Rani #2

Rani cuts a striking figure on this Le Lombard album cover — a bold, dark-haired woman on horseback, dressed in a red coat and tricorn hat, a pistol in one hand and a rifle in the other, poised against a warm golden backdrop with rocky desert formations in the distance. The subtitle "Bandiet" (outlaw) says it all: this is a woman who operates on her own terms, and the cover by Francis Vallès gives her commanding presence an almost cinematic weight. Jean Van Hamme and Vallès deliver the kind of adventure-driven European comics storytelling that Le Lombard does so well, and this 2011 volume is a handsome entry in the series.