Missions "Kimono" #17

The seventeenth entry in Francis Nicole and Jean-Yves Brouard's long-running French espionage series brings "Opération Pastel" to life with a cover that immediately sets the stakes: a large Soviet-marked jet aircraft skims dramatically low over a churning open sea, while a helmeted pilot hovers in the upper corner, surveying the scene. The tension between that lone aviator and the looming aircraft gives the image a wonderfully taut, Cold War-thriller atmosphere entirely in keeping with the series' tone. Fans of smart, aviation-flavored spy comics will find this 2016 volume a thoroughly engaging addition to the Kimono dossier.