XIII - Mobile Edition

European Comics
XIII
By Patrick Bérubé
February 6, 2009 - 08:00

Dargaud
Writer(s): Jean Van Hamme
Penciller(s): William Vance
Colourist(s): Petra
Cover Artist(s): William Vance

The cover of the first edition of the first volume

Who is XIII? Found almost dead and without memories on the Eastern seashore of the United States, the mysterious man sporting a roman number tattoo on his chest only wants to discover his past. But to do so will trigger painful memories of a man he might or might not have been. Did he really assassinate the president of the United States? Was he once a liberator in South America? A SPADS? An agent of the IRA? All of these? One thing is for sure, there is a conspiracy consisting of 20 (XX in roman) peoples and they want him dead. Why? Because he might be able to thwart their plan to overthrow the government and replace it by a far right dictatorship.

Before I go farther with this article, I just want to get one thing straight. Yes there are similarities between XIII and The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. Many American readers pointed that out when the Dabel Brothers began a translation a couple years ago but both books respective plotlines start diverging after a short while.

A page of volume 4

The European XIII series began in 1984 and consist of 19 volumes. The last ones (vol. 18 and 19) were published simultaneously in 2007. The series is written by the prolific Jean Van Hamme who also wrote such popular series such as Largo Winch and Thorgal. William Vance drew every volume of the series except for vol. 18 where Jean Giraud (Moebius) took over the art duty. As mentioned above, the series contains political intrigue and a good dose of action. It is not rare for a European series that takes place in the US and feature American heroes. Many classic series have appeared in the past where this is the case. Each time it’s interesting to see the perception of the our continent a European can have and how he can sometime better use some elements of our geography or history.

Most of the series is written in larger story arcs. The first five volumes are linked together and in my opinion contain the best story since this is where the political intrigue is the stronger. The rest of the volumes focus almost only on XIII’s quest for his memories and his desire for vengeance against the leader of the conspiracy. As for the art, Vance pencil is perfectly suited for the kind of story told here. His style his realistic and he can render action pretty well. His painted covers are well done and add a bonus value to the series.

Cover of volume 9

Can this series be considered a classic? It can certainly be called a popular success since the sale numbers are in the millions. From it also spawned a video game from Ubisoft, a television mini-series (aired on NBC) and many licensed products. But could someone go as far as calling it a literary success? Probably not since the series can compare a lot more to a summer blockbuster movie than to an Oscar winner. In fact the series was often mentioned by indie creator as the perfect example of what was wrong creative-wise with the European comic book market…

You should definitely check out this series if you are interested by political thriller and want to know what a European best-seller looks like but I believe our European friends have much more to offer than that.