No Pasaran! Vol. 3 (Max Friedman) (v. 3)
The conclusion of Giardino’s Spanish civil war graphic novel follows its second part by more than five years. Jewish Swiss businessman and spy Max Friedman, hero of later-set, earlier-published Giardino stories, finally learns what happened to Guido Treves, whose worried wife prevailed on Max to return to Spain to find just as things are winding down for the Nationalists (i.e., Communists and anarchists). It would be a crime to give away Max’s discovery; suffice it to say that the most positive developments in the book are the exposure of a Falangist mole and the ending back in Geneva, which confirms the good character Max has shown in his relations with the beautiful journalist Clair. Giardino marries his straightforwardly realist drawing style to dialogue that never sensationalizes or tells more than is necessary to keep the action decipherable. Whether this narrative dryness works as well in a graphic novel as it would in a movie, in which actors’ expressions can convey so much more nuance and emotion, is debatable. What isn’t in question is Giardino’s seriousness. --Ray Olson