Le Faucon du désert #5

The fifth volume of Franz Zumstein's Le Faucon du désert series takes the action to the frozen skies of Novgorod, a dramatic shift from the desert theatres suggested by the series title. Zumstein's cover painting captures a sleek, red-nosed fighter screaming low over a snow-blanketed Russian landscape, cannons blazing as Soviet aircraft press in from above — the tension of an aerial dogfight rendered with real kinetic energy. Published by Delcourt in 2014, this album showcases Zumstein's full range as artist, inker, and colorist, with his palette of icy blues and muted silvers perfectly evoking a brutal Eastern Front winter.