Review by Frank Plowright

British secret agent Kathy Austin has been sent deep into the Amazonian jungle to verify the truth of an extraordinary photograph showing an exceptionally tall and pale man with an enlarged head. Could he be an alien? Writers Leo and Rodolphe have kept readers a step ahead of Kathy by not only showing he’s present, indeed shown on the cover, but possessed of healing and destructive abilities. Germans who fled to Brazil after World War II are also interested, but their target is among the Yanomami people who’re notoriously hostile to intruders. Episode 1 showed people have already died.

Just to keep readers on their toes, the writers don’t pick up where expected, but instead flash back two years to 1947 to show British members of the Bram Stoker Society planning a trip to Romania in connection with a meteor shower that may have first spawned the legend of vampirism. This must have relevance to future episodes, as it’s not the last we see of these pilgrims and their journey.

It gives talented artist Bertrand Marchal yet another location to draw, and his foreboding remote mountain scenery is every bit as attractive as his jungle illustrations. Whether appreciated digitally or in printed form, this is superb art.

More members are added to what’s already quite a large cast, yet while some are just a narrative means to an end, such as the pastor at whose mission many gather, all have distinct personalities. The effect is to give a feeling of real depth to already dramatically engaging circumstances.

Those circumstances change significantly over the course of the book, with few people remaining in the same place they were at the beginning. Kathy cultivates a new ally, and they end Episode 2 with a chilling discovery centuries old. Bring on Episode 3.