Review by Win Wiacek

Jo and Zette Legrand, accompanied by faithful family pet chimpanzee Jocko had what they thought was the ideal solution when enemies attempted to bomb their father’s experimental plane: they flew it away themselves. Mr. Pump’s Legacy ended with them marooned on a tiny, desolate island without food or water.

The islet is a desolate French Possession, and they discover from its only inhabitant that the next boat isn’t due for five months. Fortuitously, after a terrific storm, fuel drums wash ashore. The plane had been designed to win a $10,000,000 prize only on offer for a year, and now able to refuel, Jo and Zette decide to return to France, even though they aren’t quite sure where it is!

Tragically the plucky youngsters overshoot and after a fearsome voyage, crash in the frozen Arctic where they are taken in by a tribe of “Eskimos” (yes, we’d call them Inuit now!). Jocko is separated from them and is rescued from an ice-floe by a passing ocean liner. Recognising the famous pet, the ship sends a message and the children are found. A rescue plane is dispatched with spare parts and the super-plane, once again piloted by the children, is returned to France.

With days remaining to make the attempt, the saboteurs step up their efforts to foil the French effort, but as ever childish ingenuity stymies their every dirty trick perpetrated as the super plane is restored to peak efficiency. With one day remaining, Jacques Legrand is finally ready to fly his brainchild into the history books. But when Jo and Zette come to see him off they find him and his crew all drugged into comas. With the deadline hard upon them, who can possibly fly the ship now..?

While The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko are barely known compared to Tintin, in the mid-1930s Hergé was at his creative peak, and devoted equal time and effort to his second feature. He created beautiful graphic adventures remaining powerful and evocative fantasies for children, full of daring and accomplishment, and confirming the eternal truth that good kids will always defeat bad adults. If only the real world was as rewarding as these thrilling romps for the young-at-heart of all ages. And if only these superb classics were back in print. The series concludes with Valley of the Cobras.