The Rabbi’s Cat
Joann Sfar, 2005 (Eng. translation)

This book collects the stories originally published in three separate volumes in France from 2001 through 2003. This is a re-read for me, and I’d almost (but not quite) forgotten how much I enjoyed this the first time around. The basic story: a tomcat living with a widowed rabbi and his daughter in northern Algeria during the 1930s briefly gains the power of speech after eating their aging (and annoying) parrot one night. He uses his gift of speech to – among other things – get into theological arguments with his master, because it turns out that even before he could talk the cat could read and so is already familiar with the Torah. He then demands to be taught the kabbalah and have a Bar Mitzvah. These concerns, however, fall to the wayside after the cat again loses the ability to talk and the rabbi is worried that he might be replaced by a handsome young rabbi from Paris – who falls in love with his daughter (the feeling’s mutual). My description may make this sound like an outright comical story, but while it has some very funny bits, it’s much more than that – it has a lot of depth and heart.

Sfar’s art might not be to everyone’s taste, but I’ve always liked it here and in his other stuff I’ve read. It’s perfect for the story being told.

The Rabbi's Cat was one of my favourite series in the '00s. Truly a beautiful collection of tales crossing cultural and religious barriers. To this day, when I want to express sorrow to my wife, I imitate the cat's "je suis triste" line from one of the books.

Both my late sister and mom loved it too, so it holds a special place in my heart.

An upcoming event for fans of Italian comics:

TICS Talks: In conversazione con Rodolfo Torti

When and Where:
Monday, October 16, 2023 10:00 am to 11:00 am
Online via Zoom - utoronto.zoom.us/j/86580005559

Description:
Conversation with Rodolfi Torti, a renowned Italian comics artist who has provided the art for original characters such as the internationally acclaimed Jon Karta as well as staples of the Italian fumetto, among which Martyn Mystere and Tex.

The event will be held in Italian but there will be a chance to speak English in the Question & Answer period with the audience.

Details here: www.italianstudies.utoronto.ca/events/tics-talks-conversazione-con-rodolfo-torti

The Rabbi’s Cat 2
Joann Sfar, 2008 (Eng. Translation)

The reason I re-read the first volume (reviewed above - just scroll up a bit) is that I wanted to finally get around to reading this second book; this one collects two stories published in separate volumes in France in 2005 and 2006. The first, called “Heaven on Earth” sees the titular cat and his rabbi on a visit to Oran, where among other things they meet with the rabbi’s cousin, Malka – he’s the bearded guy on the cover (above). He was introduced in the first volume and he’s a rather colorful character: he has a pet lion and he travels around the countryside telling stories and often runs scams, i.e., he pretends the lion is wild and only he can tame it with prayer, after which he accepts donations for his miraculous feat. In this volume, we learn a little more about him and his background, as well as the fact that both he and his lion are getting old and confronting their own mortality.
The second, longer story is pretty epic in scope. It starts out with the rabbi’s son-in-law receiving a large crate full of Torahs and other books from a synagogue in the Soviet Union, but when they open it, they find a man inside among the literature who they initially think is dead. He ends up being alive, but only speaks Russian so nobody can understand him – except the cat, and the young man can understand him as well.

Later, once they find a translator – a wealthy but rather unhinged Russian who fled the country after the revolution – they learn that he actually wanted to go to Ethiopia to find a fabled city populated solely by Jews with an ancient pedigree going back to the queen of Sheba. This eventually leads to a road trip: the young man, the rabbi, the cat and a few others end up traipsing the width and breadth of Africa, and at one point even bump into a rather familiar looking young reporter from Belgium…

Empire, v 1-4
story: Jean-Pierre Pécau, art: Igor Kordej

Just got through reading this over the weekend; this Croatian translation volume contains four books originally published separately in the French language in Belgium: 1. Le général phantôme (2006); 2. Lady Shelley (2007); 3. Operatie Overlord (2007); and 4. Le Sculpteur de chair (2016). The Croatian translation I read was published in 2020 – it’s worth pointing out that an “Integrale” volume was also published in Belgium in 2016, but it collects the first three volumes, which are a complete story arc. The fourth volume is the start of a new arc.
This is an alternate history book in which the basic idea is that Napoleon is never defeated and continues to expand the French empire; the first arc takes place in 1815-16, and mainly focuses on the French campaigns against the British in India. Also, in this world, many of the technological breakthroughs of the late 19th and 20th century have already been made, although most things run on steam power. Thus, there are rudimentary armored vehicles, dirigibles with what are basically prototype jet engines attached to them, various electrical devices, early versions of computers, etc. And furthermore, mythical creatures like yetis and vampires occasionally show up.
The main character is a French intelligence operative named Alexandre de Saint-Elme, who is basically a grown-up Mowgli (i.e., his parents were killed when he was a boy so he was raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India). His mission in the first arc to is take out the British “phantom general” (which, *spoiler alert* ends up being a sort of punch-card computer); he’s assisted by Charles Nodier (an actual historical figure), a civilian assisting the French military.
That set-up makes it sound pretty interesting, but I have to say, it’s mostly not. It’s actually kind of dull, believe it or not, with tons of excessive exposition. Like this scene, in which Saint-Elme confronts Shere Khan (not a tiger here, but rather an unscrupulous Indian mercenary):

(if you look closely, you can also see little starred “editor’s notes” in the gutters – there are a lot of those)
The woman, by the way, is Mary Shelley, here working for the British army, as she’s the programmer for the “phantom general.” Otherwise, while I don’t object to the use of extremely fictionalized historical figures, I thought it was odd that Pécau sort of scrunched a whole bunch of history into this period, meaning historical figures, etc. that hadn’t yet appeared in the early 19th century are mentioned, like characters talking about fantastical stories written by a guy named Poe, or Charles Babbage’s innovations, etc.
The main thing that bothered me, though, is that there does not really seem to be much depth to the story: it’s basically just a lot of James-Bondesque derring-do at exotic locales and little more. Really, there’s little here to recommend, except for Kordej’s lovely art, which is the only thing that kept me from tossing this aside less than halfway through. Here’s a nicely rendered scene of an aerial dirigible confrontation that’s reminiscent of (and perhaps an homage to?) the hellicarrier siege in Steranko’s Nick Fury:

End of year and a lot coming out at once, so short opinions on all

Asterix, the White Iris by Fabcaro and Didier Conrad: First issue by the new writer and I liked it. Not quite Goscinny yet, but it has the old school setup of the village running into a new issue that is really based on some current event rather than the fantasy elements more recent issues were trying.

Spirou par... Blue Gorgon by Dany and Yann: Spirou and Fantasio are caught between a Trumpian billionaire and a eco-terrorist organisation. Art is decent (Dany has done better and he's still drawing black people as caricatures though.) and the story kinda ends.

Redbeard #3 Mami Wata by Kraehn and Carloni. This concludes this three-parter. It's a very standard pirate story by now with cursed treasures, betrayals and swordfights, but that is not a negative and it still looks amazing.

Robillar #3 by Chauvel and Huinebaud: The final issue of a take on Puss-in-Boots. This time with an Animal Farm flaovur. Robillar is sent to a farm where the farm animals have risen against their human masters once they have figured out what they are really there for. Love the cartoony art, the story is funny, but also a bit dark and sad. Overall I quite liked this series. WIth only three issues, which all can also be read standalone, it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Mercy by Jean van Hamme, Bazin, Bertail, De Jongh, Djief, Durieux, Efa and Munuera: Not to be confused with Sejic's Mercy title. This is a collection of short stories (some only 2 pages long) by Van Hamme with different artists. Lot of stories and the quality is inconsistent between them, but there were some good ones in there. Very Roald Dahl's "Tales of the Unexpected" vibes with the stories often having a dark, comedic twist ending.

Captain Voodoo by Pecau, Perovic and Sayago: Somehow I got a lot of pirate comics this year, between the Redbeard revival, Baracuda (old series, but I bought it this year), La Buse and now this one. It does make the historic faux-pas by equating the Irish indentured servants with the African slaves taken to the US. An irish indentured servant is freed by pirates together with several black slaves, and finds out that his dead brother's spirit has entered him (see Brother Voodoo), he also has become a vessel for powerful spirits and one of the black slaves befriends him and tries to guide him in using his new powers. Somehow not part of Pecau's widespread Secret History/Arcana/multiple other titles universe (though it may be revealed later to be a part). Liked Redbeard and Barracuda better.

Lament of the Lost Moors: Sudennas #3 by Dufaux and Teng: See earlier in this thread on this series. Siobhan tries to free her friend Seamus from her cousin Alysia's dark spell. As all Lament of the Lost Moors, this probably is going to have a bittersweet ending, where while evil doesn't win, good will still be marked by the events. Still highly recommended as a fantasy series with great art.

Warmachines #6: The Butcher of Stonne by Pecause, Mavric-Andronk and Verney: #1 still the best story in this series on WWII tanks, but this on was interesting, mostly because it didn't focus on a German, British, American or Russian tank. Instead it focuses on B1 bis, a french tank. There is not much story here, instead you get a lot of info dumps on the tank itself and the role it played in the war. Popular culture often portrays the German tanks as invincible, but in this case the B1 Bis was better armoured and armed than any tank the Germans had and the Germans only managed to destroy these type of tanks by using anti-aircraft guns and heavy artillery against them. But they were also slow and very complex with teams needing far more training than they received to use the tank effectively.

Blacksad 7 They All Fall Down by Canales and Guarnido: Was disappointed with part 1, because it was the first two-parter they did so you were left hanging halfway through. The second part of the story wraps things up well IMHO and the art is amazing as always.

I am their Silence - A Murdercase in Barcelona by Jordi LaFebre: Eva is a psychiatrist who has been suspended. She is being evaluated by a colleague, Dr. Llop, as she tells the story of her past week, which involves her investigating a murder (against the wishes of the police officer in charge with the actual investigation), aided by the spirits/hallucinations of the 3 dead family members (a grandmother and two aunts) who raised her. This all sounds very serious and the issue touches on some dark subjects, but the issue includes many lighthearted moments as well and the art is a joy to behold. If I recommend anything on this list (and I recommend quite a few of them), I think this is the title I'd recommend the most.

Livet #1 by Cornelis and Riedé. Disclosure: Riedé is a co-worker who does the writing of comics as a sidejob and I have contributed to this kickstarter. Also won a contest they held, so I actually appear in this comic as a character (a peasant with 1 line). So I am biased. Two magical knight travel the country to protect villagers from evils, including a flesh-eating giant. It's the first issue so things are still getting started (it follows more of an American model than an European). Some strong language and violence, but the two knights are likeable and I'm very curious to see where the story is going.

I don't think it's Berck, because if it was, I'd probably could have found a Flemish or French version of it. Also the style seems a bit off for him. But that is still an educated guess.