Ah, I'm a sucker for good art. I will end up reading this.volume 28 is announce Jour J 28. L'aigle et le cobra for may 2017
The Eagle and the Cobra
Threatened by an Egyptian army led by Antoine and Cleopatra, Rome sent Brutus to convince Julius Caesar to go to the invaders to negotiate.
Caesar, now blind and withdrawn from the affairs of the world, accepts without ignoring that Rome remains in the hands of Pompey, his eternal rival,
and that he will probably have to face all the treacheries, including those of his most intimate allies...
http://www.editions-delcourt.fr/serie/jour-j-28-l-aigle-et-le-cobra.html
Jour J - French AH Comics collection
- Thread starter LSCatilina
- Start date
Finally got my hands on these, while looking for the Cleopatra one and this was terrible. From the cliche ridden celebrity appearances to broad generalizations, to cartoon villains. The art is decent except whoever drew it had never seen anyone throw a punch before in his entire life, because every physical altercation looks like it was drawn by someone who is vaguely aware of the existence fists, but is unaware of their application.
The POD is actually quite interesting, it's what they do with it that's nonsense. 1914, the German Army wins the Battle of the Marne.
Kaiser Willhelm II spends the Christmas in Paris. Perfidious Albion skulks off. But cranky old man Clémenceau isn't ready to throw in the sponge and leads Algerian based French Resistance ("African Army") against the Germans with only Russia by his side. This goes on for three years, because clearly Russia can take on the whole of German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian one on a single front. But the Tsar is getting weak in the knees, so cranky old man takes a piss one morning (yes, that is six frames in the comic) and makes a bold decision: kill the Tsar, and the guys who will take over for him will keep Russia fighting France. His subordinates question his ethics, but not his sanity or logic. Only one Frenchman pull off the killing of the Tsar, but first only one man can get that one Frenchman. Confused? You should be. The one man who can get that one Frenchman is Commissioner Blondin, a whispy gent in a three piece suit who takes out three sailors in a bar brawl to establish his tough guy thin waisted credentials. That Hollywood action scene from an '80s direct to video movie done, we learn the one Frenchman who can kill the Tsar: Bonnot, an anarchist believed to have been killed by the cops in a 1912 shootout. But, no, turns out cranky old man kept him in a prison, illegally. The prison: Chateu d'If, which is now in the hands of the Not Vichy WWI France. Our Blondin teams up with Legionnaries and dons black gear from a '70s thriller and infiltrates the prison. One of the men helping him: Joseph Tito. Why? Because this is what AH must do: celebrity appearances.
Next, Renee Fock (see what I mean?) is going to fly our anarchist and copper into Switzerland to get him in contact with the anarchists there to our heroes into Russia. Along the way, they are ambushed by a Fokker plane piloted by... go on... guess... That's right the Red Baron. Hell, at this point, they would have scored originality points if they'd made it Goering. Anyway, they get into Geneva, an ineptly drawn shoot out results and our two Frenchmen must seek shelter with a former pal of Bonnot: Victor Serge, who name drops his pal Lenin (who shows up in the sequel).
That brings us to the sequel. The first thing we see: Stalin, planning a heist where he mows down 40 people Scarface style and uses a big cartoon bomb the size of a cannonball with a fuse sticking out. Stalin is being helped by the copper and anarchist to get the locals to help the two Frenchmen kill the Tsar. Stalin's violence much disgusts our whispy Blondin, but Trotsky plays peacemaker and takes away the Frenchmen and Lenin tells Stalin to not whack the two just yet. Stalin's all like, "But, I'm a Georgian! And we do not forget slights!" By the way, that's actual dialogue from the comic. At this point I was rather hoping Stalin would take out a Klingon dagger and promise a cask of bloodwine to the man who brings him the heart of Blondin, but that would be too silly, I guess.
But you know what is not silly apparently? A female German secret agent who wears a Prussian parade uniform looks like the Cate Blanchett in the Indiana Jones movie we'd all like to pretend did not exist. She is on the hunt for the Frenchmen and orders about Russian secret police and secret German police as well. They call her Fraulein Professor and every Russian and German official with a monocle has no problems at all taking orders from a woman in 1917. How progressive of them.
While in Russia, Blondin has second thoughts about hanging out with an anarchist sociopath, but their romance is strong enough to overcome such political difference and as Bonnot shows off his skills with using canned caviar tins to make explosions, Blondin begins to think about things and they bond over a lighthearted tale of how Blondin's dad was a Commie and sent off by the French government into New Caledonia. They share a bottle of vodka and I was rooting for these two crazy kids to end up together, but that doesn't happen. Though earlier in the story, Blondin turns down an offer of sex from a foxy gal they call Red Venus.
Stalin betrays the two Frenchmen to the Tsarist secret police, because you know... Stalin. The Russian troops move in our bromantic heroes, who are hiding out at the Smolny Institute (*groan*). In the mean time, one of the contacts in the Russian government who is aware of the anarchists and Bolsheviks working together to whack the Tsar wants to meet with the Frenchmen. He is a member of Duma. Now, quick, name a member of Duma in 1917. No, no, don't Google. Just the first name off the top of your head. The one you would know for a fact even a not particularly bright or motivated comic book writer would be able to know and spell? That's right: Kerensky.
Seems while the anarchist and the copper were doing their bit to jumpstart the Bolshevik Revolution to prolong the war against Germany (yes, yes, that indeed makes no sense, but we've come along so far, haven't we, lets just move along home), Kerensky cut his own separate deal with the French cranky old man and he wants to bring to Russia democracy, multi-party fair elections and escargot. Blondin races off to stop the Bolsheviks from going through with their plan, because Kerensky's plan is much better. But Stalin knocks him out and... leaves him locked up to be discovered by the Russian secret police, so that Blondin can escape, only to have his bicycle shot by the German Female Cate Blanchett, who is carrying a sniper's rifle wherever she goes. I know, I know, but come on, we're in the home stretch. Lets see this story through to its end.
Tragically, while Kerensky was planning his peaceful overthrow of the Tsar, Stalin used Bonnot's crazy anarchist bomb skills to kill the Tsar. Bonnot, horrified that his bomb was used to kill innocent people and not just the Tsar (we can do this, friends, we can do this, just hold off your disbelief for a couple more sentences). There is an overthrow of the Tsarist government. Cate Blanchett is shot by Bonnot's pals and he tortures her to learn the location of Blondin and rescues him, because love. He also learns the name of the man who has been betraying the cranky old man's plans to the Russians: Henri Rochefort. Considering he died in 1912, that would make the POD in 1912, but whatever, if a French comic book wants to make a terrible anti-Semite into the main villain I won't complain, like at all.
Blondin and his heterosexual life partner Bonnot then help Russian democracy and anarchy by blowing up Stalin, Trotsky and Lenin. This results in anarchists taking power by democratic means in Russia and somehow this helps the anti-German war effort in the East because Makhno (you knew he was showing up, admit it) has reorganized the Tsarist armies in Ukraine and outfitted them with armored cars and is leading an offensive to roll back the Germans. This completely disintegrates Germany that was on the cusp of winning the war just months ago and there is a Social Democratic uprising in Bavaria and a Bolshevik uprising in Berlin and soon the Free French of Algeria will invade France from the South and race to Paris. The End.
This was... something else.
Still better than White Star.
But yeah... I didn't remember it being that bad but I remembered the story being clichéd in my opinion. I'm no fan of the Bolsheviks but even I found their portrayal overly caricatural from the few pages I can remember. Add all the other details you mention that don't add up and you basically have the reason I was skeptical about Jour J.
Sadly, I have a tendency that nearly every tome in the series as the same issues though to varyiing degrees. AH Timelines that don't necessarilly hold up under scrutiny and a bit too blatant and insistant on having celebrities appearing even if it doesn't make any sense. An example I can think of right away is the presence of Philippe Petain and Adolf Hitler in Vive l'Empereur despite the POD being in 1802... Granted that tome also had a Teslapunk french army so it wasn't really serious AH but still I'd like a bit more effort and originality.
Yeah White star is awful . A young boy survive on the titanic and it lead to an european federation by Mandel/Beria/Mussolini and Speer . And a dystopia with a totalitarian governement all over the world and to finish a flu kill all mankind !
But what could the better Jour J ? For me, it's Apocalypse sur le Texas (Outside the fact that the russian didn't nuke europe )
Eh, Colomb Pacha was worst according to LSCatilina. But I haven't read that one.
Oh "White Star" was the absolute nadir.
See, that one I gave a pass and did not mock too much, because it was not trying to be politically serious and was silly from the start. You have French soldiers posted on the Chinese border in 1925, wearing zouave pants and armed with forked death rays. That's the first panel, if I remember correctly. After that, Imperial worship of Mithra suppressing Catholicism and Petain showing up do not seem like that much of a stretch. By the time they got to Hitler, I was almost fine with it, because Fermi and Mata Hari had made a guest appearance.
I didn't loathe Colomb Pasha. It was silly, but the art was nice and you felt the author was going somewhere, but could not quite get there and then threw in one gimmick too many.
So the POD is that while Granada was on its last legs from the onslaught of the armies of Castile, there was a call for a hijad and Muslim warriors crossed over from North Africa and rolled back the reconquista. At first blush, it seems silly, but there was precedent of North African Muslims bailing out their Spanish cousins at the cost of the Spanish cousins adopting their more hardline beliefs, so I was prepared to give it a chance. Columbus converts to Islam and tries to get the new masters of Spain to finance his expedition. What is not quite explained is whether said conversion was a matter of convenience, deeply held change of faith, or something that started off as a convenience and became a matter of deeply held change of faith. This ambiguity is either a result of good writing or a bad translation job (I can't read French and use English translations). The POD is not referenced until ten to twelve pages into the comic, as a flashback. What we first see is Columbus sailing the ocean blue with a motley bunch of Jews, Muslims and Christians who all can't get along. He makes landfall and starts thinking and that's when the flashbacks/POD explanation starts. Then it gets rather murky in terms of world building before we get into the main story. It seems what is hampering the Christian powers, of which there are only a few left in Europe, is the lack of gold, so Columbus uses that to get either the King of France or a nearby princeling to finance the expedition (this may make better sense in the original French, in English version it's a bit confusing).
As Columbus and his crew that can't get along go further into the jungle, they hear booms and return to discover their ships were set afire and their men killed, with arrows. The sole survivor is an elderly slave who calls the attackers demons and said they came from the river. The Psychotic Muslim Warrior tries to hunt down the demons and comes across a wounded Native American (hang on, I'll explain). The Wounded Native speaks Greek and the Wise Jewish Man is able to get out of him that the demons are different from the local Natives. It also tells us that we are not in the Caribbean. An argument filled journey to the Wounded Native's village reveals that we are in fact in North America. And in case you did not get it, one of the Natives introduces the middle aged and no longer horny Columbus to Pocahontas (I know, I know, but it's... meh). Columbus decides to unite the tribes to rid themselves of the demons to the north of them and thereby win their hearts and mind and precious, precious gold. Two sneaky agents of the French King decamp the crew and go north to make peace with the demons and tell them of the upcoming attack on them, because... treachery? The two traitors show up at the wooden palisade of the demons and try to gain entry by claiming, "We know who you are. Let us in."
Take a moment to try to guess who the demons are before I go further, but no more than a moment. I took fifteen seconds and overthought it. The Natives go on a warpath and head north with Columbus and his motley bunch and come across headstones on a mound and tell Columbus these are for the demons, who bury their dead, unlike the Natives. As Columbus tries to figure out who the demons are, they attack, white bodies with beards and clad in fur and wearing... Viking helmets. Columbus and his motley bunch barely hold them off using a small caliber cannon they took off the wrecked ship. Columbus is now hopeful that since Vikings have had to come here by ships, he can get one and use it to sail back and energizes his motley bunch. By the way, my wrong guess was that the demons would be the Catholic Spaniards who fled Muslim occupied Iberia, but Vikings can work here, just are not a call back to anything.
Much killing results in well drawn action panels and most of the characters we have come to know get killed, violently or tragically, or both.
I did not loathe this, because there were some interesting characterizations and the art, but it doesn't work as an AH story. Also, keep in mind I read this in English and was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to some of the dialogue as being open ended and smarter than it was. In original French, it may read absolutely awful
Oh it definitely was a silly story. But there is also something called "suspension of disbelief" that we all have to varyiing degrees. And to me, there was a bit too many things that I couldn't buy. The Teslapunk was the thing I had the least problem with because I had already seen plenty of AH works with alternate science... Hell, I had even seen Code Geass, an anime who has an AH setting that makes no sense but where every side used Giant Robots. The rest though was a bit too much for me: I didn't buy the idea the cult of Mithras becoming the official French Religion of a Napoleonic Empire and I had a bit of a problem with the celebrity cameos... Mostly because when you get down to it, they're a bit cliché (Hitler as an Extremist German Nationalist, Mata Hari as a spy, etc...)
Given your summary, I personnally would have a tendency to think that it's the use of so many gimmicks that actually kills the tome in the eyes of many.
The bold part is also another major problem. Jour J's main point of selling is that it's an AH comic series so people are a bit expecting to see an AH story that works or at least as a story that is entertaining enough to forbid the sillyness of the AH.
Well glaze my nipples in honey and call me "Rita." I should have known they'd use a celebrity appearance that was real given the number of panels she got, but just could not buy it.
This was just weird. I really had no idea what was the point of the story. But I have to say this featured some of the ugliest art I've seen in Jour J comics in a while, like a terrible much less talented mash up of Carlos "Judge Dredd" Ezquerra and pre-lunacy Frank Miller. The actual plot did not really go anywhere and the action sequences and overall plotting felt like a dumb late '80s buddy cop action movie. That's what it felt like the most. You would think with a topic as controversial as this, there'd be... something. Instead I got an aging former soldier teaming up with his best mate from his army days to uncover a terrorist plot to destroy their beloved town. Really, that's all it was. There is even the Strip Club Scene. You know how in all '80s action movies featuring cops, there was that one scene where they had to go to the strip club to either meet an informant, gain a clue, or to track down a suspect and shake him down for the name of his boss? That's here. They go visit a prostitute dominatrix in a whore house and yes, the first thing you see are her breasts. There's also a scene where one of the action buddy cops finds himself in an enclosed space with six "bad guys" and literally tells them that they have no chance because there's only six of them. And as for the climax, it takes place in Pompeii and I think you can guess why anything would take place in a buddy cop action movie set in Ancient Rome. I won't go into the full plot run down here, because really it's very silly and trite and tries too hard to be controversial but does not try hard enough to actually tell a story. This was not fun.
Red September was awful, but at least unintentionally funny.
This is just someone who saw one bad Chuck Norris movie too many and decided to blow the minds of squares by dragging faith into AH.
I hab the impression the artist try to imitated Richard Corben later artwork and totally failed.
strange because igor kordey make good artwork for other Delcourt Series like Histoire secrète or Keltos
on Story the idea of Radical Christian on Holy war on terror was intriguing, but transposition into comic failed...
Er... If it's the same story, why put the 2005 tome before the 2001? This confuses me a bit...
Also why the name Le Prince des Ténèbres (The Prince of Darkness)? It's something that I associate more with Dracula... It seems kinda out of place here.
And I'm guessing the POD is basically to have an alternate 9/11... The Twin Towers in New York are obviously not going to be destroyed given the cover for tome 29, but that doesn't mean the Pentagone still won't get hit. And since the last plane is supposed to have been planned to target the White House, it probably will have crashed there ITTL.
I'm genuinely curious to see what they're going to do... At the same time, given the subject and my overall opinion of Jour J, I'm still a bit weary...
Also why the name Le Prince des Ténèbres (The Prince of Darkness)? It's something that I associate more with Dracula... It seems kinda out of place here.
And I'm guessing the POD is basically to have an alternate 9/11... The Twin Towers in New York are obviously not going to be destroyed given the cover for tome 29, but that doesn't mean the Pentagone still won't get hit. And since the last plane is supposed to have been planned to target the White House, it probably will have crashed there ITTL.
I'm genuinely curious to see what they're going to do... At the same time, given the subject and my overall opinion of Jour J, I'm still a bit weary...
Had the occasion to glance through a copy of The Snake and the Cobra today. Not really convinced.
To make a long story short, the tome takes place after the events of Republic of Slaves. Caesar, now blind, has retired from the Roman political life. But Brutus shows up to ask for Caesar's help in dealing with a new threat: that of Mark Anthony, Caesar's former second in command.
Seems that Mark Anthony basically took Caesar's place following the later's retirement. In the end, he's the one who ended campaigning in Gaul and conquering it. Like Caesar OTL he was eventually recalled to Rome but unlike him he didn't cross the Rubicon with his troops. As a result, he was sent to Palestine to keep order there. While stationned in the Orient, he had the occasion of meeting with Cleopatra and he married her. And he apparently is planning to use her help to take over Rome or at least that's what Pompey and his allies fear. Which is why they sent Brutus to ask for Caesar's help in the hopes he can calm down Mark Anthony and solve the situation.
As far as I see, the premise doesn't sound that bad... But the story didn't convince me. It's not that suprising given my skepticism towards Jour J but I still felt it wasn't really great. What I do know for certain is that the ending had me roll my eyes because in the end Caesar sides with Anthony who takes power and organizes a new Triumvirate. But the writers felt the need to make an historical wink so insted of Tu quoque mi fili, we end up with Tu quoque mi Patri as it's Brutus that is murdered in the Senate and Caesar is the one to stab him last... Oh, and the very last panel mentions that Germanicus (I do believe it's the same as OTL) was sent to Palestine and ended up graciating the son of a Carpenter that Pilate wanted executed and whom no one ever heard of again... That's just... Cliché...
Oh, and I have my doubts regarding Celopatara's wardbrobe in that tome... On the one hand I know jackshit about Ancient Egyptian clothing but on the other hand, the few panels I remember of her gave me the impression she was wearing some sort of swimsuit... Might be the art style's fault though.
Seems that Mark Anthony basically took Caesar's place following the later's retirement. In the end, he's the one who ended campaigning in Gaul and conquering it. Like Caesar OTL he was eventually recalled to Rome but unlike him he didn't cross the Rubicon with his troops. As a result, he was sent to Palestine to keep order there. While stationned in the Orient, he had the occasion of meeting with Cleopatra and he married her. And he apparently is planning to use her help to take over Rome or at least that's what Pompey and his allies fear. Which is why they sent Brutus to ask for Caesar's help in the hopes he can calm down Mark Anthony and solve the situation.
As far as I see, the premise doesn't sound that bad... But the story didn't convince me. It's not that suprising given my skepticism towards Jour J but I still felt it wasn't really great. What I do know for certain is that the ending had me roll my eyes because in the end Caesar sides with Anthony who takes power and organizes a new Triumvirate. But the writers felt the need to make an historical wink so insted of Tu quoque mi fili, we end up with Tu quoque mi Patri as it's Brutus that is murdered in the Senate and Caesar is the one to stab him last... Oh, and the very last panel mentions that Germanicus (I do believe it's the same as OTL) was sent to Palestine and ended up graciating the son of a Carpenter that Pilate wanted executed and whom no one ever heard of again... That's just... Cliché...
Oh, and I have my doubts regarding Celopatara's wardbrobe in that tome... On the one hand I know jackshit about Ancient Egyptian clothing but on the other hand, the few panels I remember of her gave me the impression she was wearing some sort of swimsuit... Might be the art style's fault though.
I found the story OK – not great, historically deputable, but Jour J is labeled as "B-Series", so I don't have lots of expectations there.
I'm with you however with Cleopatra's wardrobe and role in the story, she's pretty much a bimbo, despite Caesar saying that she's very intelligent.
In general, the art was a bit like seeing antique statues talking, and with the speech bubbles in the wrong place.
I got my hands on this today and liked it waaaay more than I thought I would and would recommend it. It starts off rather awful, in that we get to meet Vlad as a young boy and he's got the facial quirks of a young Norman Bates with the side of Jeffrey Dahmer and is of course fascinated with impaling, but what kept me reading is that this is not a story about Vlad, it's a story about Vlad and Skanderbeg (Albanian national hero), as you pointed out. Through a series of actually well thought out adventures the two eventually join sides. Although the outcome of that is inevitable, it is still still refreshing to see the writers give them logical reasons to be in place X, Y and Z together and why they would cooperate, including Skanderbeg being not at all sure he wants to be on the same side as Vlad for a variety of reasons. Next, they are off to Constantinople, where Skanderbeg's connections and fighting prowess combined with Vlad's realpolitik approach to the conflict help turn the tide of battle. Here's where the comic won me over: Vlad does not do one big thing that changes the course of the battle, he has to do a dozen big things to get the Byzantines even a remotely fighting chance against the Turks, and even then, it is by no means a sure thing until the last moment. Someone did their research. Yes, it's a bit of a stretch that Vlad makes no mistakes in any of his approaches and everything he does works out one way or another, but the sheer scale of all he has to accomplish to avoid an utter annihilation makes it plausible enough to suspend disbelief, at least for me.
The art is nice, though Vlad is draw in a very peculiar and stylized fashion that is absent in the depiction of everyone else. The pacing is good. The action sequences are well painted, though are a bit hazy once renegade Turks joins renegade Wallachians to fight renegade Genoese before banding together to fight plain old Turkish army, with the assist of regular Byzantine forces. There are a couple of panels, where due to the similarity of armor and certain ethnic groups fighting on both sides of the conflict that make it hard to follow who is winning the fight. The artist is also obsessed with decapitation. Every single sword fight, and there are lot here, has to feature at least two, replete with a shot of the sword, a stream of blood jetting out and the head flying off. The need for a sequel makes the comic break some of its own storytelling elements. In every page except the second to last one, there are no thought balloons. Characters show you what they are thinking by either their actions or dialogue with other characters. Then comes the second to last page and you got a scheming Metropolitan with a thought balloon. It was oddly jarring, because A) the character is by no means the focal point for anything in the comic, so showing us his inner thoughts and only his inner thoughts turns the focus from the main heroes of the tale to a random guy with a half-decent beard and a nice hat, and B) there was no need for thought balloons, when a simple line of dialogue could have sufficed between the Metropolitan and a flunky. It feels tacked on. As to Vlad being bloodthirsty ghoul, yes, he is, but one thing the comic at least bothers to create is an effective atmosphere where a sociopath like Vlad can flourish.
One thing I did not quite get is, ahem, how close were Vlad and Skanderbeg? There is a shot where Skanderbeg is woken by Turkish bombardment, where he sits perched on a windowsill wearing a long tailed white nightshirt and addresses a nude figure in bed with long hair that could be Vlad, but the figure is shown from the back and we get a hint of an ass crack and nothing more, so it could have been female or male, and we do not know how many beds there are in that room. Vlad has a wife in the comic, though it does not turn out well. And one of the reasons Vlad despises his brother, according to Vlad, is that his brother is a "sodomite." So... in theory... Vlad would be opposed to that sort of thing. But, Skanderbeg has no female love interest in the story, hangs out with only men from his boyhood through the comic tale, and seems equally repulsed and fascinated by Vlad's bloody approach to problem resolution. And Vlad seems to be quite taken in by his brother in arms. Given that Skanderbeg is a national hero in Albania, I wonder if someone decided to reel in any suggestions of Vlad-Skanderbeg having sexy times for fear of offending certain people. Or maybe they are leaving that for the sequel?
This is not going to get a glowing recommend from me, but I still enjoyed it because I guess I feared it would a lot worse than what I got and I was entertained.
I look on Delcourt page of Jour J
Volume 29 is begin of trilogy about prevention of 9/11
The Dark prince is nickname of FBI agent John O'Niell, he prevent 9/11 as we known.
in 2004 Bush Jr lost reelection and John Kerry become POTUS
he is inform by vice prez Barak Obama, what really happened on 9 September 2001
This let relationship between USA and Saudi Arabia getting worst...
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