Written by: Philippe Graton, Denis Lapière
Illustrations: Marc Bourgne, Benjamin Benéteau
Publisher: Graton
Michel Vaillant: Nieuw Seizoen #4 Crash – Comic Book Review
Michel Vaillant is a series that has been around for a long time. Jean Graton created the character in 1957, but just like Henri Vaillant passed the torch to his son Jean-Pierre in the series, Jean left his son Philippe to create a new season surrounding the race pilot and his family business. Hopefully dad will be proud.
Jean-Pierre Vaillant is one of the shareholders of the Vaillante company, which specializes in race cars and all the technology surrounding them. Together with his father, who founded the business, and his brother, who is the famous racing pilot Michel Vaillant, he runs the company. But now, he decides to make a deal of his own, without his father and brother knowing. He travels to Geneva together with his assistant Evelyne to seal a deal that will make Vaillante gain control over Leader, their main rival on the race circuit. That would be a huge triumph for the Vaillante company, as it means that they can, from then on out, use the Leader patents in their own race car designs.
Once they arrive in Geneva, Jean-Pierre and Evelyne set off to the meeting with Leader. They will have to prove to the private bank involved that they have the means for this transaction. Thus Jean-Pierre provides them the shares of his father and brother as proof. The bank is satisfied, thus the documents are signed. The next day the second part of the agreement will take place, but when Ethan Dazs, one of Vaillante’s sponsors, doesn’t show up, Jean-Pierre slowly starts to realize that it was all a scam. Dazs only shows up when it’s too late and then buys the deposit shares Jean-Pierre guaranteed, making him the owner of Vaillante. When Michel and his father hear about the deal gone wrong, Michel goes to Geneva as quick as possible, hoping to help Jean-Pierre to save what can still be saved. But Jean-Pierre realizes his mistake and the consequences of it, and might not be open for reasoning…
The story seems to move at a steady pace, as there is even time to give some background information and have dinner, but once the evil is done and time is of the essence to save what’s left to save, Philippe Graton and Denis Lapière swing into high gear. Nonetheless, we still get a fairly good insight into Jean-Pierre’s thinking. He for once wanted to be the star of the family, making an amazing deal, and when his dreams shatter it’s easy to relate to him.
There is some likeness to be found to another comic book series we recently reviewed, namely Largo Winch, as both Largo and Jean-Pierre are both at the top of an influential company, trying to close big deals. Still, Michel Vaillant also holds true to the racing itself and not only the company, which gives the series something more original.
This issue is the last one of the first cycle of Michel Vaillant’s first season. It is fun to see that in this series, the characters actually do grow older and have children and so on. It’s an ideal way to make sure the comic books really tell a story and can be linked to each other, instead of telling one adventurous story after the other with heroes who never grow old.
The illustrations, by the hand(s) of Marc Bourgne and Benjamin Benéteau, look rather clean. Sometimes the backgrounds are detailed, but often they are just colored in a uniform color. Shadows on the faces of the characters give them more definition, which makes the whole look just a tad more interesting.
Conclusion
Michel Vaillant: Nieuw Seizoen #4 Crash tells the story of a man who sees his dreams turn to ashes in the blink of an eye, and with it the shares of his brother and father. Even though the pace of the story is quite fast, we are still able to empathize with them, which gives the story some more depth. If you’re a fan of the series, this issue is one you simply cannot miss out on.
Michel Vaillant: Nieuw Seizoen #4 Crash - Comic Book Review,
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