Written by: Edwin Wouters
Illustrations: Philippe Delzenne
Coloring: Agnes Nys
Publisher: Ballon Media
Jommeke #276 De Onderwatertoerist – Comic Book Review
Two best friends, a talking parrot and an extraordinarily gifted, but oh so confused professor, that’s Jef Nys’ formula for success. Jommeke (Jeremy), Filiberke, Flip and professor Gobelijn have been around ever since the fifties and kept many a generation of children enthralled. Now, so many years later, Jommeke is as popular as ever, and he even has his own paper that gets published every week. In this new album, Jommeke and his friends set off to Bolinezië.
The story starts off with a professor, Histor Ricus, asking captain Haring, one of Jommeke’s friends, to take him to Bolinezië on his hulk. Ricus wants to find the wreck of a Spanish galleon that sunk, not so far from the Bolinezian coastline in 1776. As he is convinced that there is a whole lot of valuable data to be found there, but is quite strapped for cash, he is thrilled that he finds captain Haring willing to take him along. Jommeke, Flip and Filiberke join the broke professor on this adventurous trip, taking professor Gobelijn’s diving machines. With these machines, they will be able to walk on the bottom of the ocean and search for the wreck. As soon as our friends get to Bolinezië, they get spotted by Miguel Podoroso, a filthy rich businessman with a lot of influence around Bolinezië. He sees great potential in the diving machines and plans to place them on the market for tourists to enjoy the underwater world.
In the beginning, it seems like the story doesn’t flow at the right pace yet. Although the first few pages do add to the story value, it feels like it was stretched a bit unnecessarily. Luckily, this issue soon gets resolved, and this new adventure becomes quite a fun one to read, moving at the right pace. It’s a classic, pretty straightforward story about Jommeke and his friends trying to do the right thing before the bad guys succeed in their cunning plan, without many unexpected things happening. This time, it’s mainly nature they are concerned about. As Podoroso is only interested in making as much money as possible out of launching the diving machines on the market, Jommeke and his friends are concerned that, by allowing tourists to go for a walk on the bottom of the sea, all this beautiful nature will be ruined in no time. Although this is a lovely thought, somehow it feels strange that it seems to be ok for Jommeke to walk on the bottom of the sea, but not for other people, although we’re certain that he is a very cautious boy.
Philippe Delzenne stays true to the original design of Jef Nys. Drawings are simple, with clear black lines and bright colors, and the background is often an even color, or not really defined. This might sound like it looks a bit dull, but actually all of this makes for a comic book that looks quite appealing.
Conclusion
Jommeke #276 De onderwatertoerist is an album that is well worth reading. The story moves a bit slowly in the beginning, however, that is only a minor issue. The story might not be very complicated, but it’s enough to stay interesting until you flip the last page. Drawings are simple, yet this doesn’t affect the story value in any way. If you have half an hour of spare time, this might be a nice something to add to the list.
Jommeke #276 De Onderwatertoerist - Comic Book Review,
No Comments