Ralph Azham #2

The second volume of Lewis Trondheim's Ralph Azham series arrives from Dupuis in 2011 with a cover that immediately sets a tone of wild adventure — a white-haired figure leaps energetically between rocky cliffs while flanked by a hulking grey creature on one side and a looming, winged antagonist on the other, with a dark castle silhouetted against the sky in the distance. Trondheim's loose, expressive linework gives the scene a playful yet ominous energy, subtly colored by Brigitte Findakly's soft palette of greys and earthy tones. Subtitled "De dood aan het begin van de weg" — Death at the Beginning of the Road — this album promises the kind of offbeat, darkly comic fantasy that makes this series such a pleasure to follow.