What do you think?
Rate this book
Julius Chancer #1-3
The Complete Rainbow Orchid
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2012
2 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 1, 2025
This comic is the very definition of a flawed masterpiece. I really wanted to give this a higher rating than I did, and if I had stopped reading it earlier, then I think it “would” have given it one. I’m still glad that this comic exists and that I read it, but I just really wish it had been thought out more. It’s great to see a comic that pays tribute to the Franco-Belgian Bande Dessinée art style, especially one in the same vein as The Adventures of Tintin and Blake and Mortimer. The only other thing that keeps the art style of people like Hergé and Edgar P. Jacobs relevant is the reason Blake and Mortimer volumes, so it’s good that they don’t stand alone. But this comic, I’d say it’s a good comic, but the few problems there are so big and all the good things are so surface level that when you talk about it, you're instantly drawn towards the negative rather than the positives.
But I’ll start with the positive, again, I liked the art style. It’s not as good as the books it imitates, but it isn’t far to compare it to its contemporaries. The story itself feels like an amalgamation of a Tintin and Blake and Mortimer album. You have the very simple treasure hunt adventure story, similar to The Broken Ear and The Secret of the Unicorn, but also the massive world-building and setting, similar to The Atlantic Mystery and The Mystery of the Great Pyramids. So, it’s like the best of both worlds. I would actually say that the story is better told than many of the volumes in those two series, which I’ve read.
I also like some of the characters in this one, Julius, Lily, Sir Alfred Catesby-Grey and the daughters of Benoit Tayaut, were all well-realised characters, and I looked forward to seeing them in future adventures. Probably the best character in this was the henchwoman Evelyn Crow, who was a fun antagonist, despite playing only a minimal role in the story. I was kind of mixed on Nathaniel Crumpole, as at first, I thought I wasn’t going to like him, but I became more open to him as the comic relief. I like his character, but I just don’t think he was well-realised enough for me to truly like him. It’s hard to know whether it was lazy writing or whether it was just following the basic formula of the Bande Dessinée. Some of the characters are quite bland, but then so were some of the characters in the comics that this is based on, so it makes sense in that regard.
As for the story, it was interesting; the Rainbow Orchid itself kind of comes into the story by accident. The main villain wants an ancient sword that belongs to one of his ancestors, so he tricks the guy who has it into betting it in an Orchid Competition. Then he reveals that “he” has a much better Orchid, so the other guy asks Julius to find the Rainbow Orchid for him so he can win the competition. So, the fact that Orchids were the focus of the plot was completely incidental, as the villain had no interest in Orchids at all. That was a new take on the Treasure Hunting Genre that you don’t see very often. Other than that, this was fairly standard in terms of action-adventure strips.
As for the problems with this comic overall, there’s a lot to unpack, and there’s no easy way to sum it up. The first issue I notice is the excessive padding in this story. This comic is 117 pages long, and I counted about 14 pages that could have been cut. For example, there’s a subplot about a society of archaeologists that Arthur once belonged to, which goes nowhere and adds nothing. Also, if you look at the character listing for this book, you’ll see that there are “40” characters in this book, and that’s a big problem. There are numerous characters that have no bearing on the plot and could easily have been cut out. There’s this little native boy who follows the group on their voyage when they get to India, for a few pages, then just disappears for no reason. I don’t know if this was done solely to ensure each volume had the same number of pages, or if there simply wasn’t enough time for rewrites, but this comic needed serious revisions.
The other major problem is the last third. The lost world they discover, with its own versions of the Vimana from ancient Indian texts, is so underdeveloped and feels crammed in at the last minute. We could have spent a whole volume in this location, observing how it works and getting to know the people. The Queen of this land only shows up twice and doesn’t do anything important. This would be like if in Atlantic: The Lost Empire, we only spent ten minutes in Atlantic and Kida never said anything. Plus, the whole thing with the guy who came with Arthur on the adventure, suddenly becoming a villain, was just dumb, and the whole backstory with the guy who helped the gang get to the lost world didn’t add anything overall. Again, I don’t know if this was just rushed for time, but I really hated it.
The last problem and the one that made me give the story three stars rather than four was the ending. The Villain seemingly gets away at the end, and a lot of plot points that had been set up don’t get any resolution. We never find out what happened to the stunt girl who was kidnapped, we never know what happened to the Evil Cult that the villain was a part of, and the whole thing about the Archaeological society just ends, and we don’t know what happens to them. They also imply that the police inspector who helped the villain escape was secretly a part of the cult, too, but that is never followed up on. It’s then that I realise this whole wrap-up was setting up for a follow-up which (spoiler alert) never happened. There are more volumes in this series after this one, but from what I’ve read, most of them are set before the events of “this” story, so they can’t be follow-ups. If you look at the official Julius Chancer Website, you’ll see that there is a new story out called The Brambletye Box, which, when looking through the preview, has Lily and her father return, so maybe “that” will be the follow-up to the Rainbow Orchid, but then why did it take “thirteen” years to get to it?
Overall, I want to like this comic, but I just can’t. I appreciate its sentiment, but it was just hurt by a lack of oversight. There is a good comic in here, but just not a great one. If it had just trimmed certain scenes for pacing and put more effort into the last third, then I could have said this was a decent enough comic to check out.
But I’ll start with the positive, again, I liked the art style. It’s not as good as the books it imitates, but it isn’t far to compare it to its contemporaries. The story itself feels like an amalgamation of a Tintin and Blake and Mortimer album. You have the very simple treasure hunt adventure story, similar to The Broken Ear and The Secret of the Unicorn, but also the massive world-building and setting, similar to The Atlantic Mystery and The Mystery of the Great Pyramids. So, it’s like the best of both worlds. I would actually say that the story is better told than many of the volumes in those two series, which I’ve read.
I also like some of the characters in this one, Julius, Lily, Sir Alfred Catesby-Grey and the daughters of Benoit Tayaut, were all well-realised characters, and I looked forward to seeing them in future adventures. Probably the best character in this was the henchwoman Evelyn Crow, who was a fun antagonist, despite playing only a minimal role in the story. I was kind of mixed on Nathaniel Crumpole, as at first, I thought I wasn’t going to like him, but I became more open to him as the comic relief. I like his character, but I just don’t think he was well-realised enough for me to truly like him. It’s hard to know whether it was lazy writing or whether it was just following the basic formula of the Bande Dessinée. Some of the characters are quite bland, but then so were some of the characters in the comics that this is based on, so it makes sense in that regard.
As for the story, it was interesting; the Rainbow Orchid itself kind of comes into the story by accident. The main villain wants an ancient sword that belongs to one of his ancestors, so he tricks the guy who has it into betting it in an Orchid Competition. Then he reveals that “he” has a much better Orchid, so the other guy asks Julius to find the Rainbow Orchid for him so he can win the competition. So, the fact that Orchids were the focus of the plot was completely incidental, as the villain had no interest in Orchids at all. That was a new take on the Treasure Hunting Genre that you don’t see very often. Other than that, this was fairly standard in terms of action-adventure strips.
As for the problems with this comic overall, there’s a lot to unpack, and there’s no easy way to sum it up. The first issue I notice is the excessive padding in this story. This comic is 117 pages long, and I counted about 14 pages that could have been cut. For example, there’s a subplot about a society of archaeologists that Arthur once belonged to, which goes nowhere and adds nothing. Also, if you look at the character listing for this book, you’ll see that there are “40” characters in this book, and that’s a big problem. There are numerous characters that have no bearing on the plot and could easily have been cut out. There’s this little native boy who follows the group on their voyage when they get to India, for a few pages, then just disappears for no reason. I don’t know if this was done solely to ensure each volume had the same number of pages, or if there simply wasn’t enough time for rewrites, but this comic needed serious revisions.
The other major problem is the last third. The lost world they discover, with its own versions of the Vimana from ancient Indian texts, is so underdeveloped and feels crammed in at the last minute. We could have spent a whole volume in this location, observing how it works and getting to know the people. The Queen of this land only shows up twice and doesn’t do anything important. This would be like if in Atlantic: The Lost Empire, we only spent ten minutes in Atlantic and Kida never said anything. Plus, the whole thing with the guy who came with Arthur on the adventure, suddenly becoming a villain, was just dumb, and the whole backstory with the guy who helped the gang get to the lost world didn’t add anything overall. Again, I don’t know if this was just rushed for time, but I really hated it.
The last problem and the one that made me give the story three stars rather than four was the ending. The Villain seemingly gets away at the end, and a lot of plot points that had been set up don’t get any resolution. We never find out what happened to the stunt girl who was kidnapped, we never know what happened to the Evil Cult that the villain was a part of, and the whole thing about the Archaeological society just ends, and we don’t know what happens to them. They also imply that the police inspector who helped the villain escape was secretly a part of the cult, too, but that is never followed up on. It’s then that I realise this whole wrap-up was setting up for a follow-up which (spoiler alert) never happened. There are more volumes in this series after this one, but from what I’ve read, most of them are set before the events of “this” story, so they can’t be follow-ups. If you look at the official Julius Chancer Website, you’ll see that there is a new story out called The Brambletye Box, which, when looking through the preview, has Lily and her father return, so maybe “that” will be the follow-up to the Rainbow Orchid, but then why did it take “thirteen” years to get to it?
Overall, I want to like this comic, but I just can’t. I appreciate its sentiment, but it was just hurt by a lack of oversight. There is a good comic in here, but just not a great one. If it had just trimmed certain scenes for pacing and put more effort into the last third, then I could have said this was a decent enough comic to check out.
July 26, 2015
Jammerlijk mislukte poging om een klare-lijnstrip in de stijl van Kuifje en Blake en Mortimer te maken. De maker probeert veel te veel verschillende plotelementen in zijn verhaal te proppen, en de tekeningen zijn erg stijf onnatuurlijk. (De achter in het boek opgenomen schetsen komen een stuk vitaler over.) Waar het hem vooral aan ontbreekt, is ervaring of inzicht in hoe je een verhaal met plaatjes vertelt, in plaats van met tekstballonnen. En de pogingen tot humor... Ach.
January 3, 2013
The Rainbow Orchid is pure, thrilling adventure storytelling at it's best. Duels, honour at stake, different types of danger, kidnappings, lost civilisations and solid characters. A bit like Indiana Jones in comic book form.
Plus absolutely gorgeous artwork.
Plus absolutely gorgeous artwork.
July 14, 2015
A great ligne claire adventure comic in the style of Herge, Tardi, etc. The action, adventure, characters, and dialogue at times surpass Tintin, but the last act was messy and brought things down a notch.
I hope Ewing makes Julius Chancer a prolific and long-lived series.
I hope Ewing makes Julius Chancer a prolific and long-lived series.
March 9, 2014
So much fun! A lost civilization, military espionage, hollywood glamour, echoes of tintin. I loved this!
October 18, 2017
Terrifically fun three-part graphic novel! At first, it seems like it is going to be an update of Tin Tin... Thin-lines, no shading, no color-blending, minimalist character design; and also, a plucky, bold, youthful protagonist. However, the writing is so, so much more sophisticated.
What follows is a story that skates between two classic genres, those being urban noir and lost-world adventure fiction (in the mold of H. Rider Haggard, who gets a name check in the third volume). However, the whole time, it is just amazingly British. The characters are academic collectors of antiquities, trying to win a flower-growing contest, to solidify the birthright of a careless member of the peerage who has gambled away his legacy. This is a great story.
Why three stars? I grade on a curve. This wasn't setting out to be great literature. It was a fun, pulpy romp, and that is exactly what the author was gunning for. Think of this as three out of a possible three. The author agrees with me. Check out the 'film review' in the inside end cover of the third volume, he leaves his own work a comically backhanded review.
What follows is a story that skates between two classic genres, those being urban noir and lost-world adventure fiction (in the mold of H. Rider Haggard, who gets a name check in the third volume). However, the whole time, it is just amazingly British. The characters are academic collectors of antiquities, trying to win a flower-growing contest, to solidify the birthright of a careless member of the peerage who has gambled away his legacy. This is a great story.
Why three stars? I grade on a curve. This wasn't setting out to be great literature. It was a fun, pulpy romp, and that is exactly what the author was gunning for. Think of this as three out of a possible three. The author agrees with me. Check out the 'film review' in the inside end cover of the third volume, he leaves his own work a comically backhanded review.
June 17, 2020
There are so few Ligne Claire books being made these days. This is one by an author who does it as a side hobby, it is a good attempt, worthy of Tintin, the bottom 3rd of Tintin, but still a decent entry in genre.
Read
June 25, 2022Spectacular and humorous. A perfect, realistically woven story with fantasy flowing through- yet very possible fantasy. You'll read this again and again- it's perfect food for thought. Recommended 7 upwards.
October 13, 2024
In my opinion the story could have felt more engaging if it was in one comic book issue. It just got draggy and boring in 3 issues.
August 8, 2015
Brilliant! One of the most accomplished matinee-adventure style comics I've ever read. Drawn in the traditional "ligne-claire" style (of Tintin fame), with cliffhangers per 2 pages (in the traditional serial-format style) you get a lovely 1920's-style adventure, set in a pre WW2 world (England, travel to the continent, and the far East). Very well researched (e.g. beautiful detailed English locations, references to ancient civilizations for the sci-fi subplot, and early British film history for the movie heroine subplot). Charming characters and a perfectly paced story. Highly recommended to lovers of classic comics (e.g. Tintin, Blake & Mortimer).
September 8, 2015
I liked it and like the ligne claire style, but it suffers from the sterility that comes from trying to make a pulp romp with pulp heroes today where the issues of racism and colonialism are elided.
Also, picking up Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura after reading this really made the static nature of the artwork stand out in unfortunate relief. However, I have to thank the combination for making it clear how paradigm-shifting the general dynamism of manga was.
Also, picking up Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura after reading this really made the static nature of the artwork stand out in unfortunate relief. However, I have to thank the combination for making it clear how paradigm-shifting the general dynamism of manga was.
October 26, 2012
Get it! Has all three volumes and a great additional section in the back. Only in paperback now, but hope this might be in hardback one day.
May 30, 2014
Exactly what the title hints, a bunch of people looking for a rainbow orchid, along with twists and upheavals. It kind of reminds me of Tintin.
September 19, 2015
Done in an earlier style, heavily influenced by TinTin this is an interesting graphic novel adventure story. I want more.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews