The Adventures of Julius Chancer – The Rainbow Orchid

Script and art – Garen Ewing

Published by Egmont

You may have read elsewhere on this site about my love for European comic books and how the first I ever bought was an Asterix book. That’s true, however around the same time a friend of mine introduced me to a somewhat more serious young comic book character called Tintin. Herge’s books still leave me spell bound, and (much like John Higgins as I found out at BICS) house moves and household rearrangements always mean the same thing, my Tintin books are dug up again and a month or so is lost to rereading them.

It was to my delight on picking up the first book in the adventures of Julius Chancer (The Rainbow Orchid), to see that not only has the legacy that Herge left behind has been picked up by a creator of not only great skill and style, but one that happens to be a very nice guy, and importantly for a site that likes to celebrate the country form which we hail, he’s British.

This first part of a story that will be told in a trilogy of books sets the scene on a world that is both new and familiar all at once. Chancer is the young assistant of Sir Alfred Catesby-Grey a collector of antiquities. The relationship we see unfold in the early pages reminded me of Indiana Jones and Marcus Brody, much gentler of course, but none the less its very clear that this is a relationship borne of mutual respect and affection (in a very chappish way of course). Julius has just returned form another adventure, when a Hollywood starlet and her dipsomaniac gambling father, who has managed to wager the family heirloom, The Trembling Sword of Tybalt Stone, with which also comes the rights to the family estate, come crashing into their lives.

The person with whom he has made this deal is Urkaz Grope, a shady and wealthy business man who is every bit the classic villain. The wager is simple; at the upcoming Orchid competition (to be held at Wembley) Lord Reginald Lawrence will beat Grope with his entry. This would be straight forward had Grope not come into possession of a rare and delicate Black Orchid. Distressed the drunken Lord approaches Catesby-Grey who, as luck would have it, has heard of a rare Rainbow Orchid, which possession of may just win the day. Luckily for we readers this will involve a globe trotting mission to uncover the clues as to its whereabouts. So off sets Julius with Lily the glamorous movie star and her bungling agent in tow, and Grope and his henchmen (and woman) in pursuit to ensure they do not reach their destination.

The violence is infrequent and always comic, the dialogue clean and the story line enjoyably, even at times charmingly fanciful, and delightfully whimsical, in short it has all the best characteristics of any Tintin book. The story has time and space to develop as do the characters, but the action and story is still fresh and crisp never sags which in a tale that will undoubtedly top 150 pages could have been a danger. The art too is gorgeous, with the care and dedication of the artist showing in each and every intricately drawn panel.

It’s clearly a work of passion for Garen, who told us at BICS that this is the culmination of 6 years work. Pages have been circulating for some time, so to see it finally reaching the light of day, and hopefully the audience it deserves is satisfying indeed. Of course I’m biased (as are my fellow Monkeys no doubt) who all have signed and sketched copies of this book to read, but regardless, it is pleasing that there are new creators willing to take all that was good with these old Belgian and French books and continue the proud tradition.

The Rainbow Orchid is a great read, and is also promising for the future of British graphic novels. It’s a classic book which can be enjoyed at any age, and I feel pleased for a new generation that can grow up loving a new set of stories from a brave young adventurer, that they too will be taking out in years to come when they move. For me there should be room in the world for fun adventure stories and I hope this is just the first instalment of a long and successful series.