by Sokal Publisher: NBM Publishing Co. (June 1, 1991)
Softcover, 46 pages
Another
bleak anthropomorphic world from our European cousins. The Inspector Canardo
series has spawned over twenty two volumes over the years in Belgium, but only
two were published in English. This is the second one (I seem to only be
reviewing second volumes lately). Both are listed on Amazon- for those who are
interested.
Drawn
in a somewhat classic funny animal style, with a dark pallet underlying the
entire scene, the main character Canardo (named after the French word “canard”,
meaning “duck”) stumbles drunkenly through his life. And considering his world
is filled with broken down buildings, grimy landscapes, iron-grey seas, and
ruined old forts, who the blame the duck for not wanting to stay sober.
The
story is a topsy-turvy one that seems as if it’s rambling in the middle, but
eventually all plot points tie in together. Canardo can barely be called a
protagonist in this story as he does little but observe the violent and bizarre
events, in between bouts of drinking. It is an almost evil tale, with almost no
redeeming characters. The action revolves around a gentle bear, easily picked
on, who turns into a raging psychopath whenever he hears a particular song. It
is a wonderfully sleazy tale with a very violent ending.
Just
for information, the creator of this series, Benoît Sokal, was also the
director for one of my favorite video games back in the day, Siberia. It’s a point-and-click
narrative puzzle game in the style of Broken
Sword about a woman’s journey to a mythical island. It’s beautifully
rendered, or it was for 2005. It might be a bit dated now, but I enjoyed the
game and its sequel immensely. Here is the wikipedia link for the game. It is
available on Steam.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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