On Tuesday, September 8, I read Star Trek: Lower Decks by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio, *** a decent stab at telling a new story of the USS Ceritos. I rather liked the animated show this was based on, at least when the writers weren’t indulging their “dubcon” fantasies: it did a very good job of telling self-contained stories in single episodes at a time when Star Trek seemed to have forgotten how to do that. This comic keeps the same referential and reverential tone, riffing on previous holodeck malfunction stories to show us what happens when a holographic Dracula becomes self-aware and autonomous, just as the crew is trying to sort out a second encounter with an alien species that has gone horribly wrong. Not outstanding, but enjoyable.
On Wednesday, September 9, I finished off Moebius Oveures: Les Vacances de Major USA *** which is part of a series collecting the full-colour versions of various odds and ends written and drawn by the celebrated French artist, as they had appeared in Marvel’s US editions, for French readers. Some of the stories are serials, like “Tueur à Gages” (“Paid Killer”), that begin quite normally then head into bizarre territory. I don’t want to seem uncool, but I’d be lying if I said I hugely enjoyed reading this. It made little sense to me, even allowing for the language barrier. Having said that, the ten-page interview with Moebius (or to be specific Gir, the name by which he signed his work on the western title Blueberry) in cartoon form that ends the book offered some interesting insight into his thought processes.
On Thursday, September 10, I finished off Le Châtiment de l'Ombre Jaune by Henri Vernes, *** which is my ninth Bob Morane novel of the year. I have been enjoying them very much, thanks to their enjoyable mix and match of genres. Unfortunately this one doesn’t feature much of Bob Morane, due to the surprising conclusion of La Revanche de l’Ombre Jaune. Instead, nearly all this novel is spent in the company of his friend Bill Ballantine, on a quest to kill the Golden Shadow (as I choose to translate it) in revenge, and he is nowhere near as much fun on his own. He mooches around Burma without much of a plan, and without a buddy to chat with. It doesn’t help that the Shadow’s shtick is getting a bit dull in his fourth appearance. But I was fascinated by how his pronouns switched from “il” to “elle” depending on whether he was most recently referred to as Ming (his given name) or Ombre (a feminine noun). The same thing happens when Bill encounters a guard: “il” when referred to as a garde (masculine noun), “elle” when referred to as a sentinelle (feminine noun). Funny how pronouns work in French – at least when Henri Vernes is writing it!
On Friday, September 11, I finished Blood Squad Seven, Vol. 2: Con Season by Joe Casey and Paul Fry *** which carries on in the same vein as volume one. The new team – Alex Macon, Beté Noir (funny accent placement there), Enigma, Nightstriker, Ripcord 3.0 and the second Infiniti – continue to figure each other out, while being thrown into fights for which they are not ready, having spent more time on media training than combat. A new/old member joins the team, Man of War, a substitute for Rob Liefeld's very similar character Diehard, and he's more robot than human at this point, Plus a gang of old enemies makes a comeback. It's all entertaining enough, though I'm sure it means more to those who were huge Image Comics fans in the nineties, who are bound to be catching references I completely miss.
I spent Saturday, September 12 on a series of five trains, and read a little ebook by Ara Bell, Teleportation Agency, ** a self-published three-chapter story. Maia works at the agency of the title, and her job is to chase down unlicensed and improper use of their personal teleportation devices. It's a tough job because illegal use of them can cause havoc and leave people mangled beyond recognition – especially if they materialise in the middle of the motorway. The concept appealed to me – I have an entire novel in the works about a health and safety inspector! – but even for me there was too much health and safety lecture and not enough plot and action.
Tired out from all that travelling on Saturday, I spent much of Sunday, September 13 fast asleep. But I woke up long enough to finish off Asterix in Lusitania, **** the 41st of the main series, and the second by Fabcaro (aka the novelist Fabrice Caro) and Didier Conrad. 50 BC continues to be a very busy year for Asterix and Obelix. In this album they travel to the land now known as Portugal, in order to help a chap called Unaminess, who has been framed for the attempted murder of Julius Caesar by a rival garum merchant. The book is another good one, having great fun with what I presume is the French view of the Portuguese as slightly maudlin, and there are lots of laugh-out-loud jokes. I was particularly ticked by the restaurant called Deli Furtado and Dogmatix dolefully howling along with a sad song. The art is tip-top, full of detail and beautifully coloured.
