Saturday, 29 March 2025

Hexagon Comics -Strangers 12: In the Era of King Kabur

 



Jean-MarcLofficier; art by Eduardo Garcia, Manuel Martin Peniche, Christophe Ouvrard; cover by Manuel Martin Peniche.

7x10 square bound trade paperback, 
94 pp 
b&w
ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-313-2 
US$12.95

Contents:
- Foreword by J.-M. Lofficier
- In the Era of King Kabur by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Manuel Martin Peniche
- Behold Baltazar! by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Manuel Martin Peniche & Christophe Ouvrard
- Morgane Hunted by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Eduardo Garcia 
- Mr. 17 Unmasked by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Christophe Ouvrard

HOMICRON is a NASA scientist whose body is inhabited by a mysterious alien from planet Alpha.
STARLOCK is the former servant of supremely powerful cosmic entities.
FUTURA is a mysterious woman from a parallel dimension.
JAYDEE is a teenage alien metamorph who may well be the deadliest killing machine in the universe...
These characters, all “strangers” to Earth, are brought together by TANKA, a former jungle lord who has been recruited by entities from our planet’s farthest future to be their agent and is now empowered to protect our world from extra-terrestrial menaces.

In this twelfth volume of Strangers, Tanka, Homicron and Starlock have traveled back in time to the era of King Kabur to try to learn how the legendary hero once defeated the alien Wan Lords. Meanwhile, in the present, the C.L.A.S.H. has its hands full with Mr. 17, whose secret identity is at last revealed, while Futura comes across a new threat...
 
Special guest-stars: King Kabur! Morgane!

Stating that Tanks's masters are "sexist" because the outfit left for Dr Towers made her look like Princess Leia's slave girl .... yeah, there are a few of the Strangers characters she needs to lecture on that one (I am not mentioning Futura by name).  But in the Age of Barbarians you dress to blend in -first rule of time travel. Slightly depowered our heroes still get to meet Kabur. (The Avengers never met Conan!).

There is also a point in the story in which Kabur meets his son. It does not go well. 

On my first looking at this story I did not think that Peniche's style of artwork would be the wisest choice.  However, on sitting down and looking at it I can say that his style does work. It sort of looks like a mix of an Indie style you might have gotten in the old Harrier Comics and a UK weekly adventure comic. So, yeah it works fine.

I was not as keen on Ouvrard's style. Backgrounds, etc all looked fine but his characters tended to look rather cartoony/anime like which threw things off for me. Garcia's artwork with its clear black and white style worked.  

With Mr 17 Unmasked we were back with Ouvrard and the style really showed through and I suspect that Ouvrard is a budding Mangaka -it is evident in the characters, backgrounds and so much more. I have nothing against Manga (as I think everyone knows) but for me the style clashed with the more Western styles used in the rest of the book. That is just me and I know how popular Manga is but my eyes are old!

Overall, I would say that this was a great cross-over and adventure/action book and "Manga style" probably adds a few bonus points to it.  Good solid stories and dialogue and at the price well worth getting a copy to add to your comic collection.

Thursday, 27 March 2025

Hexagon Comics -Kabur #9: The House of the Green Priest: Celebrating 50 Years!

 


 Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy Thomas; 
art by Roberto Castro, Nestor Vargas, Manuel Martin
Peniche; cover by Roberto Castro


7x10 squarebound comic, 
100 pages 
b&w

ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-373-6 - 
$14.95

28. THE HOUSE OF THE GREEN PRIEST  by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Nestor Vargas.
29. THE HEART OF THE ELEPHANT story by Roy Thomas, dialogue by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Roberto Castro.
30. THE CURSE story by Roy Thomas, based on Rudyard Kipling, dialogue by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Manuel Martin Peniche
31. THE RING OF JHINJAEL by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Manuel Martin Peniche

Continuing on his journey south, KABUR arrives in the merchant city of Mwizaruku where he join forces with his old allies, NEVLAK and SEBHO, to thwart a former foe thirsting for revenge... 

This soon leads the trio into a fierce battle against various hostile factions, all eager to acquire the otherworldly Heart of the Elephant...

Kabur then crosses paths with a man who is the victim of a terrifying curse... 

Having resumed his journey, the Prince of Thule is then taken prisoner by the fearsome queen Jhinjael and finds himself fated to die in the deadly arena of the enchanted city of Komong...
 
Four spectacular Kabur stories, including two by legendary Conan writer Roy Thomas, wonderfully illustrated by Roberto Castro, Manuel Martin Peniche and Nestor Vargas.

Oh, this is the one you've waited for!  You were waiting for this one, right? Well, a hundred pager for under $15 dollars in 2025 is pretty rare and what a treat -notice Roy Thomas's name there?

First thing: NO, that is NOT Dr Doom on the cover (he's already on 121 Marvel covers this week).

Campo's art on The House of the Green Priest is wonderfully detailed with an almost fine pencilling quality and his fight scenes are rendered superbly. Looking at the work I would say that if it were coloured it would lose a lot of its edge and this story is a good example of how black and white can sometimes out do colour comics. Castro's art in The Heart of the Elephant is nice and clean and just as admirable as Campo's. Bao is also an interesting character but so are Nevlak and Sebho so maybe future appearances?

Then we come to what I personally see as the best Story The Curse in which Peniche's artwork quite literally drips with old style horror comic art. Dark and broody to accompany a story that, despite being based on one by Kipling, has so many unique touches and I loved it. A barbarian horror story.  In case you are wondering which Kipling story this is based on it is Rudyard Kipling's "The Mark of the Beast" from, I believe, 1890? The story tells of Fleete, and Englishman who desecrates an Hindu temple and is cursed by a leper priest (who else?) and is transformed into a wolf-like creature.The battle with the cultists as well as Kabur's fight to save Wonjin (standing in for Fleete) and the eventual inevitable fight between man and beast... spot on.

The Ring of Jhinjael also has a horror angle with vampires and Kabur has a new ally in Osk -a huge talking lion. Peniche again delivers great art that suits the story to a "T" although "V" might be more appropriate considering the vampire angle!

The stories and dialogue are spot on throughout and if you wanted to get just one Kabur issue to see if it met your tastes I would say buy this one and l;earn a lesson: never get drunk and desecrate a temple. It ain't good for you.

Highly recommended.

Cinebook Ltd -Amazonia 3 - Episode 3

 


Authors: LEO & Rodolphe; illustrated by Bertrand Marchal
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£7.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441538
Publication: January 2025
 https://www.cinebook.co.uk/amazonia-episode-p-4566.html

Two separate expeditions into the heart of the Amazon rainforest have trespassed upon Yanomami territory. On one side, Reinhard and his Nazis are looking for a sunken submarine and the gold it transported. On the other, Kathy Austin and Captain Delio of the Brazilian Navy are tracking a potentially extraterrestrial being. Threatened by both the hostile natives and the dangerous jungle itself, all will soon come to realise that the two quests may, in fact, be one and the same …

Oh it is definitely me.  I noticed how I've put in reviews how long it has taken for the next volume in a series to appear. In this case I saw Amazonia 3 and just said "And how long ago was number 2 out?!"  Last October to be precise as both part 1 and 2 were reviewed in one post!

https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2024/10/cinebook-ltd-amazonia-1-episode-1-and-2.html

it is pure age m'dears! As you get older you start screaming and running away when a publisher says "Here is volume 1 of a 24 volume series that will appear over the next 5 years" -am I going to live that long???

Anyway, old age concerns out of the way...The artwork is, as always, superb. Sebastien Bouet's colour work adds so much more depth to what Marchal has drawn.  We get more twists as well as more action -mainly in the jungle as Kathy actually gets to encounter the tall and very mysterious stranger and gets to see a sample of what he can do with his powers.

There are a few levels to this story with side plots and sub-plots and each one then has me wanting to know what happens.  It is good to have a female protagonist in the form of Kathy Austin as she moves on from Kenya to Namibia (do a quick CBO search and you'll find the reviews) and now Amazonia.  Is there anywhere else she can go on an investigation to? Antarctica?

The end leaves everything on a cliff hanger and while that builds up the excitement for some I want to know what happens. Now.

Wednesday, 26 March 2025

Cinebook Ltd - Lucky Luke 83 - Trouble Brewing

 


Authors: Jul; illustrated by Achdé
Age: 8 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages
Publication: December 2024 

£8.99 inc VAT

ISBN: 9781800441514

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/lucky-luke-trouble-brewing-p-4565.html

Travelling to the northern state of Wisconsin, Lucky Luke finds a population deeply depressed by a beer shortage that has caused all saloons in the area to close. Desperate, the inhabitants of New München beg Luke to talk to the brewers of Milwaukee. But the cause of the shortage is a strike, and the cowboy is more used to chasing outlaws in the Great Plains than to forcing negotiations between unions and bosses in a city where the first skyscrapers are already sprouting …

The Daltons in lederhosen?  No. Just no. And Jorg...I mean Joe...wow does he have anger management issues...but he looks pretty hot in lederhosen.

Its funny. It has gags. It has everything you expect from a Lucky Luke book and the artwork is enhanced by some super colour work and tones. So, uh, well done Mel Acryl'ink😂

Come on a brewery using prisoners to carry out the work is bad enough but when those prisoners are the Daltons and Lucky Luke is within shooting range....but, hang on -they'll never get hold of a gun, right?  Why 'of course not'!

The last six panels on the final page had me smiling.

And this is album number 83. 83! Just scrolling down the Cinebook LL page is enough to make you smile and poke your tongue out at the people who said "It'll never get beyond 5 or 6!"  Oddly, I never saw 1-4 but it is a terrific and fun series to get the kids (or older kids) hooked on!

Hexagon Comics -Kabur #7: The Jewels of Cing-Kor

 


Jean-Marc Lofficier

 art by Roberto Castro, Mario Guevara; cover by Mario Guevara.


7x10 squarebound comic, 
108 pages 
b&w
ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-306-4. 
US$14.95
https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-kabur-7-the-jewels-of-cing-kor.html

26. THE SEAL OF THE SHAIKORTIN story Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Roberto Castro
27. THE JEWELS OF CING-KOR story by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Mario Guevara;
Portfolio Manuel Martin Peniche; Mario Guevara

After avoiding the many traps of the city of Foralume, KABUR, now alone since Arianrod’s departure, must cross the Purple Sea to reach the Southern Continent of Gondaxa, which he must also cross in order to rescue the beautiful LAGRID, kidnapped by SELINOR PSAH, the powerful sorcerer-sultan of the distant city of Arkhanal.

But Psah creates a magic storm which causes Kabur to run aground near the citadel of Yaros, currently besieged by the formidable SHAIKORTIN pirates who seek to retake it from the TOADMEN OF NUNIA, who have seized it. In the midst of this savage battle, Kabur meets a traveler from the Future, TANKA, and finally unravels the mystery of his older brother’s disappearance...

After the siege of Yaros, KABUR finally arrives in Gondaxa in the port of Cing-Kor. But, without resources to continue his journey, he is forced to join forces with FERRANE. a young thief who plans to steal the treasure of the sinister magician NODON. But the wizard is not defenseless, and the enterprise quickly proves more perilous than expected, especially since Ferrane has not told Kabur the whole truth...

Roberto Castro's clean black and white work looks superb and the story is full of surprises including the fact that Tanka gets involved and that may hint at some future tie-ins. Lady Falconer is some villainess...or must we call her a "villain" now?  Whatever, it is a good read.

The Peniche portfolio has some lovely solid black and white artwork which catches the eye.
Guavara's portfolio of pencil work is enough to make anyone drool -all of the fine detail that will be inked over but...

When those pages appear in The Jewels of Cing-Kor Sandoval uses not just solid blacks but relies heavily on grey-toning which can be a big mistake.  In this case he has obviously mastered the use and to great effect. 

The stories are, obviously, well written and thought out and action paced carefully. Kabur has developed from a less filled out character in the old stories (some may argue) to a much more complex one.  I think most people who have never read Sword and Sorcery stories just assume its all evil wizard and "Ugh! Smash bad man!" barbarians (that does seem to be a belief).  If you want good art, good stories and to see a well characterised "barbarian" and his adventures then Kabur is a series for you!

Cinebook Ltd - Buck Danny Classics 7 - Sea Dart

 


Authors: Frédéric Zumbiehl and Frédéric Marniquet; illustrated by André Le Bras

Age: 10 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages:  48 colour pages
Publication: September 2024  

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/buck-danny-classics-dart-p-4563.html

Total: £8.99 inc. VAT

1953. Buck, Sonny and Tumb have been sent to the Patuxent River Flight Test Centre to help design and test the Sea Dart, a seaplane jet. Meanwhile, a former SS general previously in command of Nazi special projects, Hans Kammler, has been spotted in Argentina by an American agent – who is then promptly murdered along with every member of the local CIA network. 

The task of locating a potential secret Nazi base then falls to Buck, his friends … and the Sea Dart. 

Wow. You'd think that being an air force pilot in the 1950s would have been about preparing for a war with the Soviet Union.  But, no, we mere civvies have been getting it wrong all along. There were double agents, saboteurs and others to deal with. A Nazis. Yes, Nazis the enemy that just keeps on giving.

Sonny gets into some messes -as one might expect but there has to be some humour, right? But when you are flying a biplane looking for your buddy (Tumbs) getting shot at by some cattleman the attitude changes to annoyance...especially the second time around.  To then be shot down by banditos using what appears to be a Gatling gun......

Sonny captured soon finds himself reunited with Tumbs as they are led into the heart of the Nazi HQ and....we have to wait until volume 8 for the reveal of who the head badddie is (I have my own bet on so we'll see).

There are certain things that stick in the head while reading this and I forgot that Buck Danny Classics are new stories but drawn in the old style.  And the old style works and Ketty Formaggio's colour work adds to the feel and as Buck Danny and Dan Cooper were the two series I read in German there is a certain amount of nostalgia. Always a fun read.

Sunday, 23 March 2025

Kult Creations: CAPTAIN WYLDE 003 (AKA The Headless Mariner)

 

Writer John A. Short   Artist Gabrielle Noble
44pp
Full Colour
US format
Square bound
£9 UK   £11 GBP Europe and outside Europe £16 GBP
Order via Kult Creations site at https://captainwylde.blogspot.com/


The year of Our Lord 1727... The golden age of piracy! Captain Cinnamon Wylde is the scourge of the waters around Dead Man's Straits... Raiding slaver vessels and freeing their cargo! Along with her clockwork hand (only losers have hooks) and her homunculus sidekick, Erasmus!



But she has a deadly rival in the form of Captain Godiva Dunaway who uses black magic and a crew of zombies to rule the seven seas. Dunaway has plans to take Wylde down using an ancient curse and necromancy! She plans to raise the deadly creature known as the Black Reaper from the waves... a headless horror that can not be killed because it is already dead. An epic book-length adventure on the high seas. 

Get ready for clockwork sailors, voodoo and seas monsters! It's the most fun you can have with your eye-patch on!


What else do you need to say other than that Gabrielle Noble is back!!  Oh...and John A. Short of course. The scripts have nice dialogue and the plot is, as you can guess from the images above, one involving pirates in the Short Universe and all of the quirks and grotesques that live there.

Just read that blurb above and ask yourself where you have seen any comic filled with this type of stuff -it's fun and adventure and it is always a breath of fresh air (especially if I've had baked beans for dinner) when a new Kult book turns up.

In this day and age I have to ask why these books do not sell out and especially as the main characters are all female?   Reading this helped relieve some of the current problems and if a book can do that it needs praise and, no, I do not give out spoilers.  What I think is absolutely ridiculous is that no comic company has grabbed Short to work for them. That is insane.

As for Noble's art...I became a fan back in the days of Spliffy and, again, the fun that comes across in the art is well worth the cover price -Kult Creations even offers all three Captain Wylde books as a set!

To date I have found no reason to not praise Kult Creations or Short and Noble's work and this current tale of piracy I highly recommend.

Monday, 3 March 2025

HEXAGON COMICS KABUR’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY! KABUR #9: THE HOUSE OF THE GREEN PRIEST

 

KABUR #9: THE HOUSE OF THE GREEN PRIEST. 

Stories by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy Thomas; art by Roberto Castro, Nestor Vargas, Manuel Martin Peniche; cover by Roberto Castro.

 7x10 squarebound comic, 

100 pages b&w. - 

$14.95. 

ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-373-6


Continuing on his journey south, KABUR arrives in the merchant city of Mwizaruku where he join forces with his old allies, NEVLAK and SEBHO, to thwart a former foe thirsting for revenge... This soon leads the trio into a fierce battle against various hostile factions, all eager to acquire the otherworldly Heart of the Elephant... Kabur then crosses paths with a man who is the victim of a terrifying curse... 

Having resumed his journey, the Prince of Thule is then taken prisoner by the fearsome queen Jhinjael and finds himself fated to die in the deadly arena of the enchanted city of Komong...



Thursday, 27 February 2025

The Purple Hood Collection

 


A4
B&W

It was the Swinging Sixties!

Britain was hip as hip could be -The Beatles ruled Pop! And everyone was looking toward a bright future…if there wasn’t a nuclear war!

Middle Eastern threats,Eastern European fascists,flying saucer flying megalomaniacs and super mole machines and others threatened our little island. 
But we had the ultimate answer to these:The Purple Hood -International crime-smasher! Michael Jay’s Purple Hood now collected into over a hundred pages of action and text back-up.
This is THE ultimate collection!

The Adventures of Mark Tyme Collection

 


A4
B&W
104 pages
List Price:£15.00

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-adventures-of-mark-tyme-collection/paperback/product-11918029.html
Only two issues were published of The Adventures of Mark Tyme.
As with the companion title,The Purple Hood, the artist was Michael Jay who has since faded into obscurity.
Join scientist Mark Tyme as he uses his time watch and travels on adventures to Roman Britain, the Stone Age, a pirate island, 9th century Britain, outer space and other exciting destinations.

Cinebook Newsletter 206 - February 2025

 

Dear Reader,

Two titles for you this month, very different from each other yet equally exciting!

First, we have the second part of our current Buck Danny two-parter, and AI is still very much the enemy – along with the unsavoury characters who control it, of course. A bunch of shadowy, massively rich people doing underhanded things with technology simply to get even richer, and threatening the world with global conflict … Now, where have we seen that before …?/P>

Then it’s back to the 1930s for volume 2 of our Harry Dickson series. The intelligence here is completely natural, although what the ‘American Sherlock Holmes’ faces often appears rather supernatural in nature. The question is: can he figure out what is otherworldly phenomena, and what is perfectly ‘normal’ criminal genius at work? And … can you?

February with Cinebook – science, technology, and how to stop people from abusing them!



Buck Danny 15
Gil Formosa & Frédéric Zumbiehl

Air Force One

Project Skyborg, the Air Force’s prototype AI pilot, has turned into a complete disaster. While the system works, it has unfortunately been hijacked by agents of the Circle, a shadowy criminal organisation whose nefarious plans Buck has already thwarted several times. The terrorists are now in possession of an AI-controlled F-16 … Read more


Harry Dickson 2
Onofrio Catacchio, Luana Vergari & Doug Headline

The Court of Terror

Frederic Hamilton, an aging millionaire and philanthropist, calls upon Harry Dickson to investigate most curious facts. For some time, he has been having strange dreams in which he appears before a mysterious court – eleven masked judges who accuse him of despoiling Humanity … Read more



North-American readers, to locate a comic book shop near you that stocks or can order these titles and many more, use this handy Read more 

Or, if you're a retailer yourself, please go to: Read more

Thursday, 5 December 2024

Press Release: Lucky Luke 83!

 This month, Cinebook will publish our 83rd (!) Lucky Luke adventure, Trouble Brewing, available in the UK from the 12th of December - barely three weeks after it came out in France.




On sale from Thursday 12th December

A Lucky Luke adventure in the style of Morris

TROUBLE BREWING

Script: Jul

Artwork: Achdé

Colours: Mel Acryl’ink

Depressed cowboys and gloomy saloons ...

NOTHING IS RIGHT IN THE OLD WEST ANY MORE!

A large-scale ’beer strike‘ paralyses the country’s breweries, leaving all the saloons dry and bringing them to a standstill!

The inhabitants of New München beg Lucky Luke to help them end the movement that threatens the way of life of the entire Wild West. The lonesome cowboy gives in and agrees to go to Milwaukee, but his arrival in the ’beer capital of America”, a largely industrial city with Germanic influences, is a shock. A meeting with his old Native-American friend Two-headed Eagle, who has become a factory worker and married a German woman, will help him navigate the ruthless world of breweries. Having to deal on the one hand with the all-powerful businessman and ’Beer Baron‘ Frederick Martz, and on the other with trade unionists following Karl Marx’s philosophies, our bewildered righter of wrongs will need double his usual efforts and skill to bring the Old West back to its former glory ... and that’s not even taking into account the Daltons’ interference!

Shootouts in factories, chases through the slums of the city, the fate of breweries decided at poker – will the man who shoots faster than his shadow, thrown into ’modern times‘, succeed in reconciling workers and bosses, and save the culture of the Wild West.

It’s a revolution in the Lucky Luke series: for the first time, this title confronts Lucky Luke with the modern industrial era of America! Unions, bosses, factory workers … What if the big city was wilder than the Wild West? Rooted in historical facts in true Lucky Luke fashion, this adventure features some of the most iconic symbols of America – hamburgers, hot dogs, ketchup and the Christmas tree – and their inventors, as well as the language of their community, which came this close to becoming the official language of the United States: German! Although often forgotten, German immigrants made up the majority of the northern population of the Old West. This thriving Germanic community, which counted among its members Donald Trump’s grandfather as well as the first communists on the continent, is an inexhaustible source of gags in this Lucky Luke title. So, put on your cowboy hat and your lederhosen, and you too can face the ‘Trouble Brewing’ , a fast-paced adventure that’s as hilarious as it is informative.


JUL

This former press cartoonist released his first graphic novel in 2005. His cult series Silex and the City was adapted for television by Arte, then made into a feature film. With Charles Pépin, he co-writes The Planet of the Wise and Fifty Shades of Greeks. Awarded the Goscinny Prize in 2007, Jul has been writing Lucky Luke’s scripts for ten years.

Dropping Lucky Luke in a factory is almost revolutionary, isn’t it?

I found it amusing to send him to a factory, as he embodies wide open spaces, freedom and individualism. For him, it is a real shock, but there is nothing anachronistic about this situation. The story takes place at the historical turning point when the United States tipped into modernity, represented by the industrial revolution. Lucky Luke seems to embody a resistance to this world.

Have cowboys ceased to exist in the United States?

Not at all. They’re still part of the American Midwest’s landscape, even if there are no longer large-scale cattle drives. They still compete in rodeos, go to saloons, and have a passion for weapons – just like in the adventures of Lucky Luke.

We discover that the German-speaking population played an important role in building the country...

As in previous albums, I wanted to champion the voice of a community that contributed to the formation of the United States, in the same way as the African-American and Jewish communities. Immigrants of Germanic origin settled in several waves starting in the 18th century, and German almost became the official language of the country! In States like Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin, the majority of the population is of German descent.

What mark did they leave?

They introduced the most iconic symbols of the American way of life such as the hamburger, ketchup and the hot dog. We also owe them the idea of Kindergartens and the Christmas tree.

Despite being a hero, like many people Lucky Luke has back problems...

That’s hardly surprising, as he carries all the justice in the world on his shoulders! I made him gain weight in The Promised Land, he got seasick in A Cowboy in Paris, the Daltons needed toilets in A Cowboy in High Cotton… Giving emotions to the hero and reminding us that he has a body is a way of humanising him while respecting the blueprint of the series. Something ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ did well, but Western comics had not dared attempt much so far.



ACHDE´

He bought his first Lucky Luke when he was nine years old … and a calling was born! After studying radiology and radiotherapy, he signed on with publishing house Dargaud, and worked on several well-known series (C.R.S = Distress / C.R.S = Détresse, The Wretched of the Road / Les Damnés de la route...), and of course The Adventures of Rin Tin Can. Since 2001, he has been illustrating the adventures of the Lonesome Cowboy, as well as the Kid Lucky books, which he also writes.

In this title, Lucky Luke faces a major culture shock…

He discovers an industrial world with which he is not familiar, as well as a different side of his country, the United States. As for me, I don’t like the city, and drawing an urban environment was no walk in the park! But this sort of artistic challenge forces me to leave my comfort zone and push myself, which is not a bad thing.

Your description of the United States does not match the traditional portrayal of the country…

Because of Hollywood movies, we have long believed that the population of the United States was homogeneous and everyone spoke perfect English. In reality, at the end of the 19th century, some towns were French, others were German, Danish or Russian. Nowadays, populations of foreign origin have melted in the proverbial pot. Thankfully, recent waves of Hispanic immigration continue to speak Spanish, and we are witnessing a resurgence of French thanks to African and Haitian immigrants. Bilingualism is always an asset.

Jul sent you a ‘panel by panel’ script, sometimes adding sketches to the dialogue. What was your margin of freedom?

The artist must not simply follow the instructions given to them to the letter. They’re there to magnify the scriptwriter’s work.

Therefore, I operate on the principle that it’s my job to take care of the staging, but not to the detriment of the original idea. Consequently, I haven’t always followed his layout exactly, and I’ve re-arranged it when I deemed it necessary. In cinema, the screenwriter does not tell the director how he should hold his camera ... By mutual agreement, our tasks are well defined. I always plan my scenes in advance, create the sets, choose my actors, and position my camera according to the action proposed by the script. Well, when I say ’camera‘, it’s really my pencil and my brushes! Attractive and readable art – that’s the key.

Has your job as the artist evolved since the previous Lucky Luke titles?

On this story, I have at times moved away from the traditional grid layout and instead drawn certain panels in a more modern way, often for the sake of efficiency, like the panel that shows Joe Dalton falling into a beer vat. Today’s readers are used to alternate layouts, and you have to keep the series evolving. Working away from the writer can also be an advantage, because it forces me to fend for myself when I am faced with a difficulty. But, I am never satisfied with the result: I re-drew the scene that takes place at the opera fifteen times! I finally found the solution by looking at an illustration from the beginning of the 20th century …

ACHDE´

He bought his first Lucky Luke when he was nine years old … and a calling was born! After studying radiology and radiotherapy, he signed on with publishing house Dargaud, and worked on several well-known series (C.R.S = Distress / C.R.S = Détresse, The Wretched of the Road / Les Damnés de la route...), and of course The Adventures of Rin Tin Can. Since 2001, he has been illustrating the adventures of the Lonesome Cowboy, as well as the Kid Lucky books, which he also writes.

© Charlie Ambrose


Hexagon Comics -Strangers 12: In the Era of King Kabur

  Jean-MarcLofficier; art by Eduardo Garcia, Manuel Martin Peniche, Christophe Ouvrard; cover by Manuel Martin Peniche. 7x10 square bound tr...