Yoko Tsuno (4) : Daughter Of The Wind

This series gets better and better, the first 2 were admittedly a bit odd and hard to get into but Book 4 really builds on the wonderful mystery of #3 to give us a terrific adventure involving typhoons, international intrigue and hi-tech toys that look like they came straight out of a Gerry Anderson show.

What i like about these Yoko Tsuno stories is that the author isn't afraid to give the character a past, and some background story which really adds to the appeal of the character. Otherwise she would be just a pretty geek who gets involved with sci-fi adventures for some random reason. This story involves her family and the sort of scientific work they are involved in and as well as that we discover her childhood mentor.

Its a well paced and intriguing story and even has some ninjas in it. Any story with ninjas in is a win of course. If the third book reminded me a bit of a Famous Five or Scooby Doo mystery then this one is more like a Gerry Anderson or Japanese anime. Both work really well with a character like Yoko. The artwork too is truly superb. Highly recommended.

Asterix and the Soothsayer

Not the very best Asterix book but still a very good story. This one tackles the issue of charlatans and irrational beliefs when a conman soothsayer descends on the Gaulish village by chance and quickly discovers that many of them are very gullible indeed. He then begins to live the life of luxury by telling the villagers what they want to know (becoming rich, successful et cetera) in return for free food. When the Romans discover his "power" over the villagers then the very existence of the village itself is in question...

This probably has one of the more adult plots in the series with plenty of social comment, such as how the best way to control men is through their women, and the best way to control them is to play on their anxieties and insecurities. How irrational belief can take hold of a community and end up with rational members being sidelined. You can also see some delicious satire against marketing and advertising and how it can blur our realities...

Overall it is not quite up the level of the very best Asterix books in terms of humour and action (the former is often very subtle but often inspired - one favourite was the soothsayer not minding that a goose bought to him to read didn't have entrails as he was fed up reading tripe - and the latter takes awhile to get going) although it is one of my favourites (indeed the second one i ever read) but still very worth your while.

Blake & Mortimer (3) : The Mystery Of The Great Pyramid Part 2

Part 2 of the Mystery of the Great Pyramid carries on from the brilliant Part 1, a lavish and intense adventure with wonderful artwork by Edger P. Jacobs.

The story takes on a more fantastical air in this second volume (part 1 being a more straight forward adventure with the occult mysteries of the pyramids as a backdrop). Here we delve head first into the ancient mysteries of Egypt. At its best Blake & Mortimer mixes classic adventure serials with occult mysteries or mysterious science and it is bang on the money here.

It is not flawless, like many of the Blake & Mortimer volumes it is a very dense piece of work with perhaps a little too much text. Everything has to be explained even if the artwork makes it clear what is happening, though in some ways it adds to the tension of the story by making the stories a little claustrophobic. Plenty to read then and plenty to wonder over. Highly recommended.

Pandora's Box (3) : Gluttony

The unenlightened and sneering type often deride comics as being only for children only or comprise only space battles and school hi-jinks. I'm not sure how they could handle a comic story about Mad Cow disease and factory farming but hopefully it would dent their incorrect world view a tad.

Thats exactly what we have here in Pandora's Box Vol.3: Gluttony, volume 3 in the Pandora's Box series (obviously). Each volume features a story based around one of the seven deadly sins and drawing inspiration on Greek myth. This story is on gluttony and how better to illustrate that story with modern agribusiness?

This beautifully illustrated story really engages with you and packs a powerful political punch. It targets not only the greed of agribusiness but also the consumers who want ever greater quantities of cheap meat. What is the true cost though, it could be deadly as this story points out.

Really this story needs to be read by everyone, i think it could bring home the message of the dangers and immorality of the likes of battery hens and modern factory farming more than a hundred dry editorials and newspaper articles could. Cinebook can only be applauded for translating and publishing quality pieces of work from the Continent for the British market, long may they continue!

Heather & Rose - the prickly pair (Judy Story Picture Library For Girls 223)

Following on from my review of a Judy annual lets review a picture story library book too. All of the popular comics especially from the DC Thomson stable produced these handy sized pamphlets back in the 70s and 80s, concentrating on just the one story. The one is about some girls from a Scottish children's home who go down to London to stay at a children's home there.

Everyone gets on great apart from two girls who fight continually and seem to hate each other. Oddly enough though when they play doubles in table tennis they blow everyone else away, its like they can read each other's thoughts.

Things come to a head when the two girls find they both have identical photographs of a woman who they think is their long-lost Mother. Are they sisters?

Its a great example of a British comic of the late 70s/early 80s. A bit twee perhaps but you get a picture of Classic Nouveaux on the back cover and if that isn't cool what is?

Judy Annual For Girls 1979

Well it is quite easy to know what British boys wanted from their comic book annuals (at least up until the 1980s) : war, spaceships, sport and more war. What about the girls? Lets take a look at the 1979 annual of the Judy girls comic. Of course there was no reason why boys couldn't read this just as no reason why girls couldn't read Battle but lets face it... few did.

A shame of course as the stories are interesting and a bit more varied than you often found in boy's comics. Take "The Summer House" which is a delightful little tale of evil spirits and gypsy curses! We also have stories about singing contests, a nurse, snow ball fights and a schoolgirl vet. All very innocent and maybe a bit twee these days and a bit stereotyped (naturally ponies crop up a few times) but thats fine in the grand scheme of things.

There does seem a rather overt moral tone behind some of the stories too, it probably is too late for me.

Asterix in Britain

When Asterix goes abroad often we are treated to a barrage of sometimes-crude but usually-hilarious national stereotypes and when Asterix visited our shores he found a land inhabited by tweed wearing stiff-upper lipped gentlemen who said "what?" a lot and drank warm beer. There is an element of truth in all stereotypes of course, what?

Asterix and Obelix come to Britain to deliver a barrel of magic potion to help the Britons out in their struggle against the Romans, unfortunately the barrel goes missing... and our heroes try and retrieve it before the Romans find it.

This truly is one of the best Asterix books, the humour is spot on, the story plotted and paced perfectly and the artwork is approaching its zenith. It can maybe be a bit wearing for all of the Britons to be posh ancient toffs and the stereotypes are a bit out of date now (our food has improved a bit from the days of boiled boar with mint sauce) but its still very good indeed. There are so many high-points to choose from but i especially liked the ancient Beatles, the endless warm beer jokes and the cart thief.

See how the French discovered rugby and tea became our national drink, you can learn so much history from these books...

Star Wars #42

I enjoyed reviewing the old Star Wars comic i found in my loft so much that i bought another of the Marvel comic series on Ebay. Number 42 this time, which i did have as a childhood as oddly i remember Han Solo's buff body in one scene as he is stripped to the waist and having steam or some kind of vapour blown over him. Er... yeah moving on...

Set in between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back this has the Rebel gang stuck on some kind of massive space station. Luke and Leia and the 2 droids are on the run from a Senator Greyshade meanwhile Darth Vader is searching for a cyborg rival. In the exciting cliffhanger Han Solo is forced into a gladiatorial combat where he is shocked to find out his opponent is Chewbacca!

The highlight of everything is the cover though, and boy does Darth Vader look angry! I suspect The Emperor erased all his unseen episodes of Masterchef off his Sky Plus.