in various exotic settings around the world and some of the albums also deal with science fictional and alien locations but it’s all drawn in a very realistic way. Leloup regularly uses photo reference for buildings, clothing and vehicles. Yoko often changes outfits through the course of one story.

I never noticed it before but Leloup’s pages are split horizontally into two halves. Presumably this is how he’s able to produce significant details in his drawings while using a uniform line because each page is actually made up of two separate sheets. I have no idea how large he initially draws these pages but each finished page is made up of a top and bottom portion, labeled by the page number and the suffix of A (for the top) and B (for the bottom). The art is clearly shrunk down and combined, two sheets at a time, to form a complete page. It’s interesting to notice that some panels are very large but they never more than one sheet (or half a page) in size.

The colouring, which was done by Béatrice from Studio Leonardo is also indicative of the type of colouring often used with ligne claire art. It presents an objective view of the world, leaving almost nothing in shadow. A scene taking place as night is coloured in such a way as to clearly indicate the time of night but the details of the background are as clear as the characters.

Yoko Tsuno is a perfect comic for North American audiences who are tired of the often sexist and thoughtless comics that line the walls of comic shops. Yoko is a beautiful and very capable woman and her stories are exciting because of the quality in the writing. Though Leloup doesn’t draw women in an exploitive way, there is an uncanny similarity in the physique of many of the female characters in the series. But since the same criticism can be made regarding the male characters, I don’t fret over it. I have to clarify that this comic doesn’t have a feminist agenda. It’s much more neutral in tone and it would rather spend time with themes of technology, family and ecology than be bogged down by gender politics. Intelligent writing and a clear, classic looking art give Yoko Tsuno a timeless feel and I’m certain I’ll be revisiting the series time and again.

My review is based on the French edition published by Dupuis published in 1981. Also thanks to my father for unknowingly letting me borrow this and a few other Yoko Tsuso albums. I promise to bring them back. 

Blacksad: Amarillo review

I grew up reading bandes dessinées (or BDs). My youth was filled with afternoon reading titles such as Spirou et Fantasio, Gaston Lagaffe, Lucky Luke, Tintin, Astérix et Obélix, and a few others. My dad had an impressive collection and I took full advantage of it, reading volume after volume of my favourite series. If I remember correctly some of those volumes have loose pages in them, probably because they’ve been read so many times. For a few years I essentially stopped reading BDs. Part of it is that I barely recognize the landscape. I grew up reading older series, many of them classics, and I didn’t know where to start if I wanted to read another BD. For reasons I can no longer remember, I picked up the first two volumes of Blacksad in a French bookstore in downtown Ottawa. It was my lucky day because I adored Blacksad. I bought the third volume a couple weeks later and the fourth when it finally came out. It’s been two years since the last volume and I finally got my hands on a copy of Blacksad: Amarillo.

My initial reaction is one of disappointment. The story didn’t have as much weight as the previous volumes and overall it reads like a bad mixture of anthropomorphized noir road trip comedy film. Actually, that’s exactly what it is! Amarillo tries to be too many things and it fails.

Blacksad is created by a Spanish duo made up of Juan Diaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist). The first few volumes focused on John Blacksad, a private investigator, and the whole thing is set in the 1950s. Blacksad is a well-educated man (well, cat – tomcat?) who also knows how to talk with his fists which is a useful skill to have in his line of work. Like many noir characters, Blacksad believes in justice, it’s almost an obsession but Canales brings a nice balance to it by giving his character a deeper level of characterization. Sure he seems like your run of the mill detective story character but Blacksad is a well-rounded character and I liked him instantly. Creating strong and instantly recognizable or familiar characters is one of the creative duo’s best assets and that’s what contributed to making me like this series so much. The success of the series so far can be attribute to hitting that nice balance between character, story and art.

It’s too bad that I can’t say the same about Amarillo. The whole thing feels unbalanced. There are plenty of interesting characters in the latest volume and although I’m saddened that Canales and Guarnido chose to create new characters, I would have liked to have more Weekly in this story.  The other problem is the absence of a good story. Amarillo feels like a collection of events as opposed to a narrative. The most consistent aspect from the first four volumes and the fifth one is the art. The other element that contributed to throwing things out of balance was Canales cranking up the dial on the humour. It’s somewhat surprising considering Weekly’s near-absence from the story but the hyena character (sorry, I can’t remember his name – I know, hyenas are people too, I’m sorry ok?) did a good job picking up the slack and Blacksad proves once more that he’s best suited to playing the straight man.

I should probably talk a bit about the story but I’m not really feeling up to it because there isn’t much to talk about. Still, I feel my reviewing responsibility pretty strongly tonight so I’ll give it a go. The story is about a writer lion, Chad, who has a poet friend and on their way to meet Chad’s editor in Amarillo get caught up in thievery and booze and Chad ends up with blood on his hands. The rest of the book is made up of Blacksad searching for the writer and Chad getting into deeper and deeper trouble. Along the way Canales incorporates humorous sequences and fails at trying to say something meaningful about Beat Culture of the 50s. The creators have been successful at incorporation some message or theme about America in their previous stories but it really doesn’t work in Amarillo. It might be the subject matter or even the tone of the comic which is a combination of dreamlike horror (Chad’s portion of the story) and humour (Blacksad’s portion).

My problem with this story wasn’t the tone. Blacksad’s had comedic moments in it before and I don’t mind that the creators wanted to spend some time on the lighter side of things but it doesn’t work with the rest of the story. Part of the problem is that the humour is cliché ridden. The other problem is that the humour feels tacked on as if Canales didn’t have faith that the rest of the story could stand on its own. Guarnido has no problems drawing his characters expressively and his style proves to be as effective for serious stories as well as silly stories. While the art can jump seamlessly from the tone of both halves of the story, the writing can’t. The humorous scenes are intercut with those involving Chad and his troubles and vice versa resulting in an absence of momentum. That just made the culmination of both stories converging near the end difficult to appreciate. It’s like oil and water, it feels forced.

I respect that Diaz Canales tried a different sort of story but Amarillo doesn’t deliver like the earlier stories did. Guarnido, as always, is spectacular on the art. After roughly 250 pages of anthropomorphism, I still love the art. Guarnido does a fantastic job with body language. His characters are so expressive that even the non-speaking characters in the background have a personality. He draws a few new (at least, that I don’t remember seeing) animals in Amarillo such as a parrot, a Chihuahua (with a moustache, no less), a flamingo and a koala bear just to name a few. I’m already looking forward to the next volume but I’m hoping it’s an improvement on this one.

My review is based on the French edition published by Dargaud.