The Adventures of Julius Chancer: Volume One (The Rainbow Orchid)
This droll and beautifully painted adventure plays on the Tintin canon while offering an original adventure tale. A large cast of characters is brought together in a Roaring Twenties England by the promise of a fortune to be won in an orchid competition. A Hollywood actress, her agent, an antiquarian, an overeager reporter, a scholar and his assistant (Julius Chancer), and a number of evildoers with vaguely Russian names seek the titular flower while trying to elude and outpace their competitors across the Channel and into Europe toward India. Many tongue-in-cheek references to Tintin appear but in no way hobble the energy and drama of this tale: the indefatigable but crude reporter; identical twin daughters of a stunt pilot; and the apple-cheeked Julius, whose black hair lies pasted in an unstirringly dead quiff to his forehead. There are also sly, and very funny, references to social-class oddities, sexual orientation, and even clowns. While this is a perfect combination of send-up and memorial to Hergé, it’s also a strong work even for those have managed (how?) to have never met Tintin. --Francisca Goldsmith