A French Mystery in The Adventures of Theodore Poussin: Captain Steene || GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW

The Adventures of Theodore Poussin: Captain Steene by Frank Le Gall

3/5 STARS

Genre: Graphic Novel, Mystery
Author: Frank Le Gall
Published: September 2018 [in English]
Publisher: Europe Comics
Pages: 46 {e-book}

Review on Goodreads

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Initial Thoughts Upon Finishing

This was a cute and well-drawn graphic novel that I enjoyed. I’m seriously keen to read more of the series and find out what happens next. I got some Tin-Tin vibes from reading this, especially because of the style of drawing!

The Adventures of Theodore Poussin

“The dreams of a pencil pusher longing for adventure and distant shores come true when the maritime transport company where he works sends him on a trip to 1928 French Indochina. But Theodore Poussin is about to get more than he bargained for as he sets sail on the Cap Padaran: a mysterious, poetry-reciting man with ominous predictions about his future follows him everywhere; stories surrounding his late uncle Captain Steene, whose grave he promised his family he would find, are vague and contradictory; and he somehow ends up in the crossfire of a guerilla war near the Chinese border, forced to run for his life and toward even more unexpected events.”

This is a French graphic novel, translated into English following the adventures of a man called Theodore Poussin. He’s longed for a life of travel – to see amazing places but also to find out what happened to the mysterious Captain Steene.

In a twist of fate he gets a ticket on board the Cap Padaran and is somewhat haunted by Monsieur November who is his “destiny”. He does make it to Indochina but a bunch things happen along the way at a rapid and intriguing pace.

What I Enjoyed

I really liked being able to just sit down for a short period of time and chomp my way happily through this. I’m left somewhat unsatisfied simply because I would have loved this to have been three times the length that is it – but that’s graphic novels for you! I’m genuinely thinking I’m going to try and source down the next instalment . . . but given that this is only just being published in English now, I may have to wait to find out what happens next (or learn French?!).

There are no boring moments in this story as we rapidly switch from scene to scene and almost aggressively push the story along. I liked all the different places we got to see and how confused our main character was when everyone seemed to know who he was and where he needed to be, even though he didn’t himself! It’s a fun little mystery.

Summary

I’d definitely recommend this as a quick read. This volume, at least, is fairly child-friendly. I’d love to have hard copies of the whole series but like I said, I think I’ll have to wait a while to make that dream come true! It’s a thumbs up from me!