The Best Of Euro Comics: Cinebook’s Titles For June — Two New ‘XIII’ Books And A New Series Going Beyond Time & Space

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 June titles right here…

The world of Euro Comics is huge, unbelievably huge to those of us in the English-speaking (and reading) world. In Europe comics are the ninth art, elevated to this lofty height thanks to a history of readers holding comics up as examples of the best in literature and the arts. And as a result, the sheer number of titles published in Europe and the readership they achieve is something US comics can only really dream of – or at least the old, inaccurately labelled ‘mainstream’ of US superhero comics.

Anyway, for many years, Cinebook have been giving us the very best of the 9th Art/Euro Comics – a whole wide world of comics that have been neglected by English-speaking comic readers for far too many years. With 99 titles and nearly 700 books (and rising), they publish a selection of the finest Euro comics every month, consistently showing us English-speakers just how incredibly diverse and impressive Euro Comics have always been.

For June, Cinebook have another three great-looking titles to enjoy – including two more in the XIII Mystery series that explores the lives of some of the characters that made Van Hamme and Vance‘s XIII series such an explosive and wonderful read over the years. We have Yann and Henninot diving into the history of XIII’s greatest ally, Jones, in XIII Mystery Vol 3: Little Jones, to look at the dramatic events that shaped her. After that, volume 4 by Alcante and Francois Boucq concentrates on the past of Colonel Amos.

The third title for June is something new by Florence Morgan, Emilie’s Inheritance, a series that promises to take the titular Emilie from her inheritance of an Irish estate and castle to beyond space and time. It sounds like a perfect example of the sort of book Euro Comics do so very, very well.

Okay, more on each of these closer to the time, but here’s a look at the covers and the Cinebook PR for each book…

Emilie’s Inheritance Volume 1: The Hatcliff Estate
By Florence Magnin
Published by Cinebook on 20 June 2024

A young, penniless Frenchwoman inherits an estate in Ireland – and discovers there a slew of secrets that’ll take her beyond space and time.

Ireland, 1801. Two men are walking across the moors when they chance upon an unearthly mausoleum lost in the mists. 122 years later, Emilie Bertin, a cabaret singer going through difficult times, is contacted by a lawyer, who explains that she is the only heir to a man who vanished in mysterious circumstances, and now stands to inherit a castle and estate … in Ireland. Thus begins for Emilie the most fantastic of journeys.

Even before starting her career as an illustrator, Florence Magnin’s head was always full of fairy tales and fantastic stories. She drew book covers, card decks, roleplaying games, board games … Her universe of ghosts, sprites and unicorns lives side by side with a sort of oneiric science-fiction. In 1990 she went into comics, creating with Rodolphe L’autre Monde and Black Mary (soon to be translated by Cinebook), before venturing into solo work with Emilie’s Inheritance.

XIII Mystery Vol. 3: Little Jones
By Yann and Eric Henninot
Published by Cinebook on 20 June 2024

Jones — crack pilot, elite operative, XIII’s oldest and best friend. What kind of childhood could have forged the iron lady we know?

Chicago, the Seventies. Life is tough when you’re an orphan in the streets — and even more so if you’re black. Little Jones, 10, doesn’t even know her real name. All she has is a brother who flirts with the Black Panthers, a streak of cunning and determination a mile wide, and a dream: that of some day enlisting in the Army. A chance encounter with war hero Major Whittaker will change her life forever…

XIII Mystery Vol. 4: Colonel Amos
By Alcante and Francois Boucq
Published by Cinebook on 20 June 2024

The dogged, one-armed FBI agent we first saw hunting XIII became one of his staunchest allies. Now it’s time to discover his mysterious past.

Colonel Amos is the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. His current investigation sends him on the trail of an agent of Mossad — Israeli intelligence. The ensuing operation — a joint FBI/CIA effort — will prove to be a difficult one. Not only because of the agent’s skill, or because the colonel and his CIA counterpart Giordino don’t get along, but also because before coming to the USA, Samuel Amos was a founding member of Mossad…