XIII Book 14: Release the Hounds!

XIII Book 14: Release the Hounds!, by Jean Van Hamme & William Vance, Cinebook

THERE'S A touch of inevitable melodrama between the upside down as the lead characters on the cover of this volume of XIII, as the deadly game of cat mouse turns into one of cuddling kittens and - well let’s not give the game away – something else.

Suffice to say Jessica Martin did not die in the last book, so this time round Vance gets to focus his attentions on her as the primary femme fatale, in amidst the action and drama of the scenario while always giving the most full realised backgrounds currently in comics (step gracefully to one side Manara, RIP vintage Aparo).

Van Hamme - aside from the melodramatic act and some scenes reminiscent of (The) Narrow Margin movies aside - does his usual trick of pulling the rug from under his readers' feet and turning everything on its head, most notably on Page 29 – But don’t flick through the ones before it to rush to these current denouements you’ll miss some good bits beforehand.

Yes, there’s a feeling of treading water in parts of this volume, but with such superior creators you’re still on course for a good read.

For more information on XIII visit Cinebook.

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