SinBad #2

The second volume of Soleil's SinBad series arrives in 2009 with "La griffe du génie," and Pierre Alary's cover immediately sets a mood of swashbuckling tension — a wary, red-turbaned Sinbad peers cautiously around a sweeping crimson curtain, curved blade in hand, while a bold young woman in golden attire stands at his side, and the looming dark silhouette of a massive clawed hand hints at the supernatural threat lurking just beyond. Arleston and Alwett's adventurous retelling of the classic seafarer's world continues to blend humor and danger with real charm, and Alary's expressive linework gives both the characters and their unease a wonderfully animated quality.