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fongolia's review
2.0
Great art, but pretty mediocre stories. Veers unevenly between slapstick and real world seriousness.
littleredhat's review
5.0
This is another double volume of adventures starring the Parisian private detective, and the second of only two English-language versions currently available. Having enjoyed the first, I bought this right away and was excited to read it, but also reluctant, as I knew no more stories would be forthcoming... unless I muddle through the originals with my sub-par French skills!
The titular story concerns an art dealer who is drowned, along with his car, on Devil's Strait – a beach road where bad timing can lead to the tides dragging you to your doom. But was it a tragic accident, or a murder? This is followed by "Catch As Catch Can", wherein a dangerous convict mysteriously escapes from prison by seemingly just jumping right over an eight-foot wall. During his trial, he swore to kill the lawyer who had him put away: will he follow through on his threat?
Inspector Crouton has a greater presence in this book – his benign bumbling complimenting both Crackerjack's (I still prefer "Dragonfly"!) corny jokes and Jordan's serious straight-laced devotion to his sleuthing, creating a very entertaining trio of characters. Even Miss Midge gets a few extra scenes here and there!
There are some incredible action moments in this album – particularly our heroes' own perilous experience at Devil's Strait in the former story, and Jordan's many scrapes with death as he becomes a target in the latter. You can even tell where the original strips stopped on a cliffhanger, and despite the next page being right there, some of them still make you draw in breath and get the pulse racing.
Humour remains very present, however. Whilst it never detracts from the tension, it creates lighter moments in between the action scenes that counter them very well, and they flesh out the characters in an amusing yet believable manner. On a final note, Tillieux's artwork is truly beautiful, and all of these factors combined makes this one of the best bande dessinée albums I've ever read.
The titular story concerns an art dealer who is drowned, along with his car, on Devil's Strait – a beach road where bad timing can lead to the tides dragging you to your doom. But was it a tragic accident, or a murder? This is followed by "Catch As Catch Can", wherein a dangerous convict mysteriously escapes from prison by seemingly just jumping right over an eight-foot wall. During his trial, he swore to kill the lawyer who had him put away: will he follow through on his threat?
Inspector Crouton has a greater presence in this book – his benign bumbling complimenting both Crackerjack's (I still prefer "Dragonfly"!) corny jokes and Jordan's serious straight-laced devotion to his sleuthing, creating a very entertaining trio of characters. Even Miss Midge gets a few extra scenes here and there!
There are some incredible action moments in this album – particularly our heroes' own perilous experience at Devil's Strait in the former story, and Jordan's many scrapes with death as he becomes a target in the latter. You can even tell where the original strips stopped on a cliffhanger, and despite the next page being right there, some of them still make you draw in breath and get the pulse racing.
Humour remains very present, however. Whilst it never detracts from the tension, it creates lighter moments in between the action scenes that counter them very well, and they flesh out the characters in an amusing yet believable manner. On a final note, Tillieux's artwork is truly beautiful, and all of these factors combined makes this one of the best bande dessinée albums I've ever read.
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