Long John Silver: Volume 2: Neptune

by Xavier Dorison (story) and Mathieu Lauffray (art), 50 pages

Events take even darker turns (and things were plenty dark to begin with) as the body count rises and tensions aboard ship reach--and then pass--the breaking point. Silver is not a good man. He is not a hero. And he will most likely be the cause of his own (and many others') unnecessary destruction in the end. But even self-loathing, money-loving, peg-legged pirates have soft spots. Good luck to the unwise man who thinks Silver's weakness is his own strength.

Yeesh. Dude had it comin'.

Uncomfortable to read in places and not always pretty, but the twisted story and atmospheric art pull you in and make you watch out for the next one, anyway.

Long John Silver: Volume 1: Lady Vivian Hastings

by Xavier Dorison (story) and Mathieu Lauffray (art), 56 pages

Years after the events of Stevenson's Treasure Island, literature's most famous peg-legged pirate agrees to a bold lady's request to help her fill out a ship's crew in order to double-cross her cold-hearted, neglectful, fortune hunter of a husband--for a share of the spoils, of course. But they'll have to make it through the adventure alive first.

Nobody's slate is clean and no one's motives pure in this grown-up semi-sequel inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's classic. Jen H's earlier review piqued my interest, and now I'm hooked, too. It's dark and moody and the lush art easily conveys tone and temperature through skillful use of color and perspective: snow on the dirty streets is bitterly cold, the fireside of an apartment a little dangerously toasty, the winter sun weak through the tall windows of a loveless mansion. Neatness. I need to read the next one soon!