El Cascador

XIII #10

by Jean Van Hamme, William Vance (Artist)

Captured and imprisoned in the Roca Negra fortress, XIII is being tortured by the sinister Colonel Peralta. But, for all his pain and suffering, he’s also in the same building as Maria, the woman who may be his wife. And they have plenty of dedicated, resourceful friends outside… as well as at least one traitor. Still unsure of his past, Jason McLane will have no choice but to become the man known as “El Cascador” to clean up Costa Verde once and for all.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Comics, Thriller, Adventure, Crime, Graphic Novels, Fiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Jean Van Hamme, is a Belgian novelist and comic book writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including Histoire sans héros, Thorgal, XIII, Blake and Mortimer, Lady S and Largo Winch.

More on the brilliant, Jean Van Hamme:
http://lambiek.net/artists/v/van-hamm...

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

XIII is captured and put on trial by the new government of Costa Verde where he finds out once and for all if he was El Cascador. There's also some more family revelations. This book has more revelations about XIII's family than a telenovela. ¡Dios Mio!

[Glamdring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great action packed story where XIII discovers the identity of his father.

[Juhani · Rating 3 out of 5]

XIII:n tarinan ensimmäiset yhdeksän osaa ilmestyivät myös suomeksi, mutta ilmeisesti kustantaja päätti, että ei lyö leiville tämä sarja. Sarjaa on käännetty onneksi englanniksi. Valitettavasti Cinebook-kustantamolla on outo tapa sensuroida ja uudelleen piirtää joitakin ruutuja alkuperäiseen versioon verrattuna, mikä kyllä tuntuu hieman tekopyhältä, kun ei tämä sarja nyt varsinaisesti mitään Manaraa ole. Samaan seikkaan törmäsin myös Largo Wincheissä. Tarina jatkuu samoissa merkeissä kuin aiemmat albumit eli XIII jatkaa menneisyytensä selvittämistä ajautuen uusiin seikkailuihin, ihan koukuttavaa luettavaa.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 10th volume in the long running series about an amnesiac secret agent with the mysterious tattoo of XIII on his shoulder. By this story he has discovered his real name, but not much else. He had gone undercover in a South American country, rife with revolution, only to be betrayed and tortured. Full of action and intelligent, the attention to detail in the art is excellent. It is truly an exciting series.

[Coralie Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tome 10 de la série qui se déroule dans le pays imaginaire du Costa Verde qui ressemble bien aux pays d'Amérique du Sud enjeu de guerre froide des années 1970. Nous suivons nos héros qui prennent part à la guerre civile dans ce pays. En dehors des enjeux politiques et économiques, nous cherchons à savoir si il y a un quelconque lien entre XIII et le héros de ce pays, El Cascador... Réponse dans la lecture de l'album.

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part #2 of a stand-alone story (part #1 being "For Maria", issue #9). XIII survives the ever unstable politics of South American country and finally finds the person that can tell him more about himself.

The revelation part though is at the every end and story ends with big cliffhanger. I cannot wait for issue #11.

Highly recommended for all action thriller fans.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que surpresa a história revolucionária do cascador e quem é de facto o pai de Jason Mac lane. Sempre cheia de twists a saga do xiii

[Saoirse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encore un super tome, bien rythmé. J’ai hâte de lire le tome suivant car les révélations des dernières pages nous tiennent en haleine !

[Fredrik Strömberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The tenth volume and van Hamme is not letting down on the thriller factor of this series. XIII is still in the banana republic of last album and, rather predictably, a revolution takes place. The trial at the end was not predictable, neither was it's outcome. The "surprise" ending, with the revelation of who the old Irishman Mullway is, was announced a mile away, though. Still, some good writing from van Hamme in this volume.

Visually, Vance delivers his usual, realistic though rather stiff art. The long scene at the beginning of the book, where a rescue mission to high security prison is taking place, is drawn with a full-blown rainstorm as a background, which is beautifully done, adding lots of emotional gravitas to the scene.

Again, I find myself divided in my estimate of the content of this series. On the one hand it is a macho laden, testosterone driven story, full of action, guns, violence, hardy men and beautiful women. On the other hand, the story is filled with strong, self-reliant women, who more than enough can compare to the men. This story ends for instance with one of them becoming the president of the banana republic in question. So, even though this series was written some 20 odd years ago for the often male oriented and sexist French comics business and for a journal that has predominantly young male readers, i.e. Spirou, it's not as bad as it could have ben, not by a long shot. Compared to, say the James Bond movies of the time, it's positively feminist.

Oh well, onwards, ever onwards. I feel like a shark that has to swim to survive, and reaches out to grab volume eleven.

[Yves · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est un tome très intéressant de la série avec une bonne intrigue et de l'action. On a droit à d'autres réponses dans ce volume. Il n'est pas aussi bon que les premiers mais il tient encore la route. Je crois qu'une mise à jour dans les dessins aurait été très positif. Le look des années 1980 m'énerve beaucoup. Les reste est très bien.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusto mucho el concepto general, de una compañia norteamericana apoyando una revolucion en contra de una dictadura puesta por la CIA. El arte es bastante bueno y se van desatando mas cabos del pasado de XIII.

[Mauritzvd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is becoming ridiculous...

[Sapotille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jusqu'ici, mon tome préféré ! Heureusement que j'ai 3 tomes à portée de main parce que là !!!!

[Koen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewing for the series: This is an amazing read!! Enjoying it and speeding through it like a train!