Absolute Favourite Comics: The Third Testament, Xavier Dorison, Alex Alice

Another of my more esoteric favourites:

Pictures only from Book 1: Marc, or The Awakening of the Lion (The Lion Awakes)

Book 2 is called Matheus, or the face of the Angel (The Angel's Face),

Book 3 is called Luke, or the Breath of the Bull (The Might of the Bull),

Book 4 is called John, or the Day of the Raven.

Which I find to be such bad-ass titles I just had to share them.

Pictures might also make it seem as if the story's really sensational, with high octane action coupled with mood shots and gorgeous scenery, and there's that at, sure, but the comic is actually quite slow, wordy and dry, in a good epic slow-burn way. 200 pages of perfect build-up and execution.

France, 1306, and the peacefully sedate lives of a group of Franciscan monks are shook from their isolated routine as an old crypt is uncovered in the monastery's cellars.

It is immediately apparent that there's something deeply wrong in the place.

Old scrolls are found, containing new and dangerous knowledge written by the hands of those alive at the time of Christ.

A short time after, the monastery burns, every monk inside put to the sword, massacred.

And no sign of the scrolls.

In response, the archbishop of Elsenor, coincidentally visited at this time by his foster-daughter Elisabeth, contacts an old friend of his, an ex-inquisitor by the name of Conrad the Marbourg, to find answer as to why the monks needed to die for words written 1200 years ago.

But Conrad is done with the brutal work required of him by the church, and refuses to accept the mission. But there is a hidden hand on the lever of destiny, and Conrad's involvement will be required.

 Before he leaves the city he is accosted by Elisabeth, with claims of a letter sent by him to say that he does accept the task.

Suspicious and worried, Conrad hastens to where his friend is supposed to be and finds another bloodbath.

The archbishop has been crucified, and dying, his last words are to make the terrifying claim that they are living in Hell, and to make a desperate plea for Conrad to take care of Elisabeth.

It swiftly becomes apparent that he has been set up.

Hunted by the authorities and all the might and wealth of the church,

Marbourg is once again a pariah.

But with his oldest friend dead, he sets out to avenge him and to find answers to the mysteries surrounding the missing scrolls. Bereft of her father, swept up in events beyond her control Elisabeth joins him.

But, a dark shadow dogs their quest, and while it comes in the shape of a raven, its true form is as yet inconceivable.

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It's a bit hard to know what I can talk about still without giving too much away.

There's alot of dialogue, interesting and beautiful locations, the mystery and themes at the heart of the narrative are right up my alley (and that should tell you something), the action and set-pieces are all very memorable, Alex Alice' art is all clean lines and beauty, in particular that final panel, which I wish I could just have framed up on my wall.

But that panel is just one of several perfect ones; some scenes are just so well composed, where story and art are married perfectly to give an intense and lasting impression, lending a style and quality to this particular comic that elevates it above many others.

Third testament is Biblically epic, playing out both intimately and on a grand scale, and I absolutely love it.

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Though the four books form a standalone story, with an in my opinion very satisfying conclusion, The Third Testament also has a second cycle to its name, taking place at the origins of the relevant mythology. I haven't read it, as its conclusion with book 5 was released only a month ago in French. I'm hoping this second part will hurry up and get itself translated to English or Dutch quite soon.

Favourite Comics: Long John Silver, Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Lauffrey

After collaborating on the beautifully demonic Prophet (collected in English by publisher Humanoids as The Book of Chaos) Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Lauffray teamed up again for a project that was inspired by a love of Treasure Island and the sense of adventure and the innocence of a better time.

In Long John Silver we follow the beautiful and wily Lady Vivian Hastings as the brother from her presumed dead husband comes back after an extended expedition to find a fabled Mayan city.

Lauffrey's women are unanimously beautiful

Lord Edward Hastings has come back home as his brother's second to take care of his affairs, before returning back to him in South America. Sent to sell everything and to fund a second expedition, he finds that Lady Vivian has not been faithful to her husband and intends to leave her destitute and in a cloister.

But the lady Hastings is a woman to be reckoned with, and fueled with resentment and unwilling to be dependent on her husband or his brother she soon maneuvers herself on board of the expedition and comes up with a plan of her own.

She recruits a certain man to infiltrate the ranks of the ship, to back up her claim on any treasure that the expedition brings. To turn to violence and piracy if need be.

Behold, the cook.

But Long John Silver is past his prime, the age of Skeleton Island a decade behind him, and his motives have ever been in doubt.

What follows over the course of the series' 4 issues is still one of my favourite pirate stories.

It's a story that is as confidently and deliberately paced as only Dorison can make it (see his Third Testament). And backed up by the stunningly moody artwork of Lauffrey it's impossible not to fall in love with it.

Pirate myth and Adventure

There is a moment where the fourth and final season of Black Sails veers from its relatively straightforward but bloody narrative of pirates struggling for independence; the war against the world, and turns straight into something else. The various plot threads are winding down and the decisive confrontations are set to play out, and all that's left is to choose the final stage.

Black Sails was always meant to be a sort of origin story for some of the characters and a prequel to the events of Treasure Island and though it took welcome detours to get to that point, the second the show arrives into the territory of the novel it goes full blown myth.

(This is where I'd show you, but that moment needs to be seen in its context
so I'm not going to spoil this one for you.)

The first moment we see Skeleton Island, our stage for the confrontations to come, the sight is a wholly unexpected one. Sure there were some scattered mentions beforehand, but the writers wisely held off until they could jump it on you unawares. You vaguely know it's coming, but when Flint launches into his 'Tale of Skeleton Island' story and all of a sudden the scene switches, it'll still catch you by surprise.
To the unearthly, echoing sound of a lone violin, slow striking cellos and booming drums, the island comes into view. And it's unlike anything shown in the series up 'till now. Completely uncharted waters in every sense.

It's one of my favourite moments from the show, right up there alongside with 'the becoming of Long John Silver' or the 'Dinner with Alfred Hamilton'.
But it stands apart from those moments, as those were quintessentially scenes and stories the show conceived of itself and then proceeded to make its own, inimitable, whereas this is a moment that must have been working at the back of Steinberg and Levine's minds since the show's conception. One of those scenes that must have loomed large all the while.
And the time they spent on it shows immediately. It is a homage that carries its influence on its sleeve and flawlessly invokes the spirit of wild adventure of Stevenson's novel. Pirate adventure on the lonely high seas, and cursed treasure on mysterious islands.

That sense of adventure and mystery is present in the works some of my fondest remembered authors, like Robert E. Howard, William King or David Gemmell.
It's also what I got from reading volume 10 in the Dark Horse Conan Series this week.

The second we leave the trudge and slush of volumes 8 and 9, and move out of the detritus of war and hit the open water, all of a sudden we're back in a land that's filled with mystery, danger and adventure. It's in my opinion what Howard's Conan tales, more than any other, do best. And it's pleasing to see that Iron Shadows in the Moonlight delivers on this.

Jup, jup, jup. I did scan this one.

Strange adventures on a cursed island.

It's taken me a long while to get to this point in the Dark Horse Conan series because after the phenomenal 6 first volumes, that abrupt change in art style took away too much from my enjoyment. And though it's grown on me since, it did take over 400 pages to do so.
It's also that since that part of the story, the first 6 volumes, was done for a long time afterwards, the clear path just seemed lost. Where before there was stitched together from the Conan tales an all-connecting chronological sequence of events, there now didn't seem to be a clear plot and instead just a lot of filler. Besides, I also read Volume 7 Cimmeria and Volume 0 Born on the Battlefield somewhere in between and to be honest, those were a little dull at times, filled with too much pointless reminiscing and too many different art styles to every truly settle in the mind of the reader. It also was just plain ugly at times.

But in Volume 10 it's revealed where this has all been leading up to: the adaptation of Shadows in the Moonlight and the turning of Conan to piracy. Looking back now, it's quite clear to see. All those scattered mentions and all that random bouncing around was the set-up for this one.
Where in the short story, Conan just seems to become Captain out of the blue, one fight and done, with just a mention of past strife here and there, in the Dark Horse adaptation, from Black Colossus to Free Companions to Iron Shadows in the Moonlight we've really been given that history of animosity, failure, defeat, vengeance and all. Unlike in Howard's tale we have in fact seen the history and it makes what comes next hit all the harder. The payoff is a deliciously good one.

Can I just remark on the dude on the right there who I find to be absolutely hilarious.

But even without all that set-up Iron Shadows is on its own quite a good Conan yarn.
From the start of the volume where scenes indirectly hinted at in the short story come to full life, to Olivia's narration, to the focused violence in the battle scenes, it was a definite improvement to the aimless mucking around in the dirt of the previous volumes. It reminded me of how Dark Horse's Kull: The Shadow Kingdom perfected the original story by adding a prologue and epilogue to it. Then, like here, they kept the tale as it was, but grounded it and gave it its own spot in a larger narrative by just a little bit of elaboration.

It's made me interested again to seek out what comes next in the Dark Horse Conan saga, Conan the Pirate, and though I haven't heard much about 11 and 12, and heard only about the bad from the Bêlit era, I've always loved a good tragic love story. And I've also heard that it's advisable to read those 4 volumes in one go anyway, so that you have a clear conclusion to be working up to, so I'll be doing that sometime in the next few months.

In the meantime though. Shadows in the Moonlight, with its violence and dark and moody adventure, also reminded me of another epic Pirate comic. It, together with Black Sails and Treasure Island form my rather unofficial 'Pirate Trilogy', stretched over three types of media.
It's another one of those that the American readers among you may not have heard from...

I'm talking of Course about Long John Silver.

Continued in the next Post.

Fun with Richard Williams and a short look at the Master at Arms comic

You know what?

 Here's another. Just because I had such a good time with him.

This one gives some good insight into how much research went into the novel: On murder strokes, writing for the Black Library, some vigorous live reading and the inspiration for one of the training masters in the book; Hans Talhoffer, which reminded me of Dorison's Master at Arms, and more on that below...

That's, of course, not why I post it, or at least not solely why... but rather because this man is a genuinely funny guy. For specifics 6:07 and onwards :)

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Meanwhile, down here below, in Xavier Dorison and Joel Parnotte's Master at Arms comic the eponymous main character is called Hans Stalhoffer.

(and I don't need to explain why one reminded me of the other now, do you?)

No matter what the subject, Dorison is always an interesting writer (to me), as he usually manages to include his ruminations on religion in whatever story he's telling. But in contrast to most of his other stories, there are no supernatural elements present in the comic here. The story of Master-at-arms is in fact closer to his earlier 'Asgard' story in terms of its realism than anything like Sanctum or Third Testament, with their overt supernatural elements, but it nonetheless still focuses on Christianity as the primary canvas on which to paint a more realistic story.

Religion is still very central to the tale being told as we follow around disgraced master at arms Hans Stalhoffer as he comes out of self-imposed exile to come to the aid of a young Huguenot trying to escape catholic persecution. No world-ending or world-changing storyline here and the tale is much smaller in scope than I'm used to from Dorison but nonetheless manages to pack quite an emotional punch when it concludes.

Le Maitre d'Armes or (wrongly translated as) Swordmaster in English is on of my absolute favourite comics and I've long wanted to do a review on it. I guess it doesn't hurt to show you a little bit though huh?

As it says at the bottom. This is page 8... out of a 96 page comic.

What you've seen is just the bloody set-up and there's plenty more carnage where that came from.

But don't go and be expecting this one to be all about the bloodshed though, no, the story between the pages is a good one, it's deliberate and quite emotionally impactful.

As always, if you take your time with your fiction, you're more likely to be rewarded than if you just dive in looking for cheap thrills. There's a place for that too of course, but given the subject matter in this one, expect it to have more up its sleeve than just an outporing of gore.

Run-up to a special comic

Like in alot of my doings I seem to have an inability to contain myself and this particular comic review eventually widened to also become about my comic experiences in getting to it. Two posts then. One the professional (HAHAHAHA) review, the other; this one. The Run-up.

When I seriously got into comics in, I think in September of 2013, there were a few names that I was going to try out, just going off, primarily, on their movie adaptations.

Urban Dredd

There were the fun Hellboy movies with lovecraftian monsters and its loveable demonic hero. The famously bloody but flawed, bat-shit insane 30 Days of Night horror film. The utterly badass demonslaying Constantine movie, which afterwards I found out about that nobody liked (sucks for them I guess).

Judge Dredd had a movie in its future that everyone agreed was looking pretty spot-on and that I also liked the look of, (it wasn't a superhero movie and it had undertones of satire and was described, both comic and movie, as being superviolent). I also loved and had endlessly rewatched the V for Vendetta film, which I still consider pretty much a perfect movie, and that's not just because of Natalie Portman. Although... damn. Look at that face.

Incidentally, the first physical dvd I ever bought,
back in the time when every purchase was still of monumental significance.

So in short order I bought Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, the then just newly releasing editions for  Vertigo's Hellblazer series, the Judge Dredd Case Files and the library editions of Hellboy. And then as I didn't want to read the popular Conan at the time, but loving anything with swords and scowling dudes hacking at each other's throats, I looked for something similar but different. I ended up with the irish battle-loving Slaine and the short-lived but much loved by me: Valen the Outcast.
Later I picked up some more comics which I had heard were good. Sandman, Wasteland, Hellspawn and of course the beautiful Saga. After that the list widens significantly enough and quickly enough that I'll forego writing down the rest. In short, in my new discovery, I was quite spoiled and I had alot of fun.

Meanwhile though, I had forgotten about one of those earliest comics that I had actually wanted to check out.

So, a year after having purchased my very first comic collection; Hellblazer: Original Sins, on august 2014 I finally got to the 30 days of night comic.

I've always been drawn to the dark and the cover art was some rather messed up disgusting stuff, so I had high hopes going in.

But when it arrived and I finally got to it I was at first a little stunned. Like Hellboy and Hellblazer and V for Vendetta it wasn't at all what I thought it would be. The art was unlike what I had expected, with yet again no clean lines and highly impressionistic artwork.

You need to understand that I grew up in Belgium and whatever comics I picked up as a kid, were all endowed with clean line art by artists like Vandersteen, Hergé or Uderzo. I wasn't quite prepared for the wide variety of artistic approach in american comics.

Suske en Wiske,
likely better known as Bob et Bobette.

But I've never been one to put down a book once begun and the story swiflty drew me in and the artwork quickly grew on me. The more I read it, the more I loved it. 

Eben and Stella. What a gorgeous and horrifying romance, what a story. And the art: So many things were unique and memorable; the disturbing faces, the contrast of blood-red and snow-white, the shocking violence and of course the visual uniqueness of the vampires themselves. I also loved the complicated but funny and yet extremely dark Juarez or Lex Nova and the Case of the 400 Dead Mexican Girls, it's easily my favourite of the 30 days cycle and I ocassionally go back and have a quick re-read.

So then, mainly the reason for this post; Ben Templesmith's art.

Nobody does faces and subtlety like Ben Templesmith. Nobody has his style, this ever-present thing that constantly gives off almost tangible mood. It's wholly unique, and the people that inevitably try to emulate him fail woefully.

It's an artstyle I've fallen more in love with the longer I'm acquainted with it and it's a surprise then to find that I've only read Hellspawn and the 30 days of Night cycle. I usually go for stories and pick the best of the best, the most well known and critically acclaimed and never really pick up a comic for its art, so I guess it's not really that surprising.

Anyway, many comics and much reading later something new caught me eye. I had kept hearing again and again some positive murmurings concerning a certain comic book.

A series llustrated by Ben templesmith and with writing duties by Warren Ellis.

Warren ellis I thought I wasn't familiar with despite him doing a brieft stint in Hellblazer, and as I hadn't read beyond the 9th (I think) omnibus I haven'gotten to his run yet.
But a quick rummage through his bibliography revealed that we had had prior engagement before and that it was rather mixed at best.

Wolfskin was a comic I bought that I thought might be good, anything with violent loner barbarians catches my fancy, you know. But the writing was only semi-good and the art was typically grotesquely hideous for Avatar Press. Hey, I'm trying to reserve judgement but either you like it or you don't.

Wolfskin volume 2: the Hundreth Dream however, was more than just a step in the right direction. Both in art and in story it was a leap, nay 'twas a glorious bound straight into the heart of my fun place. Companionable banter while following around a group of tough dudes who eventually have to stand up, unflinching, in the face of certain death, with bloody blade and gore-drenched axe, fighting for a cause.

But I guess either way it's a dumb thing to go into a Swords and Fantasy comic looking for a great storyline. This was my first story experience with him and it wasn't the best, but that didn't mean he wasn't good. He has high credits even if this one wasn't exactly one of them. He was the one who wrote Transmetropolitan, you know, which I gather is a big thing if you're into satire.

And even then, I figured, if I don't like it, it's only one trade paperback.
So with dubious writing credits and art that I really wanted to see more of, I stopped worrying about it and I took the plunge.

And so I ordered Fell: Feral City.

Book Haul

A very nice book haul. Most have already been read in one form or another, I just purchased those to complete a collection or to back a certain favorite author of mine. And then there are some books or comics which are uncharted territory.

Hellboy v6-v9
I actually already have the 6 Library editions but for some dumbass reason I thought it'd be a good idea to collect the individual Hellboy paperbacks as well.

Mignola Covers

Then there is Abe Sapien 1,

which I'm already regretting having bought.
It's very likely this series will be collected in sumptuous hardcovers by Dark Horse anytime in the future. And now that I've bought this trade paperback, I feel that I have to purchase the rest of the series in matching trades. But you know, for a dark mythology afficianado like myself, you can't really go wrong with the Mignola Verse so I won't complain that much. Slightly creased at the top, though.

Klaagzang van de verloren gewesten. Which is usually translated as Lament of the Lost Moors.
Which is a good-looking hardcover matching the collection for cycle 1, and offers more value than if you'd just buy the 4 individual comics.

I don't know what happened to it, but it looks like somebody took a knife to the spine and I'm none too pleased about that.
I'll keep it though as anything I get I always keep. and if I sent it back somebody would just have to throw it away.

Received from Bol.com.

The German version of Heroes Die, collected in 2 books with pretty great covers. They're certainly better than the fucking HIDEOUS e-book covers for the english editions of the Acts of Caine (Who the hell is responsible for those things? they actively stop people from buying them! Apparently there's a bunch of stuff wrong with them in digital print as well).
Also note the cover blurb from two popular authors Scott Lynch and John Scalzi. Still need to read The Lies of Locke Lamora, now that I think of it.

Ooow yeah!

The Cut-off point for book 1 is "Caine couldn't do more damage if he himself was an Aktiri." which is a pretty nice ironic line to end book 1 on.
I bought these 2 for various reasons; because I love the Acts of Caine and I wish to endorse it and its author Matthew Stover in any way possible, also because the covers looked good and because I was curious as to how the entire Acts of Caine was collected in 2 books (turns out it wasn't, it's just book 1 split into 2 paperbacks, which explains why I didn't recognize the Overworld title) and because occasionally I get excited about doing something and even more occasionally that thing is learning to read and/or speak german. This desire naturally cools by the time my books get here. But hey, never say never.

Oh yeah, go buy Heroes Die!

Then we have the books and comics which will be read sooner rather than get shoved onto my TBR shelf for later.

Leviathan by Ian Edgington.

I was watching some 2000ad youtube videos and this one got endorsed by Mike Molcher, the pr-guy for 2000ad, and some things he said about it made it seem like it would be right up my alley.
I've now found out that writer Ian Edgington has some few other comics (un)officially set in the same universe, all which seem to contain Lovecraftian horrors and some other stuff and as it's just a few more paperbacks from titles that can be read on their own I'll purchase those quite soon.

The "A Land Fit For Heroes" trilogy by Richard Morgan.

I loved the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, Woken Furies in particular with its hints at cosmic horror (that one scene actually, shut up), and since swords and Fantasy is in general just more my thing I thought I'd like this trilogy too. They look like pretty compact books. Gay protagonist and explicit sex. very violent. Sounds great.

Not completely matching spines, but they do actually look
Like they belong together... Maybe?

I also have the lettered subterranean press editions for the first 2 books. which both look fucking stunning. I'm pretty sad because I don't think that Subterranean will ever get round to printing The Dark Defiles. Poor sales, I figure, I mean; I was able to buy the Lettered edition which was up months after initial pre-order, that should tell you something.

This trilogy will be read after I finish off both the Night Angel trilogy and The Kusiel's Legacy Trilogy.
Oh and by the way, Filming has just begun on book 1 of the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy so If you're into Science Fiction with violence and pretty sexy sex (:p), that would be a good book to read or you could just look forward to seeing the adaptation on the small screen later this year.

Now, this one I'm really looking forward to;
Seven to Eternity.

I've been eyeing the Fear Agent library editions for some time now but as I did think that they were a bit expensive I held off. Having heard alot of good things of Rick Remender I looked around a bit in his catalogue and upcoming in 2017 was "Seven to Eternity" I read some of the blurb and when my eye caught sight of "An evil God" I immediately stopped reading and blindly ordered it.
Seven to Eternity was also made by the same collaborative team that worked on Fear Agent. So when I've read this, I'll have a good estimate of how much I would like Fear Agent.

And then there's the prequel to "Your Highness".
Comprising two very short comics, "Knight" and "Dazed",  together having some mild wordplay.

I'm not expecting great things from this one, but I had a good laugh at the movie so I'l give it a go anyway.

Now, no more books to look forward to until at least the end of March.

Maybe Fear Agent and some Edginton? Who knows?