Review by Roy Boyd
An exposition-heavy introduction catches us up on events from before as Defcon One wraps up the story that kicked off in Flight of the Spectre. Neatly sidestepping any accusations of racism, our baddies are a bunch of powerful Japanese extremists, rather than the government. They’re trying to cause a war between the USA and China, and Buck’s nemesis, Lady X, is heavily involved in the nefarious plot. Fortunately, Buck and his intrepid pals are on hand to stop them at any cost.
As before, the story has more than its fair share of exciting episodes, with aircraft carriers under attack from missiles and 150-feet tall rogue waves just a couple of the issues they have to contend with. At one point early in the story Buck’s commanding officer says, “This isn’t James Bond.” And it isn’t, though it might as well be, as some of the plot developments would stretch credulity even for a Bond movie.
Writer Frédéric Zumbiehl delivers a story that’s fast-paced and exciting, without quite as many of the info-dumps and technical specifications that often slowed the first half of this adventure, one assumes because we’ve already covered most of the relevant details. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, artist Gil Formosa’s attention to detail in the depiction of all the hardware is impressive, bordering on the alarming.
One thing they don’t do terribly well is humour. The Abbot and Costello-level witless gurning of Buck’s young colleague Sonny Tuckson is what passes for comedy, and it’s usually painfully unfunny. Perhaps this can be put down to the different sensibilities of the French readers. Some of the sexual dynamics, especially between Tuckson and Lady X, are suspect, mainly because he looks barely pubescent. She keeps insulting him by calling him a pathetic ginger. Poor gingers are the only people you can still safely have a go at.
Too technical for really young readers, with out-dated characters, this book and series may have some serious flaws – or stylistic tics, if we’re being generous – but it’s a format that clearly works.
The adventure continues in the next volume, originally to be called Vostok, Are You Receiving Me?, at least according to the back cover, but actually released as Vostok, Do You Read Me?
