Lefranc #21

Against the sun-baked hills of Hollywood, Lefranc sprints alongside a dark-haired woman in a pink dress — red scarf streaming behind him — while a seaplane banks menacingly overhead in pursuit. "Le Châtiment" (Punishment) is the twenty-first album in J. Martin's long-running Franco-Belgian series, brought to life here by writer Patrick Delperdange and artists André Taymans and Erwin Drèze. The California setting gives this 2010 Casterman entry a cinematic energy that should appeal to longtime fans and newcomers alike.