Blake en Mortimer: Professor Sató’s Three Formulae - a Comic Review

(revised version of my old review)

“He climbs very fast! Makes a steep turn and dives down! Right on us! But that is not a flying saucer! It's a ... RYU!”

A Japanese pilot crashes after seeing a Japanese flying dragon during a flight. Not much later, Professor Satô invites his friend Mortimer to come and see his brand new creation. But arch enemy Olrik is on the prowl to use this new invention for his own dark and sinister plan. But Satô is smart enough to split up the formula and hide it in three different locations. When something goes wrong, Blake and Mortimer are called in to save the day.

I certainly do not think 'Professor Sató’s Three Formulae' is Jacob's most original story and it does not have the speed and suspense of 'The Necklace Affair' and ‘Atlantis Mystery', but the story structure is solid and there is nothing wrong with that. I think 'Professor Sató's
Three Formulae' is certainly not Jacobs' worst story either. In ‘The Time Trap' he receded, to my taste, a bit too much in talking heads, that is definitely not the case with this album.

What I find interesting about this comic is that the first and second part have been drawn by two different artists. It happens more often that a series is taken over by others after the death of the creator, but it is not often that one story is drawn by two different artists. And certainly not only that, in this case every artist drew exactly half. Part one has been drawn entirely by Jacobs and part two has been drawn by Bob de Moor. That makes it extra fun for me to compare the styles of drawing. It will undoubtedly also have been an exciting assignment for Bob de Moor. It is always difficult to follow in the footsteps of someone who is in great esteem.

The first part appeared in the magazine Tintin in 1971 and 1972 and in 1977 it appeared in album form. Jacobs still worked on the second part, but never finished it. He died in 1987. From the second part of 'The 3 Formulas of Professor Sato' he left a complete scenario and a few sketches. Bob de Moor was allowed to finish it and in 1990 comic lovers could finally read how the story ended.

Jacobs spent his entire life trying to perfect his drawing style. As a result this continuing perfectionism he spent more and more time to complete an album. It is a pity, of course, for the Blake and Mortimer enthusiasts, but I still think he has started to draw better and better. I feel that his drawing style has become smoother and more dynamic. Which of course is remarkable since he has worked on it for so long. The lines appear smoother on paper. I would almost want to use the word 'schwung', but that is a bit too exaggerated.

And then we have the second part of Bob de Moor. My first impression was that it was certainly worse than that of Jacobs. I had the feeling that he went back to the style of Jacobs’ early period. But maybe it also has something to do with the fact that I knew in advance that someone else had drawn it and that I therefore unwittingly did not start reading the second part without prejudice. When I started to compare the drawings I noticed that I sometimes had to check the cover to check whose drawing I was looking at. This is surely the sign that De Moor has delivered better work than I initially thought. I do not know exactly how long De Moor has been given the time to make this second album, but it must have been no more than three years. Compared with Jacobs, this should be a botch job, but this is certainly not the case.

With this I have noticed that it is certainly worthwhile to occasionally re-read and revalue the albums that are etched in my memory as not so good. I have certainly come to appreciate ‘Professor Sató’s Three Formulae’.

Eva - a Graphic Novel Review

"Excuse me, I got car trouble. May I use your phone to call a garage? "

When Sanne asks this question to the strange occupant of an abandoned country house, I think right a way; is this going to be a second-rate horror story or a bad porn comic? Fortunately, it turns out to be neither of those. Although there is quite a bit of tension and some female nudity, by the way.

Host Yvan has a strange hobby, building lifelike robots. Now is that on itself not that strange, but his attitude towards them is. He conducts whole conversations with them and treats them as if they were real people. Sanne, who of course is forced to stay for a while, soon meets the equally strange twin sister of Yvan; Eve. An sinister story with an exciting ending follows.

This graphic novel comes from one of my favourite series; the Wordt Vervolgd Novels. The reason for this is because publisher Casterman gives the writers and illustrators ample opportunity to structure the story well. Because not everything has to be crammed into 48 pages, the writers can also give the characters a bit more depth this way.

And writer and draftsman Comes also takes the time for that. Although the tempo of 'Eva' from 1985, is somewhat slower than the films of the master of suspense, this graphic novella still feels a bit Hitchcockerian. 'Eva' is a solid psychological thriller of which the story structure and suspense reminds me a bit of that of Psycho. Comes' love for film is not only reflected in the way he writes the story, but also in the fact that he incorporates various film stars into his story. In their own right they are not important for the story, but as a group they are indeed an important part.

This is Comes' second album that I read. The first was 'The Living God' from 1980. As I wrote in a previous review about this album, I had some mixed feelings about it. With 'Eva' he shows that, in the five years that are between these albums, he has rapidly developed himself into a good scriptwriter. I do not want to go as far as to call him brilliant. As I only read two albums, but I have no doubt that he did reach that level later in life. Unfortunately, he died in 2013. He made his last album in 2006. This is entitled 'The Last'. Applicable? I do not know, but it makes me curious.

The Professor's Daughter - a Comic Review

(written on 14-06-1998)

This comic is about an impossible love between an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and the beautiful daughter of an archaeologist. This was very unusual during the days of Queen Victoria. By the way, it is still a bit strange that a young girl falls for the charms of a mummy who is not as dead as he should be. Not to mention that he requites het love.

Emmanuel Guibert and Joann Sfar are the men who created this strange romantic story. On page one it seems as if you ended up in the middle of a story, but it does not feel that you missed something important. In this way, the gentlemen are maintaining a brisk pace throughout the whole story. The continuously plot twists surprises me every time. The humor is in the vein of Monty Python's Flying Circus, everything seems unreal. But instead of laughing out loud, I have a big smile on my face throughout the whole story.

The drawings are inspired by old Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd films. The body language and expression on the faces of the characters are exaggerated. Like they did in the silent film era. This was because the actor could not say that he was happy or unhappy, because he did not have a voice. In one scene the daughter of the professor opens her eyes as wide as possible and her eyebrows almost disappear on top of her head. She brings her hand to her wide open mouth and looks at the body. When her father sees the corpse and asks what all this means, she replies: 'Oh dear! Never seen! Could it have been there for a long time, do you think?’ While she knows exactly what happened. It could be a scene from a silent movie.

Guibert takes the space to give the characters a good shape. Although the environment clearly is less important, some drawings cover an entire page. The lighting is rich in contrast and some scenes are monochrome in color. The charcoal lines are thoughtfully placed in the right place. The watercolor coloring is very soft and nonchalant. This way even the fat characters seem light.

The professor's daughter is a work of art. Both the story and the drawings are of high quality. You would like to remove almost every image, enlarge it and hang it on the wall. Well, at least I would like that.

Mozart and Casanova - een Graphic Novel Review

"Can I be your lapdog for one evening, madam?"
With this chat-up line, the disguised, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has little success with his own wife. No, this method does not help him write an opera about Don Giovanni. He needs to find another way to project himself into Seville's most famous ladykiller. His friend Da Ponte knows exactly the right way to help him. There is, in fact, an equally famous womanizer who, although at an advanced age, can tell him exactly what it takes to melt every woman's heart. Giacomo Casanova.

An original story with ingenious plot twists follows. Mozart gets entangled in a network of spies, murders and other dark affairs. The writer and draftsman Matena doesn’t also portray 18th century Vienna to perfection with his illustrations, but he also has done thorough research into the lives of both Mozart and Casanova. This graphic novel is certainly not a biography of the two men and the encounter between the two is undoubtedly fiction, but this is precisely the strong point of this graphic novel. In music it is sometimes said that you can only improvise well if you know the piece of music through and through. Or was that when acting? Doesn’t matter. The same applies undoubtedly to writing this story. Matena picks up those few elements from both lives of the men he can use well in his work of fiction. The opposite undoubtedly can also be the case. The elements from the lives of both men will also have been a source of inspiration for writing the story.

Although I have great admiration for Matena's contribution to the revaluation of the comic by changing classics from literature into graphic novels, I mus admit to give the preference to comics like this one. 'Mozart and Casanova' may not be literature, but it certainly belongs to the top of the comic fiction.

Fats Waller - a Graphic Novel Review

"I want the tenderness of a woman. I want to get drunk without alcohol. I want to write a hundred musicals, a thousand songs and a tragedy. "
This said jazz legend Fats Waller once against that other jazz celebrity Earl Hines.

The graphic novella 'Fats Waller' is about the tragic life of one of the most influential jazz musicians who lived in an uncertain and depressing time. Normally these are the ingredients that you would rather leave on the shelf were it not that Waller's music had been so cheerful. But there comes no music out of  paper. Yet scenarist Carlos Sampayo writes a fascinating story by choosing to give an impression of the man and the time in which he lived. Not only did Fats need cheerful music, but almost everyone at the time. If it was not because you had lost all your money in the stock market crash of 1929, it was because there was political and social unrest or war. The ordinary man in the street had records of him, the cardinal even loved his 'sinful' music, Nazis and their sympathizers philosophized about how it was possible that a black man could have such a great musical talent and whether it could be possible that Jews were musically superior to the Aryan race.

Sampayo treats only the most important elements in the life of Fats Waller and alternates them with fragments from the life of fictitious figures who are at turning points in history. This gives us a good insight into the impact that Waller made with his music. Sampayo has done so well that I forgive him for not having described Waller's death well enough.

The drawings of Igort are somewhat on the artistic side. It takes some getting used to, but if I look at them more closely I can discover here and there some expressionist elements that vaguely remind me of the paintings of Modigliani. What I find very appropriate since the expressionist era ran from 1905 to 1940 and Fats Waller lived from 1904 to 1943.

Fats Waller has never been lucky in love, he has never been able to get drunk without alcohol, he has not written a hundred musicals, not a thousand songs and no tragedy. But he has made 500 compositions, 360 recorded pieces and an unknown number of musicals. Still very impressive. I do not know any other musician who has accomplished that.

Marée Basse - a Graphic Novel Review

In fiction, in most cases it works like this: the hero wants something, gets into trouble, has to overcome a number of obstacles, often this is accompanied by a fight against a crook, and at the end he or she reaches the goal with which it all began. But every now and then you come across a story like ‘Marée Basse'. This graphic novel starts in the classic way. A pretty young sailor gets into trouble and is picked up by a large cargo ship. It soon appears that the motive for this rescue is not humanitarian. We have a hero, we have a villain and we have the first obstacle; it’s a bit difficult to escape when you’re on the high seas. But after 20 pages, if things start to get exciting, scriptwriter Daniel Pecqueur seems to start a completely different story. Slowly it turns out that a completely different person plays the leading role in this graphic novel.

With this part of the series Long Courrier, Pecqueur proves to be a brilliant screenwriter. He knows how to fascinate me from start to finish. I continuously wonder where this story is this going. There seems to be a deeper message hidden, but what? It seems clear at the end, but I am sure that if I read this graphic novel for a second time I will certainly be as fascinated just as much as the first time. And I will probably also discover new things in it as well. But not only the story structure is very good. The dialogues are also flawless and there are some nice chuckle moments. Anyone who has ever seen a thriller or horror movie knows that it is not so wise to call your dubious host a fool and then volunteer to go to to the hold of the ship.
This is certainly not Pecqueur's ignorance. When this moment occurs we already know that our pretty sailor is not stupid and has already realized that something is not right on this ship. Not only does Pecqueur use this cliché as a joke, he also prepares the reader carefully for the fact that she is not the protagonist.

The beautiful realistic drawings by Jean-Pierre Gibrat make this graphic novel complete. Gibrat knows how to translate the sometimes bizarre elements in the story into visual language. The style reminds me a bit of that of Manara.

To my knowledge this is the only time that Gibrat and Pecqueur have worked together, but I do not think I am the only one who would like to see this combination again.

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets - a Comic Review

This review is about perhaps the most famous reporter in the history of journalism. Actually quite sad that this is a fictional figure and that it was conceived by a man with a dubious reputation. Of course I am talking about the reporter Tintin. Hergé made "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" in 1929 for the magazine "Le Petit Vingtième.

In this first Tintin story, the newspaper "The Small Twentieth” sends reporter Tintin to the Soviet Union to inform readers of what is happening there. Soon it becomes clear that all the positive news that the Bolsheviks tell foreign reporters is a lie. It’s obvious that these Bolsheviks use every possible means to get rid of Tintin who is going to expose them for what they are.

It is clear that the propaganda is splashing off the pages. There is not a single page on which we are not alerted to the imminent danger posed by this new communist state to Western civilization. Is this bad? I would say 'no'. One of the reasons is that anyone who has paid a attention during the history lesson in school can understand that this is not really based on real facts. And for those who have been asleep during class or just too young, the notions of Soviet Union and Bolsheviks will probably mean little, because the Soviet Union no longer exists, the concept of Bolsheviks is no longer used and the Communists no longer pose a threat.

What remains is a story with funny situations being told full speed. The latter is probably because Hergé thought up the story during the making. It has therefore probably become a sequence of action scenes. You can have all sorts of opinions about Hergé as a man and his Tintin comics, but it can not be denied that Hergé had completely changed the comic strip landscape with Tintin. Not only with the way of telling a story, but also with the new drawing style that is called the ‘Klare Lijn’.

Someone from the 'Linkse Socialistische Partij' wrote on his / her blog about the colored reprint that Casterman had issued in honor of 100 years of Russian Revolution: "The very dominant anti-communism is accompanied by all possible clichés." Later this blogger writes: "On the At the end of his life, Hergé justified the propaganda in his first comics by referring to the political context of that time, as if such racist ideas were generally accepted. '
Personally I think Hergé has a point when it comes to this first album. It was 1929, it was normal to find your own country, race and faith superior. Anyone who thinks that the First World War, which ended eleven years before, had brought the nations closer together is mistaken. In September 1917 the German sociologist Max Weber wrote 'Today there is a gang of African and Asian savages on the western front, and a bunch of thieves and tramps from all over the world.'
The Great British Empire had 1.4 million Indian soldiers, France half a million men from Africa and Indochina and the Americans recruited 400,000 African-Americans to their armies. The general tendency was that these soldiers were ‘nothing more than dirty n*gr**s’ who could only serve as cannon fodder. I do not think that this mentality can change much in 11 years. So yes, I think we should put this album in a historical context.

As far as the clichés are concerned, I have to admit that there are quite a few in this comic. Slipping over a banana peel was indeed a cliché even in 1929, but Hergé also invented elements that are now a cliché, but were absolutely original in 1929. Think of a super pocket knife with which you can cut a propeller from a tree trunk. The total absurdity of the idea makes it all the funnier. As far as I know, nobody had used this kind of gadgets before 1929. Now it has become a cliché because it is used so frequently in the popular James Bond films.

After all Tintin albums have read, I have come to the conclusion that "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets' surely is my most favorite.

Hergé on Wikipedia
Hergé on the Comiclopedia
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets on Wikipedia

Légende et réalité de Casque d’or - a Comic Review

Crime, betrayal and the twist of fate. They are not the most upbeat and original themes, but Goetzinger, who wrote both the story and has created the drawings, has managed to deliver an interesting comic in 46 pages.

‘Légende et réalité de Casque d’or’ begins with the stabbing of a Parisian mobster. When the police starts to investigate the queen of the pavement Amélie Hélie, aka Casque d’or, has to fend for herself.

It is refreshing to see that a woman is the main character in this mobster story.
No, the men are even the playthings of the prostitute from the title. When I finished reading this comic I feel a sense of emptiness. It is not that I am disappointed, but I have to think for a moment. At first I thought that feeling came because the story seems superficial. Goetzinger pulls together a number of situations into one story, but when I browse through the comic for a second time, I realize that it is not like a bucket of loose sand. It all has to do with the character of Casque d’or.
She ended up in the prostitution by making one wrong decision and she decides to take revenge on the men who have brought her into this situation. Yet this is not a story of retribution. The situations in which she can avenge herself occur as per accident. But cold-blooded revenge is not so easy. Maybe I put too much into it, but I see a contradiction in the character of Casque d’or. On the one hand she wants to punish this man, but on the other she also loves this criminal. But she has no time to think too much about it, she is not someone who thinks far ahead anyway. That is also the reason that she falls from one situation to another.

If Goetzinger had more pages at her disposal, she could certainly have deepened the story even more and made it more interesting. Her drawings are in any case beautiful and the graphic design also deserves praise. The layout is beautiful and certainly reminds of the art nouveau that was so popular in the time that this story takes place. The only downside I can think of is the colored speech bubbles that are sometimes too dark so that the text is more difficult to read. But that is of course easy to fix with an extra lamp.

Annie Goetzinger op Wikipedia
Annie Goetzinger op de Comiclopedia
Legende en waarheid over Goudkopje op Catwiki

Folies Bergère - a Graphic Novel Review

Verdun, 1918, at the beginning of spring. The soldiers of the 17th infantry company prefer to call themselves the 'Folies Bergère'. Because they have sworn that when everything is over, they go there, to the 'Folies Bergère' in Paris. But their frivolous nickname can not be a sharper contrast to the misery they find themselves in.

This is an album by scriptwriter Zidrou and draftsman Porcel. It is my first acquaintance with both gentlemen. I do know the series 'De Blauwbloezen', of course, but I stopped collecting it before Zidrou took over (had nothing to do with the fact that he took it over). I then certainly tell you that this story is totally different from the humorous series that takes place in the American Civil War.

'Folies Bergère' is a grim and somewhat bizarre story about the ups and downs in the French trenches during the First World War. It is certainly not like all other stories about this terrible war.
The story begins with a soldier who has survived as by a miracle his execution. It would be a bit of a vague story were not that the drawings had been so grim. Porcel's illustrations are almost always in black with sepia. Occasionally he uses red to emphasize the horrors of the battlefield or pink for a dream, then cruelly disturbing the dreaming soldier from that dream by letting him show the harsh reality.

The story that takes place in the trenches alternates with scenes with Monet who is painting his famous water lily paintings. Porcel uses cheerful colors for Monet's paintings and his palette. Maybe I put too much into it, but I see a glimmer of hope in this ruthless drama. An 'annoying' boy is constantly bothering the impressionist, but in his simplicity he makes some remarks that are worth considering. I see in him the hope for the post-war generation. The Great War, a war so gruesome that it had to be the war to end all wars. Wishful thinking, we know now. The people who are in power and make the decision to start a war are not the people who go and die on the field of honor.

Half way through the story comes a moment when I think this would have been a good ending of this graphic novel. But as so many soldiers who fought in this 'War to end all wars' must have thought so many times after every horror they experienced; 'This is too terrible, now the generals have to realize that this must come to an end'. Unfortunately the generals only saw more reason to continue and the realization that it was enough came much too late for far too many soldiers and civilians. Similarly in this story, the story does not only go on, but it gets even more grim.

This graphic novella is difficult to place among all other World War One comics and graphic novels. The album is certainly an indictment of the injustices that occur in a war. It raises the question whether a war is justified. A hard judgment is passed on about the reasons why most of the wars that started in the past were justified.

In short; this is a special album for people with a strong stomach and is a worth while edition to the graphic novel collectors and World War One collectors collection.

Cliff Burton - 'Mystery in Whitehall' and 'The Spirit of Victoria' - a Comic Review

The first Cliff Burton story is divided into two parts; 'Mystery in Whitehall' and 'The Spirit of Victoria'. It is 1921. London is startled by a number of brutal murders. The Yard doesn’t have a clue and ask private investigator Cliff Burton to unravel the mystery and catch the killer. It soon becomes clear that it has something to do with a secret society that Burton eventually leads to India. Although India fell under the Great British Empire since 1858, there were several groups that plead for the independence of India. In England there were also voices heard in favour to gradually give India back its independence.

Rodolphe writes a straight forward detective story. Burton is presented with a problem, he finds some clues and some nice distraction from an attractive lady, gets in trouble and brings it all to a good end. It sounds like a routine job for Rodolphe, who had already had experience in writing detective comics. In the 1980s he wrote the 'Commissioner Raffini' comics in.

Frédéric Garcia's realistic drawings look good. Both the characters and the sets are very detailed. He has not drawn so many different comics, but of the series that he made quite a lot of parts have appeared.

In itself this first Cliff Burton comic is oké if you do not expect a who-done-it or hard-boiled detective stories. My main reason for starting to collect this series was because the stories are set in the 1920s. A time that fascinated me, because of the design and fashion. And Garcia has certainly done his best to draw the fashion, cars and settings veracity.

Rodolphe on European Comics
Rodolphe on the Comiclopedia
Frédéric Garcia on the Comiclopdia

More info on Cliff Burton and where to buy this comic