Author: Jean Van Hamme & Philippe Berthet
Age: 12 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages
Publication: March 2022
£8.99 Incl VAT
https://www.cinebook.co.uk/the-fortune-of-the-winczlavs-1-vanko-1848-p-4475.html
1848. In Ottoman-occupied Montenegro, young doctor Vanko Winczlav is one of the leaders of a popular uprising. Betrayed, wanted by the authorities, he flees the Balkans for the United States in the company of a Bulgarian refugee, Veska, whom he marries to allow her to enter New York legally. So begins the history of a family closely entwined with that of a still new country going through many transformations.
I am going to continue to be a miserable sod. This is a good story by Van Hamme (which goes without saying since I've not failed to like his work so far) and the art is.. okay. Nothing that wrong with it so story and art work well together. It's a good enough book by most standards (certainly better than some Marvel and DC stuff I've seen).
However, it is nothing new to me. I grew up on the classic movie Westerns like The Big Valley, How The West Was Won and I could list others. There was nothing new in this for me -no angle that could hook me in. Once you get to a certain age you see things that were great "back in the day" (meaning a looong time ago) get used and become bland. And I emphasise that this is down to me and my comics ennui. The story and art are solid so to someone into Western style comics or a newcomer to comics this is going to be another Van Hamme winner.
Things may pick up with volume 2 and volume 1 is usually the book establishing the characters and setting up the base for the upcoming books (like TV series and their first episodes). Don't get put off by me -if you know Van Hamme's work you know it's good.
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