We Have A Strong Contender For My Favorite Collection Of The Year

As I've said I'm not much for digital comics. I'm glad that it offers greater opportunities for people to get their work out there and seen, but strictly from a reading perspective, I prefer to have a physical copy in hand. So it's nice when people get their digital comics collected and released in some nice hardcover format. Like, oh, let's take a totally random example, Colleen Cover and Paul Tobin's first volume of Bandette.

I've also said I like fictional thieves, caper flicks, stealth games, things of that nature. Garrett from the Thief series. The Black Cat. Even Gambit, if he'd stop being a sleazeball and just steal stuff. So a story about a young woman who steals priceless art and books because she finds it to be great fun was likely to be right up my alley. I was so sure of it, I went to the trouble of pre-ordering it, which is extremely rare for me with trades.

So you have Bandette, who is a thief, but one who will help insurance companies recover (most) of a set of stolen Rembrandt's from an arms dealer, or help the police with a bank robbery turned hostage situation. Unfortunately, the latter event puts her in the cross hairs of a man known as Absinthe, who runs an organization known as FINIS. Ostensibly a charitable organization, it's actually a vast criminal enterprise devoted to using vice and violence to spread its influence worldwide.

Bandette's made aware of this threat to her well-being by a rival, an older gent known as Monsieur, but she's more interested in a list of items he was asked to steal from Absinthe by a mysterious Madam. After some deliberation, she proposes the two thieves work together. . . competitively. They will both try to steal the items, and along the way, any information they unearth on FINIS' criminal activities will be passed along to Inspector Belgique, a police officer Bandette has a amusingly antagonistic, "friendship" is perhaps too strong a word.

It's a delightful book. Bandette's a character who pursues enjoyment of life, in whatever form it takes. Candy bars, pranks, theft, dodging death threats, thwarting the schemes of more unpleasant criminals. She can be caught by surprise or outmaneuvered, but it leaves her only mildly put off at worst, and depending on how it's accomplished, she may even be delighted by it. It isn't that she doesn't recognize the seriousness of situations, more she doesn't see why a serious situation should mean she can't have any fun. Monsieur is much older, more reserved, but is clearly someone who steals because he enjoys the challenge, and for the opportunity to see and appreciate great works it affords him. He's not so boisterous as Bandette, but he's no dour stick-in-the-mud. That might be Belgique, though he's easily riled and quickly profane, so he's at least a comically unhappy person. That's kind of how the cop has to be, though. You have to be able to laugh at him, or you might start to feel bad he's never going to catch the thief*.

I will admit I turned into Annoying Fan Guy when Matadori appeared. When she tells Bandette the bull is dangerous in the beginning, but then it tires my brain was going, "Um, actually, Death in the Afternoon said the bull gets more dangerous as the fight goes on because the bull figures out the matador's tricks." Flippin' brain, now it thinks it's some bullfighting expert. It almost works, because Matadori is very confident, well beyond the point of arrogance, so maybe from her perspective what she says it true, because she can't envision letting the fight go that long. Or I"m trying to excuse my stupid brain.

Coover's artwork is excellent, as you would expect if you're familiar with her work. The coloring is a bit different than what I remember from some of her other work. Perhaps because she does it herself. The hardcover includes her description of how she goes about creating a page, from initial sketches to the final coloring process, complete with accompanying images, if that's something you are interested in. I need to read it more thoroughly myself. The characters are distinct, the backgrounds convey a real sense of place, and I really enjoy how she draws Bandette. She's rarely still more than two panels in a row. Even when she opts for a more firm stance (see the image below), she can't help expressing her glee and two panels later she's doing a handstand on a crypt. She's almost constantly moving, hanging from something, or climbing something else, gliding across rooftops. There's a lightness to her step that seems very appropriate for such a cheerful, exuberant character**. In contrast Monsieur is more grounded in his movements, but a lot of times, we don't see him move at all. He simply appears, quietly, in the panel where was was not before. That's his preferred style.

Add it all up, and I give Bandette my highest recommendation. I don't know when there will be a second volume - I haven't seen anything on Paul Tobin's website about more issues appearing online yet - but hopefully it won't be too long.

* It might still happen. I always felt bad for Inspector Zenigata in Lupin III. Good cop, honest as the day is long, but much like Wil E. Coyote, he hasn't got a prayer).

** This isn't relevant to Bandette itself, but that's basically how I see Cassanee/the Lady in Orange moving when I try to describe it in my stories. I'm never quite sure if I pull it off, though, so it was nice to see it visualized, even if for an entirely different character.