Cinebook: Yoko Tsuno 21 - The Celestial Boat

 

Author: Roger Leloup

Age: 12 years and up

Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm

Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441873

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/yoko-tsuno-celestial-boat-p-4603.html

Yoko and her adopted daughter Morning Dew are on their way to China when the man sitting next to them on the plane collapses. Right before, he tells them that ‘the Seventh Tooth of the Dragon hides a treasure’. 

After consulting a local historian, they learn that the Tooth is a mountain, and the ‘treasure’ is, in fact, the tomb of an emperor’s wife who died in the 11th century, at the age of six. A sad tale that will soon have Yoko and Dew travelling to the past once more!

When I got the first Yoko Tsuno book to review I wanted to get it out of the way. It was a"Kiddies book with a feamle character" and one that I thought not that worth bothering with. So quick review and move on.

I was wrong of course.

Space travel. Time travel -there is a whole universe of unique stories and characters. If you want to put it in simple terms Yoko gets up to the sort of thing Dr Who does!  Leloup's work is getting even better and the colours are so nice and easy on the eye.  Look at the cover. Not a single fault in the art that I can see and I really do think more people need to startknowing about Yoko Tsuno.

We have time travel; hang gliding -in the 11th century of course!-, ships colliding and the "fourth wife" not turning out to be quite who Yoko thought. If I write too muchit is going to give away the whole ending but I'll just say that this story is an example of a Consistency Paradox as we interested in Temporal Paradoxes call it. Buy the book. Read the story and you will see what I mean.

Just for kids? Well if I enjoyed it at my age then I'll just write "A comic book adventure for all ages" (that is not even a reference to time travel!).

Cinebook: Billy and Buddy 10 -Walks on the Wild Side

 

Authors: By Christophe Cazenove, illustrated by Jean Bastide

Age: 8 years and up

Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm

Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441866

Cinebook order page https://www.cinebook.co.uk/billy-buddy-walks-wild-side-p-4600.html?osCsid=dludftu0igoqhq2vm3lln4ech5

 

Anyone who knows dogs knows this: walkies is a sacred moment. It’s communion with the master, exploration of the environment, exercise, socialising … There isn’t a pooch in the world who doesn’t go nuts at the sound of that leash being readied. But when the doggy in question is as cunning and mischievous as Buddy, the whole thing can turn into a complicated process for the master – if he’s even allowed to come along, that is!

April 2024 was the last Billy and Buddy I saw. Yep. vol. 9 and I have to admit over two years later it is hard to get enthusiastic. The art is nice and clean, colourful and at times can bring a smile to the face. Dog bath time...yep. Wash 'em down and watch as they find the nearest dirt patch to roll in. It's fun and the gags and story is noty over complicated but I know from past comments that this is a book "for children of all ages"!

And why not? We are in a (expletive word) grim world and if a comic or comic album can get you away from that for a few minutes then go for it. Adults didn't stop reading comics because they grew up but because they were told they were adults and comics were for children. 

I often think that I should have changed my art style and stayed in Europe.Oh, the lovely colour work is done by  Luc Perdriset and Jean Bastide. Buy it for the kids...or yourself!

We Are All Trump. It says so in the title!

 

Ben R Dilworth

21pp

A4

Black and white (printers could not get a bright enough orange so,,,)

£10.00 UK (non UK countries prices are on the store front)

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/trump/paperback/product-gjz86me.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

He is the GREATEST President the United States has ever known!

He has made the United States Truly respected around the world!

He has created world peace!

The most beautiful women in the world WANT him!

He makes $2234,992,000per minute!

He lives in a golden palace that was formerly bland and white.

He is President Trump......

...uh, he's currently sleeping face down in a plate of classic American bacon and eggs.

Yes, Black Tower does do satirical cartoon stuff. Hey, if I sell a book anywhere I still have to pay US taxes. So I have a "voice". Well, in case of any legal ramifications or potential drone strikes  on the old Tower I have to give full credit to Ben Dilworth. He dunnit I am just an innocent publisher.

Prepare for what some have called "***** hilarious!"  (I am not talking about my or anyone else's hairline -we are talking....TRUMP! And you know....we are all Trump. Except me. Yay. Go me!

Cinebook: Harry Dickson 3 -The Red-Eyed Vampire

 

Authors: Luana Vergari and Doug Headline, from a story by Jean Ray; illustrated by Onofrio Catacchio

Age: 12 years and up

Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm

Number of pages: 56 colour pages

£10.99 inc. VAT

ISBN: 9781800441880

Please consider buying direct from the publisher –it helps them survive!

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/harry-dickson-eyed-vampire-p-4602.html?osCsid=u2fncsc7lqqukd59gc321v1v06

 

Harry Dickson’s skills were instrumental in getting blood-thirsty killer ‘the Red-Eyed Vampire’ arrested. The detective is invited to the small German town where the murderer was from to witness his execution. However, he cannot help but wonder whether somebody else was controlling the ‘Vampire’ before abandoning him.

When an attempt is made to break into the condemned man’s cell the night before his death, Dickson knows that the investigation is not over yet …

Yes, it is the classic and very delightful “Detective solves the case and catches the murderer but…” plot.  Will Dickson find out what was going on and whether someone or…some thing was behind Ebenezer Krank controlling things? You will need to buy this book to find out and I will admit I spotted Sherlock Holmes in panel 1 page 5….IT WAS HIM!!!

Onofrio’s art is the sexiest four colour eye candy I have seen in a long time. The characters the scenes all work so well that, yes, I did go through it twice (liar –it was three times). And.. colour wise the work of Ooshima makes things even more incredible looking –I’m sure I’ve mentioned Ooshima’s work in a previous review?

Add the story into the mix (which would not have existed without the script based on an original story by Jean Ray)  and you have everything you need for a quiet night in reliving the era when you were no real detective unless you had a trench-coat, an assistant, smoked a pipe and had a concealed weapon (rightly it should be a Webley revolver but then again Americans insist that it should be a “snub-nosed 38” –so common).

Love it. I think I am inspired to watch Rathbone and Bruce’s Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Claw later!

Charcoal.... Nothing to do with barbecques

 

 

Pierre Labbat

22 pages

Black and White

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/charcoal-1/paperback/product-84m9ee7.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

Labbat is back!

Charcoal is a long awaited new book written and illustrated by the mystery comic pro people are guessing about but never guess right, "Footie is Life" "Corporal Religion" "Angel's Share" and more. ("more" is NOT a clue....?) For lovers of street level Independent comics and zines this one is for you!

pssst! his real name was mentioned in a post recently about favourite artists

Cinebook Ltd: The Bank volume 3

 

Authors: by Pierre Boisserie and Philippe Guillaume; Illustrated by Julien Maffre
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages
£10.99

ISBN: 9781800441903

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/bank-barons-accounts-p-4606.html

REMEMBER: buying from the publisher means they get sales money to carry on publishing.

1857. It has been five years since Baron Haussmann began his colossal endeavour: remodelling Paris into a modern capital. The city is at the centre of such a storm of real estate speculation that not every means employed to ensure the success of an investment stays within the confines of the law. 

In the middle of this financial free-for-all, a new generation of Saint-Huberts will clash, the children of Charlotte and those of Christian, two branches seemingly unable to escape the hatred the sister and the brother have for each other.

Volume 2 was out last December (2025) which is why I could not remember what was going on. I checked the stats to find when volume 2 came out and realised that people are not just checking Cinebook title reviews for 2025 but going back as far as 2020. In quite high numbers, too. Anyway, uh, yeah. Oh tright. Review. 

"I don't want to go. I don't  want to be a stokebroker like father" Hey, kid: "I don't want to go to school cuz they are all morons" never got someone out of school so excuse me if I laugh out loud!

I tend to find wordy books boring but this one was fun as it is not just wordy! We have murders! We have sex! We have corruption! No Trumps in sight! ahem. Anyhow, the does-not-want-to-be-a-stockbroker -or "The rag doll"-has a few twists and turns to navigate until he finally takes the step that makes him a stock broker. Never saw that coming!

The story is interesting and has more to it than I tyhought it mightr. The art is good and the colour work by Delf is atmospheric. I think people tend to forget the colourists and just see the artist's name. Colourists do a great deal and can even cover up imperfections in art.  So if you want a break from men and women in gaudy costumes, from horror or sci fi then The Bank ought to suit you.

I need to find volumes 1 and 2 and remember what happened!

Cinebook Ltd: Scotland Episode 1

 

 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: 9781800441897

Please buy direct from the publisher so every penny goes back to them!

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/scotland-episode-p-4605.html?osCsid=u2eu9ao9vp2d3q73aogvq3h9s5

After her exhausting mission in Amazonia, Kathy Austin is off to Scotland on holiday. She intends to take possession of a house her great-aunt bequeathed her. Unfortunately, she finds the house ruined, burned down a few weeks earlier – and it also appears that the police find the circumstances of the old lady’s death a tad … strange.

 While the locals blame the ghosts and goblins that haunt the moors, Kathy soon discovers signs that point to a very different explanation: ‘crop circles’ of ... alien origin?!

I have to admit that I was not looking forward to this. Not sure why but you get a book and you read it, right (I pint this out to all those You Tube comic vloggers who show a neatly mylar bagged comic and then ask their viewers "Is this any good? What's the story like?" I keep shouting "open the ***** book and read it moron!"). Anyway, I sat down and read it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The story was a lot more like the old movies whjere someone inherits a castle/mansion and the l;ocal village is all talking about odd things going on...and odd things do seem to be going on.  Being asked out to dinner by everyone including the village Bobby (police constable) is not that odd if you are young and attractive like Kathy but based on her previous adventures you do look at these things suspiciously!!

There is DEFINITELY a murder. If I remember the law correctly and things you must never do to people....yeah, that's murder (no spoilers!)

The scenes and art are as good as you would expect from Marchal and the colour work by Sebastien Bouet adds to the atmosphere and really layers the eye candy on.  The story? Oh, come on -it's Leo and Rodolphe what are you expecting?

After Africa and the Amazon wee little Scotland shows it can be jkust as mysterious as anywhere!

Highly Recommended