Written by: Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem
Illustrations: Thomas Du Caju
Coloring: Thomas Du Caju
Publisher: Dupuis
Little England #1 Ruby – Comic Book Review
The First and Second World War have always been popular settings for comic books, be them old or brand new. Even though there have been so many before, comic book writers still seem to find interesting subjects within this setting of war. It can’t come as a surprise, seeing so many people were involved in these wars, each with their own story, yet it’s nice to see how so many comic books try to keep the memory alive. In the new series ‘Little England’, Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem takes us along in a story that is set in Burma, at the beginning of World War II.
It’s 1941. Jonathan is a sixteen year old boy, living in Little England, a neighborhood in the city of Moulmein in Burma, a colony of Great Britain. His father is a British commander, while his mother was said to be Burmese royalty, being a cousin of the last Birman king. When he comes home from school one day, Jonathan’s father introduces him to captain Archibald Dawkins. He’s an American officer, there to scout the area for Japanese, as the Americans have lost track of their whereabouts.
The next day, Jonathan shows the captain around the city. He shows him his school, the temples, the harbor. The captain likes it just fine, but he’s more interested to see the more mysterious side of the city. That’s how the two end up at the nightclub ‘The Blue Moon’. Despite Jonathan’s efforts to keep the captain from going inside, the latter does so anyway, and thus Jonathan follows. Inside, a beautiful singer by the name of Ruby is performing. The captain falls for her charms right away, but gets kicked out of the club only moments after first laying eyes upon her. Because he wants to send Ruby a message, he sends Jonathan to climb up to her window, in return for which the boy can join him on his first flight the following day. Jonathan does what he is asked, but when he sees Ruby in her room, he falls for her as well. that’s not much of a concern to the captain though, and thus they head out the next day to fly over the area. Things start to get serious quickly after they take off, when they get shot at and have to make a forced landing.
The title of this issue might suggest that the album mainly revolves around Ruby, but while she certainly has a large part in the story, it’s Jonathan who takes the lead. At the beginning, the story seems to be more about Jonathan and his relationship to his parents, but as soon as the captain joins in, the story takes a completely different turn. All of a sudden, a whole new world opens up, yet even still, it feels like this is just an intro to what’s about to happen in the following issue. There’s enough action to keep you interested nonetheless.
Thomas Du Caju shows a drawing style that is very detailed, not only when it comes to the facial expressions of the characters, but also the backgrounds look fairly detailed. Next to that, it shows that he also paid a lot of attention to the coloring. He plays a lot with light and shadow, and different shades of the same color, to create a lot of dimension in his illustrations. He definitely knew what he was doing, as the end result looks stunning at times.
Conclusion
Little England #1 Ruby is, as you might expect from the first album in a series, a good intro that immediately sets the right pace for the issues to come. There’s enough action to keep the story fresh, and Thomas Du Caju’s illustrations look very good. Our curiosity was definitely aroused to see what will happen next.
Little England #1 Ruby - Comic Book Review,
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