
Cinebook the 9th Art Publisher 2009
By Francis Bergèse
Coloured by Frédéric Bergèse
Translated by Jerome Saincantin
Lettered & Text Layout by Imadjinn Sarl
An American pilot is shot down at the border between North and South Korea. While his colleagues cover up the whole incident so as to avoid a diplomatic disaster, Buck Danny is in charge of bringing the pilot back to the US. In the heart of the hostile jungle, a lethal game of hide-and-seek begins. Can Buck Danny find the American pilot before the North Koreans?
Alright so this I found either on ComiXology or another place on the world wide web but it was a different title and I saw, thought it more all-ages than I think it is, and wanted to start with volume one. They graciously assisted me and here we are. I am a fan of war books and more recently than ever before and by looking at the cover I was incredibly intrigued and with that one look alone I had to see what it is all about. This is the first volume but it’s an already character you can see this in the way the characters interact with one another. I like it this way it gives the reader a better understanding of the team dynamic and their way of joking around with one another so there’s no guesswork with who’s who and who does what.
I really like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see here through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is extremely well presented. As a matter of fact that this a double sized issue and how well this is structured or laid out it feels like so much more than that. The character development is frakkin amazing and it’s really rather easy to pick up on who is who and that this diverse group of men who make up Buck’s team are as much family to each other though loathe to admit I think. The pacing is fantastic and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we get to see how well this book is structured and how the ebb & flow has been created.
I found myself loving certain aspects of this book and then some personalities which at first I thought was abrasive until I kept getting further into this. Just the fact that we can see the evolution of the characters with the story and it makes this so much more than you initially think it’s going to.
The interiors here are absolutely phenomenal to see! The linework is exquisite and to see the varying weights as well as various techniques being utilised to spotlight the attention to detail blows me away. All it took was one look to know that this was going to impress me throughout and boy howdy does it ever do that. The way that backgrounds are being utilised is marvellous as they work at enhancing the moments as well as working within the composition of the panels bringing us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. I am gobsmacked by the look of the uniforms, the planes, and the faces and facial features are so expressive which adds to their characterisation. The hair and the hairstyles are amazingly throwback to a bygone era that I wish was still around, their manners, attention to dress, hair and all that all speak volumes. The colour work we see is simply divine. The attention to detail in the colours, especially in the fatigue’s being worn, is some truly masterful work. The various hues and tones from within the colours and how they are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work just feels like we’re seeing work based off of photographs.
The storytelling is absolutely amazing. While this is a completely modern story, as seen through the planes and the countries we see, it still has this feel of something like Dan Dare would be a part of. It blends yesterday, today and even tomorrow in such ways that are exciting and leave the reader in awe as we want to see more. This is something I believe you need to have in your library, you thank me for it when you’ve read it. This is engaging the readers' mind, lighting up the creativity and imagination we all possess and it is just an overall beautifully done book.