The Best Of Euro Comics: Cinebook’s Titles For February 2024
by Richard Bruton
Every month the publisher Cinebook brings us the very best of the incredibly rich and diverse world of European comics, and we’ve got the previews of their February titles right here…
If you’re anything like me, your experience of European comics might have been limited to the brilliance of Tintin, Asterix, and Lucky Luke (for which I am always so thankful to Dudley public library for giving young me access to some of my first comics this way – always support your public libraries.)
But the years have taught me that the Euro comics are way more than those three classic series, full of a variety of genres and titles that continually live up to the European elevation of comics as the Ninth Art.
The publisher Cinebook have been been bringing us English language versions of the finest in Euro comics for many years now and every month they bring us some fine, fine comics, just like they have this February, with the classic comedic wonder of Andre Franquin’s Marsupilami, given new life by Yann & Batem, the wartime thrills of classic Buck Danny from Frédéric Zumbiehl, Frédéric Marniquet, and Jean-Michal Arroyo, and the part X-Files, part Sherlock Holmes adventures of Harry Dickson by Luana Vergari, Doug Headline, and Onofrio Catacchio, from the classic pulp stories of Jean Ray.
So, here’s a little of what to expect from Cinebook in February…
Buck Danny Classic volume 6 – Red Alert – by Frédéric Zumbiehl and Frédéric Marniquet; illustrated by Jean-Michal Arroyo
Buck and his friends have managed to recover the blueprints of the Soviet supersonic bomber, but they’re stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, with the entire Stasi hunting them. To maximise the chances of someone making it out, they decide to take different routes. But while Tumb and Sonny return to East Berlin with the blueprints, Buck chooses to go and destroy the existing prototypes on their base in Russia – what amounts to a suicide mission …
Harry Dickson Volume 1 – Mysterion – by Luana Vergari and Doug Headline, from a story by Jean Ray; illustrated by Onofrio Catacchio
Famous investigator Harry Dickson is just back in London after some well-deserved holidays, and already Scotland Yard are seeking his help again, for there are very strange events afoot. A famous heiress and writer, Delphina Cruikshank, has vanished from a locked house. The corpse of an executed murderer has disappeared … while the doctor who was autopsying him was murdered. And Mysterion, Miss Cruikshank’s new character, may not be entirely fictional!
Marsupilami volume 9 – The Butterfly and the Treetop Squid – by Yann & Batem, created by Andre Franquin
The Palombian jungle is a cornucopia of strange and mysterious animal and vegetal species. Among those, a butterfly whose female has never been captured is the object of the ambitions of many scientists – and competition causes conflicts. A situation that the Marsupilami, who hates having his nap interrupted, finds positively unacceptable … although the opportunities to play with this new treetop research lab that’s suddenly appeared might make up for the inconvenience!
