Franka #21

The twenty-first album in Henk Kuijpers' long-running Dutch series finds the red-haired, confident Franka striding forward against a vivid yellow sky, flames blazing on either side of her as a towering ancient ziggurat-like structure — decorated in deep blue with golden ornaments and animal friezes — rises dramatically behind her. A crowd of robed and costumed figures, along with ceremonial standards, fills the scene, evoking a world steeped in ancient Near Eastern mythology that fits perfectly with this third chapter of "De reis van de Ishtar." Kuijpers' clean, expressive line work is on full display in this 2010 entry, making Het zilveren vuur a striking addition to any Franka collection.