Buck Danny Classics 10 - The Hunt for Molotok-41

 

Authors: Frédéric Zumbiehl and Frédéric Marniquet; illustrated by André Le Bras
Age: 12 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages:  48 colour pages
 ISBN: 9781800441804

£8.99 incl VAT

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/buck-danny-classics-hunt-molotok-p-4594.html

1958. Buck Danny continues the covert operation intended to rescue American nuclear scientists kidnapped by the USSR in 1951. Unfortunately, nothing goes as planned, and Buck and friends find themselves struggling to escape the clutches of deadly SMERSH operatives – the Red Army’s counter-intelligence arm … From Russia to Iran and Turkey, from desperate dogfights in the air to commando operations on the ground, courage and consummate skill will be the key words of this conclusion to a two-part story. 

First thing: although Cinebook lists vol 9 on its site re Buck Danny Classics none of the other volumes showed up and 10 is nowhere to be found. I had to do an internet search to actually find the details... on the Cinebook site!!! No idea what is going on there but I';ve given the links to save you getting an headache.

Now, a spoiler but not a major one: in the last book Sonny was arrested for the murder of someone close to him. Away from Buck and his friends things look like they might get a little rough but one thing is certain: Sonny is toughing it out.

Meanwhile Buck and friends are knee deep in action and at one point things are looking a little bleak for them until "someone" rescues them!

Gun fights, shark attack and more than a few surprises are in store for any avid reader of this series and the rather sinister organisation that just lost its leader has a new one appointed: none other than Miss Lee -and she is one Sonny's revenge list!

And The Responses Were.....

 I was asked by someone how my last "Who would be in your UK created super team?" went. I had to check as I have posted the same thing....seven times over the last few years. Checking and doing a rough count of responses I came up with...

None.  My mistake was not realising that most CBO views are from outside the UK. Mind you, twice I have posed the same question for Germany and France. Same lack of response. Hmm.  Here is a new one:

Who would feature in your dream Belgian super team of heroes?

I'll leave it a week and then ask the same about the Netherlands. If I was a betting man I would bet on zero responses!

Black Tower Super Heroes: Werewolves

 

86pp

A4

Black and white

£10.00 UK 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/black-tower-super-heroes-werewolves/paperback/product-84wwge7.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The Prof, investigator of the paranormal, encounters two werewolves in Castle Park...and Devilina who has a "sort of" message for him. Kotar, Sabuta, Lady Silana, Tarot and others deal with new werewolf activity and Dr Lycaon is granted access to the labs at the HQ of the explorer/adventurer group The Questors. Lycaon believes he is close to a serum that will cure the curse of lycanthropy but someone or something is trying to stop him. Meanwhile in space Freelancer delivers justice to the Central Galactic Council after its betrayal (see The Green Skies) and on Earth the equally treacherous Council of Light meets its fate. Will Lycaon succeed with his cure or does the increased werewolf activity even in the halls of one of the UKs most secret buildings indicate that the cure is too late?

For those interested

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Does It Come Before or After The Green Skies?

 

Blogger Subzero from Tales From The Kryptonian just let me know that he received his copy of The Ultrimate Game. He asked if (in reading order) this came after Green Skies? 

Well, you could but it is meant as a stand alone although there are references only someone who has read Green Skies will get -Streamline telling "Father Time" that he knows who he really is for instance.  

But, like I wrote, it is meant to be a one off fun read covering multiple parallel Earths, heroes, villains and settings such as the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It's FUN!!

Buck Danny Classics 9 - Flight of the Rapier

 

Authors: Frédéric Zumbiehl and Frédéric Marniquet; illustrated by André Le Bras
Age: 12 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages:  48 colour pages

ISBN: 9781800441798
£8.99 incl VAT

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/buck-danny-classics-flight-rapier-p-4593.html

1951. A plane carrying an American general and 40 nuclear technicians makes an emergency landing off the coast of Ireland. When rescuers reach the spot, though, they find nothing – no life rafts, no bodies … The West cannot afford to leave anyone with knowledge of atomic weapons in enemy hands, so it will be up to Buck and his friends to find the missing men, thanks to an experimental, high-altitude, Mach 3-capable aircraft: the Rapier …

That's the aircraft called Rapier NOT the Rapier Anti-Aircraft missile system. Mentioning that before anyone else does 😋 

I think there are enough Buck Danny fans out there who know what to expect -action, well drawn aircraft and a few plot twists. Espionage can get dirty as Sonny finds out. The series is not just about nice looking military jets flying around, which some people imagine it to be. I mean, enemy spies killing MI5 agents and scarpering before "the SAS get here" is far removed from flying. Before anyone says anything; this series is set in 1951 and from the end of WW2 into the 1950s the SAS were involved in going after Nazi war criminals as well as other "enemy threats".

I know there are a few Buck Danny fan sites out there and I know they like hearing when the next English language edition appears (some collect in as many languages as they can). Well -here you go lads and another is on its way!

Remember ordering from Cinebook direct helps them keep the cash flow going because most publishers lose out on services like Amazon. Show Cinebook some love!

Tokyo's BEST Used Manga and Art Book Fair!

 

You Tube Demonetisation

 Yes, YT is demonetising MANY channels and there is no appealing., The excuse is use of AI slop -YT channels seem to be bursting with this but the ones viewed most are NOT being demonetised.

Guess what? My channel is demonetised even though it is not monetised and contains no AI and in point of fact I have not uploaded in a year (but I was working on something)_

It's pure YT greed. They want every penny.-Daily Motion has gone the same way.

Sad considering how YT started.  We need someone with money to start a new YT

the BIGGEST DRAGON BALL COLLECTION... in the world.

 

AURORA - The Blade (Live from Mexico City)

 

Gin Wigmore - Country Diamond (Official Music Video)

 

Comics and discussion of comics should be fun.

 

It was in the early 2000s when everyone was getting online and mentally deficient people started the Internet Troll/Spam War. Quite literally, if you had a blog on Freeservers or any other platform and whether it covered hobbies, art or anything else you suddenly found yourself at the end of abusive comments, rumour mongering and much more.  

Comics was the worst genre affected. I had emails from comic figures/personalities that they never sent. Female creators or fans got a lot of abuse but in what existed as a You Tube comic community back then vloggers worked together in identifying the trolls and they were given an ultimatum to stop or have what they were doing online forwarded to their families. One troll was so disgusting toward a female blogger and her children and it was found he was married and had kids; "Does your wife know you call women this online?" It all stopped.

Myself, well it is well documented that trolls -cowardly little fungii- from the dying British comics industry began a campaign against me in the late1990s. Eventually it led to these people being reported to their ISPs and even legal threats. I ought to point out that I did not know, never met or worked with any of these people. It was just a case of nasty little people wanting to be nasty on the internet -two I approached at a comic event literally ran off in the other direction! Another, along with two pals, threatened to "get physical" if they saw me at an event.  I saw them. They saw me. They didn't hang around.

Twenty six years on (yes, 26 years) these same people still tell their lies, try to spread false rumours and at one point bullied spineless event organisers to stop me going to their events. I am living rent free in the minds of people I have never met and only one I would recognise!

It looked at one point that groups and blogs would just collapse and disappear under all of this. No. Some grew (my Google Plus account hit 2 million views in a couple months) but what killed them were Freeservers, Yahoo and Google once they decided money was more important.

Oh, of course, starting a "Flame War" (argument online)  and name calling was a trick to increase views -people really thought they would be the "shock jocks" of the internet. One insisted on being insulting and sending me links to his wannabe comic blog and took every opportunity to attack me personally -in fact his comment section and posts were just...me (I can understand that!). And he was really very too excited over his main post: "No name comic blog DEMANDS free comics".   PDF comics were sent for review but then never appeared in print and people who paid in advance complained -to the platform CBO was on at the time- and although the platform showed that I had no involvement I made a declaration that I could only review printed comics in future because that was solid proof that they did exist.  So my line "Sorry but due to all the problems with PDF comics sent in for review never being published and people losing money I can only review printed books in future" became "I DEMAND YOU SEND ME COMICS!!!"

Rather than concentrate on what his blog was about -supposedly comics- his whole blog seemed to be there to attack me personally and criticise CBO. I corrected him once in his comments section about why I could only review printed comics which he declared was me attacking him personally and that was it. He tried stoking things up but, do you know what? His blog vanished within a couple months.

I explain this as someone was saying that people might not comment on CBO out of fear of being the subject on online abuse.  No. All comments are moderated and since this version of CBO was set up in 2011 no abusive comments.

Comics and discussion of comics should be fun.

Cinebook: Emilie's Inheritance vol.5 - The Arcana

 

Author: Florence Magnin
Age: 12 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 64 colour pages
£11.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441811

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/emilies-inheritance-vol5-arcana-p-4595.html

The Hatcliff Estate is dying, but its inhabitants have one last chance to escape the accelerated march of time: Emilie believes she has found the entrance to the Labyrinth, a passage to other worlds – a whole galaxy, waiting. Meanwhile, Hatcliff goes to plead with the Arcana, the mysterious entity rumoured to reign over the interstellar gates. He wants to put his mistakes right and saves his old friends in the estate. Can he really trust the Arcana, though …?

The one thing I can say about this series is that Magnin has written  a series that you will need to read through more than once. Not just that but she has drawn and coloured every single page to perfection for the story; I get somewhat jaded at times and after almost four decades of reviewing that should not come as a surprise to anyone.

The characters are drawn beautifully but then the scenes are just so well drawn that they often had me stopping for a minute or so just to take them all in. From spooky magical forest, to some incredibly drawn architecture and all coloured in ways to add even more atmosphere to the scene/story.

Sitting back and thinking about it I believe that this is one of the best and freshest series Cinebook has published in the last couple of years. I hope we see more from Florence Magnin in the future.

Do I recommend the series? YES. It's only 5 volumes and you can buy from Cinebook direct. This afternoon I may well sit back and start from volume 1 again.

Cinebook Newsletter 220 - April 2026

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Dear Reader, This April, we bring you another TWO volumes of Blake & Mortimer – The Complete Collection! Two more thick, gorgeous, hardcover collections of most excellent, timeless comics, with heaps of extra material for good measure! Blake & Mortimer was a creation of legendary bande dessinée author and artist Edgar P. Jacobs, a pioneer in Franco-Belgian comics and a master of the ligne claire style who even worked with Tintin’s father Hergé. Born in 1946, the series was packed full of adventure, mystery, and science fiction right from the start. It appealed to a public thirsty for exotic locales and exciting plots, but it was also always anchored in the realities of its time, whether in terms of the scientific advances of the day, or in political and social terms – it’s not by chance that the two British heroes’ very first adventure was another World War, as both the author and his readers still had some demons to exorcise … This tradition of blending modernity and classicism continued throughout Jacobs’s tenure at the head of the series, and endures still long after his death, with the new creative teams – some of them legends in their own rights – staying true to the master’s vision. And as we celebrate this year Blake & Mortimer’s 80th birthday, it’s safe to say that the tradition of readers thoroughly enjoying the series also lives on!! This Complete Collection, with its hardcover and additional material – behind-the-scenes stories, illustrations, sketches, photographs, biographical details, graphic analyses, and more! – is a Cinebook exclusive, and it is our absolute pleasure to bring it to you. Volume 7 is entirely dedicated to the team of Yves Sente and André Juillard, with their two-parter The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, and the sequel The Gondwana Shrine – adventures that span four continents and several million years! As for Volume 8, it contains another two-parter written by Jean Van Hamme this time, The Curse of the 30 Pieces of Silver, one that Indiana Jones would have relished, followed by another title by Sente and Juillard, The Oath of the Five Lords, a murder mystery revolving around the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the figure of Lawrence of Arabia! April with Cinebook – here’s to 80 more years, by Jove! Blake & Mortimer Yves Sente and André Juillard The Complete Collection 7 This seventh volume of the Complete Collection collects three albums created by the team of Yves Sente and André Juillard. In the two-parter The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, the authors boldly begin to add touches of modernity to the series … Read more Blake & Mortimer Jean Van Hamme, René Sterne, Chantal de Spiegeleer, Antoine Aubin, Etienne Schréder, Yves Sente, and André Juillard The Complete Collection 8 In this eighth volume of the Complete Collection, the next Blake & Mortimer written – in two parts – by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by three different artists, brings the reader along on one of Professor Mortimer’s favourite activities: archaeology … Read more Blake & Mortimer The Complete Collection 7 Blake & Mortimer The Complete Collection 8

The Skeleton Crew, or, Wildfire Ned

 

Author(s) remained anonymous as content could be violent, sexual or otherwise publicly offensive! And on occasions several people wrote these chapters. A gentleman would never want his name associated with such material (that earned him money). As for the engraver-artists..many are simply anonymous and were happy for paying work! Wildfire Ned and The Shadow of Death are not the same character

This is one heck of a thick book and, again, you need to be able to read in the style of the time which can be very wordy to modern readers. Of course, when I turned the character into one suitable for comics (The Master Plan of Lord Sebastian Perish in Adventure 53 on) it was far more readable!  There are incidentally over 550 pages so it's kinda epic!

This synopsis from Google books sums it all up:

"Venture into the shadowy world of Victorian London with "The Skeleton Crew, or, Wildfire Ned," a classic penny dreadful ripped from the pages of history. This gripping tale, steeped in gothic horror and laced with mystery, exemplifies the thrilling and sensational storytelling that captivated readers of the era. Originally published anonymously, this rediscovered gem of historical fiction plunges into the darkest corners of society, offering a glimpse into a world of intrigue and suspense.

"The Skeleton Crew" embodies the spirit of the penny dreadful, a genre renowned for its suspenseful plots, eerie atmosphere, and unforgettable characters. Carefully prepared for print republication, this edition allows you to experience the raw, unfiltered excitement that defined Victorian popular literature. Perfect for fans of gothic horror, historical mysteries, and anyone seeking a thrilling escape into the past. Discover the enduring appeal of this historical artifact, a chilling testament to the power of suspenseful storytelling.

"This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it."

If you have a love of comics, graphic novels or horror in general you really have to learn more about The Monk, Melmosth the Wanderer and The Skeleton Horseman/Skeleton Crew. It is part of what we would call pop culture history.