Buck Danny – L’intégrale – Tome 10

A collection of short stories scripted by Zidrou (the author of Ducobu and Tamara), who gives us a series of portraits, 4 to 15 pages each, featuring the “Mr. and Ms. Everydayman” who we meet every day — and each of whom has a story to tell. Portraits and tales, each illustrated by an up-and-coming artist, like the promising young Jordi Lafebre of Spain.

Constantinople, 1097. As Black Liv leads the Holy Militia deeper into Turkey, he must contend with lords above his station quarreling over glory and the spoils of war, as well as the treachery of Basileus Alexios Komnenos. Meanwhile, Hermance, coming back into his full powers as a healer and miracle worker, saves the life of Tafur Princess Istvana when the Militia is forced to take a perilous route through the Taurus Mountains. Will the Princess’ love for both men drive them apart when their armies need them most, at the gates of the daunting and impregnable city of Antioch?

April 1945. The Third Reich is collapsing. In Berlin, surrounded by Soviet troops, a small aircraft lands under enemy fire. Daring pilot Hanna Reitsch escorts an important officer to Hitler’s bunker – and is granted an audience with the Führer, from which she emerges visibly upset. Meanwhile, in a German hospital in the countryside, Max comes to after a long coma. His task remains the same: to kill Hanna. But what new mission has she been given?

Things look like they might be starting to turn around for thirty-odd year old no-hoper Hugo, when he finds a robot in his house on his birthday. But, as he soon discovers, this is no birthday present (no one seems to have remembered to get him anything!), but the handiwork of his cousin, an engineer in the French army, who realized that the robot he had been building was designed to destroy humanity. Forced to hide out with Hugo, Roger – as he decides to call himself – must learn to live with humans… No mean feat!

Following Captain Inferno’s discovery of his whereabouts, Campbell and his two young daughters have been forced to flee their home and seek refuge on Bakalaoo Island, the leper colony. The slow pace of life in their new home gives Campbell plenty of time to reflect on his past, including his early encounters with enigmatic Nancy, the mother of his children, and his brother’s vendetta against the formidable Captain Morgan, whose true identity remains a mystery. Meanwhile, Carapepino is up to no good again, and teenage Itaca is suffering her first heartbreak.

Karma City is a town of virtue governed by the universal laws of karma and where public interest primes.
Emma List, a paleontology researcher, presents herself at the gates of the “white zone” of the capital city. She is authorized entry despite her negative karma level. A few minutes later she has a stroke and dies in a car crash. What initially appears to be a routine case for agents Cooper, Napoli, and Asuka soon transforms into a wide-ranging investigation. For Emma List had moved into the grey zone to pursue proof that pre-karmic societies once existed.

Since becoming a zombie, Yan has been hiding out with his friend Nico. Though desperate to investigate his murder, he has no chance of keeping a low profile, looking very much like death warmed up. Fortunately, he happens to know a makeup expert, Alice, who offers to give him a much-needed makeover. But before she can help him, Yan gets dragged to a costume party being hosted by a familiar face. It seems like the perfect opportunity to scare out some details of his killer… until he spots his sister Mara, who is about to fall into the hands of a predator. Will he be able to wrest her away in time, while keeping clear of the authorities himself?

Mr. Ash Tuesday finally comes to the end of his wanderings. Right at the heart of Pluto and the first circles of Purgatory, Ash Tuesday comes face to face with the painful incarnations of his past. Thus the postman and his companion at last discover the true nature of Purgatory. It’s all a bit too much for Ash Tuesday, who ends up fleeing the scene and returning to Saint-Cecile. Back in Saint-Cecile, chaos rules following an overdose of Lethe (the river of forgetfulness) and a deluge of coffee rain. This is when a certain skeleton discovers the resurrection formula: the combination of forbidden coffee and sincere repentance. Finally Pluto will be purged of its population of tormented souls! But will they once again be tempted to return to the pleasures of the flesh? Of course they will!

Under the wintry sun of Houppeland everything changes and nothing changes. One leader succeeds the former and the obligatory happy times are replaced by the forced spree. President Christmas is dead, long live president Mardi Gras. No more funny hats, serpentines and confetti, but masques and disguises. Rigorous, as it should be. But under the disguises, the opponents of the regime of the make believe agitate, and the Brigade of the Jolly Drills does not know which mask to wear anymore. In this fictive world, but more real than reality, the obligatory smile can kill. Does the nightmare continue? More than ever.