Graphic Novel Review: Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot

The Jacques Tardi comics I've read so far have been bonafide hits for me.  Just check out my reviews for It Was the War of the Trenches and The Arctic Marauder if you don't believe me.  I've had such good luck with Tardi's work that I've gone as far as stockpiling yet-to-be-read Tardi comics on my shelf, so that they are readily available should the desire to read some incredible French comics strike.

When the desire struck me this time around, I picked up Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot.  This is the first Jacques Tardi comic I've read where he's not the sole artist working on the graphic novel.    For Sniper he adapted a novel written by French writer Jean-Patrick Manchette.

The story follows a hardboiled bad-ass by the name of Martin Terrier, who's a mercenary-turned-assassin.  On the opening page of the graphic novel, he executes (pun intended) what he plans on being his last ever job in the killer for hire business.  From there he plans to take his savings, collect a long-lost lady love, and retire to some discreet, and warm, location to live out the rest of his days.

The thing is, his employers aren't too happy with his decision, and to make matters worse, old enemies start popping up in Terrier's life.  Before too long, Terrier finds himself reluctantly dragged back into the life he was trying to leave behind.

Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot definitely has a plot with a lot of wear on it.  We've all read a book or seen a movie where some tired old assassin is gonna do just one last job, then call it quits and retire with a lady somewhere warm.  Sure, it makes for a decent story but it felt a little tired out on this most recent go-round.

I think what makes the "Just one last job" plot-type a success, is a character that the reader, or viewer can root for, someone you wish could have a chance at a better life.  Well, that's not really the case here.  Terrier is a bit of a seedy bastard, definitely on the unsavory side of things, so it was hard for me to wish him well.  If you can get past his cold-heartedness, and his penchant for brutal violence, you could certainly root for the guy based on how damn resourceful he is in a pinch.  By "resourceful" I mean not in the  MacGyver sense, I mean resourceful in that he can decisively handle situations where he's being tailed, held at gunpoint, being back-stabbed...that kind of stuff.  He's pretty much a cold-blooded bad-ass when it comes down to it.

The novel this graphic novel is based on was written by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi handled the adaptation from book to comic. It is an adaptation that feels a little rough around the edges at times.  I think it is always hard to adapt a book into a graphic novel, the written word doesn't necessarily always translate that smoothly into words and pictures.  You definitely need a novel high on visuals in order to make the adaptation work, and even when you do have that situation, like here with Sniper, there are always some crucial parts that don't adapt that well to the new format.  This results in pages that are way too text heavy for the comics medium, or word bubbles that awkwardly contain a paragraph worth of text.

Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot definitely fell victim to that text-onslaught, particularly towards the end. The times when Sniper loses that harmony between words and art always jarred me out of my reading groove, and forced me into this uncomfortable place where the words and art were at odds with each other. As you might imagine, this definitely took away from the overall experience.

The greatest piece of this graphic novel was easily Tardi's art.  As always with a Tardi graphic novel, I was very impressed with the quality on the art front.  Tardi's work here lacks some of the raw emotion of It was the War of the Trenches and some of stylistic flair of The Arctic Marauder, but it is still quality work.  Unlike my other two Tardi reads, this one is much more action packed, and I was impressed to see that Tardi could make action scenes come to life so fluidly.  Tardi's black and white art is definitely a spot-on match for this gritty crime story.

Even though Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot has a plot that isn't doing anything new, and features an adaptation that doesn't translate so well at times, this is still an enjoyable graphic novel.  There was enough scenes of action and intrigue to make me forget my plot gripes every now and again, and as always, Tardi's art was a pleasure to drink in.  This is probably my least favorite Jacques Tardi graphic novel yet, but despite a few warts, I still enjoyed it.

Grade: C+

Graphic Novel Review: The Arctic Marauder

After enjoying It was the War of the Trenches so much, I knew it would only be a short amount of time before I got my hands on another work by French comic-master Jacques Tardi.  This time around, I decided to venture over to the lighter side of Tardi's comics works, and check out his steampunk ode to 19th century adventure, The Arctic Marauder.

Taking place in 1889, The Arctic Marauder stars Jerome Plumier, a passenger aboard L'Anjou, journeying through the coldest reaches of the north Atlantic, when a member of the ship's crew spots a ghostly ship shrouded in ice and perched atop an iceberg.  Along with a few crew members, Plumier joins the expedition that goes off to the ice-ship in search of survivors or clues.  The search turns up little more than dead bodies, seemingly frozen in time.  Before they can round everyone up and head back to L'Anjou, a huge explosion rocks their ship, sinking L'Anjou and spoiling any hopes of a safe return for Plumier and company.  Stranded for days, drifting on the ship atop the iceberg, they are finally rescued and returned home.

Upon his return Plumier hears of more ships "disappering" near the same spot that L'Anjou was sunk.  Hearing of a science expedition that is setting sail to search for the lost ships, Plumier joins the voyage hoping to find some answers.  What he discovers is a mystery that involves his recently departed uncle, a mad-man and a creepy, pistol wielding old lady who seems to be stalking Plumier.

The Arctic Marauder definitely had a much more light-hearted, tongue in cheek approach than I expected. Tardi seems intent on recapturing the melodrama and over the top characters that populate 19th century adventure novels like the stuff by Jules Verne.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy this, because I did.  Tardi's take on the adventure theme is quite a lot of fun.  There's a nice degree of mystery here, and it was fun to discover the wonders of Tardi's imagination with Plumier in the pilot's seat.

As I've come to expect from Tardi, the art here was absolutely fantastic.  From I've read elsewhere, Tardi wanted to emulate wood-cut style art in this, and used brushes and knife-like tools to score the background to achieve the wood-cut look.  Whatever he did, it looks pretty amazing. The art has nice texture, and it looks wonderful.  Tardi also draws some really cool steampunk creations that are sure to please the eye.  There where many times when I would stop reading for a while just so I could just stare at the great art on the page.  Tardi uses a lot of rounded and long vertical panels here which you don't see very often and give The Arctic Marauder a unique look.

As great as the art and the adventure was, this one was not without some flaws.  I felt like some of the pages were over burdened with too much text, which did two negative things: covered up the art, and slowed down the flow of the story.  Another thing that bothered me a bit was that the ending felt really abrupt.  This could have easily been twice as long as the 64 pages it chimes in at.  When I had turned the last page I felt a little bit cheated.  My first thought was that there's got to be a sequel, but from what I can uncover from research, it looks like this is all I'll be getting. It is kinda fun to imagine for myself what happens to the characters after the last page is turned, but I would have been happier with more material.

Despite my two gripes, this is still a pretty magnificent comic. It's a lot of fun to read, and the art is sure to please.  Tardi is a real master of the medium and I'm glad his stuff is getting translated and published here in the states.  I can definitely see myself gobbling up everything of his they decide to publish.  I strongly recommend The Arctic Marauder or anything else by Jacques Tardi, even the stuff I haven't read, because I think he's a comic creator that everyone who enjoys the medium should experience at least once.  If you wanna double up and get your comic fix and steampunk fix at the same time, then this is the one for you.

Grade: A-

Comic Review: It was the War of the Trenches

I had never heard of Jacques Tardi until his beautiful looking graphic novels started turning up at my local comic shop.  Tardi, a French graphic novelist, has only just recently made the jump across the Atlantic and had his works published here in the States.  As each piece has made its debut I've become increasingly more interested in his work, and the act of deciding which story to read first has become increasingly difficult as time goes by and more of his stuff hits shelves.

When I finally decided to purchase and read some Tardi, I settled on It was the War of the Trenches, mostly for the fact that I hadn't read any war comics in a while, and had recently dabbled in the other genres his works represent.  Once I started reading this tale of woe and suffering, I remembered why it had been so long since I'd last read a war comic; because they terrify, and depress me like no other.

Set during World War I, It was the War of the Trenches gives a grunt's eye view of the miserable existence that was trench warfare.  Through a series of vignettes Tardi gives the reader an indelible view of what it was like to be a lowly French soldier in one of the deadliest wars in all human history.  If going over the top, scouting enemy gun placements, or enemy artillery barrages didn't kill you, then friendly fire, starvation, or dysentery likely would.  

Despite my aforementioned weak stomach for real-life war stories, I read It was the War of the Trenches in one spectacular and glorious sitting.  This graphic novel is so expertly researched, and beautifully drawn that I couldn't make myself put it down.  Tardi's artwork is amazing, and he captures the imagery of the war as well as any photograph.  In many ways, Tardi's art which features settings that look photo-realistic, and humans with a slight cartoonish look to them, reminded me of Joe Sacco's art, but it's more likely that Sacco's art is inspired and influenced by the work of Tardi, since he's been around longer.  Either way, Tardi's realistic depiction of places and spaces is as good as it gets, and gave me a strong sense of all the mud, blood and detritus of the trenches.

Tardi does something truly amazing with It was the War of the Trenches, with some words, and some lines on a page, he masterfully captures the brutality, stupidity, futility, cruelty, and reality of war.  This is a black and grim graphic novel, but it is expertly crafted and is a work I am proud to have classing up my bookshelf.  This is one of those graphic novels that is an essential for any lover of the comics medium.  I'm an instant fan of Jacques Tardi, and will be reading more from this genius of the comics medium as soon as I can get my hands on more of his stuff.

Grade: A+