Spads

XIII #4

by Jean Van Hamme, William Vance

Depuis le début de cette série, nous ne savons rien de l'identité de XIII, ni les raisons qui le font agir. Cette nouvelle aventure répond en partie à nos interrogations. Qui manipule qui et pourquoi ?

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

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

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 3 out of 5]

We finally find out the true identity of XIII through an incredible amount of exposition. Comics were certainly written differently in the 80's, almost prose with pictures. The book enters its next phase as a larger plan is uncovered.

[Fredrik Strömberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, the fourth volume of this testosterone driven and excessively intricate story. I'll quote Churchill on this one: "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key."

In this volume, yet another "key" is given, and presented as the absolute truth, but by now I'm not taking anything for a given. Besides the obvious male centric, slightly chauvinistic moments, I actually liked this volume better than the former. It's still too talkative for my taste and the style is still a bit dead, with it's perfect, thin lines and aspirations to be as realistic as possible, but the action works and I do fel impelled to go on and read yet another volume.

So, onwards, ever onwards!

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hehe eindelijk zijn erachter wie de man achter het nummer is! Of krijgen we bij issue tien opeens te lezen dat hij een Triple spion is?

[David Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I like this series, it is beginning to get harder to follow. So many twists and turns. Written about America, with American characters and political setting, and military. I get the feeling the author never spent any time over here. As I mentioned before, it appears to be a European version of Jason Bourne. But the characters and settings are in America.

The author keeps referring to the war, but never actually mentions which war. Almost like movie "Airplane" where the main character references the war and then flashes back to old WWII footage. Not associated with any real war. I get the impression of that here as well. The author is telling a story about America without really KNOWING America. Maybe basing his story off several movies and books. No real research.

And there are a million different twists and turns. Like a bad season of "24" No, you just thought this happened, here is what really happened. Nope, got you again. Here is what really happened (movie "Clue" on acid). Tough act to follow.

I will go along with this character for a while longer, as Comixology Unlimited has the first 10 volumes (of 27 I think) available. At $9.99 a pop I do not plan to get the other volumes. Let's see where this character XIII goes.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's the whole backstory, finally.

[Glamdring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Christine Fessard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pense bête : Steve Rowland simule sa mort puis assassine le président sous le nom de Jack Shelton, il est abattu mais parvient jusqu'à sa femme, agent secret et fille du général Carrington.
On décide de créer un sosie grâce à Jason Fly qui lui ressemble et on enterre Steve/Jack sous le nom de Fly. On pense remonter ainsi à la Mangouste. Hélas Jason/Steve est abattu et perd la mémoire... c est aussi compliqué qu'une série TV. Finalement c est sous le nom de Ross Tanner que XIII reprend du service.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series before this volume had been good enough to just about about keep me going, but hadn't quite drawn me in. After this one though, I'm a little more optimistic, and for the first time I'm really keen to carry on the story.
I'm still enjoying the old fashioned art style, and some of the army scenes in this volume were the best highlights of it so far.
As for it being dialogue heavy, I really didn't mind, at least I now finally understand what is going on (far-fetched as it is!)

[Bradhernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

XIII is placed into a special forces unit named SPADS, were the original recruitment for conspiratorial killers took place, to hide from the FBI. We learn that the Army assisted in training warriors like XIII, but they were co-opted in a series of double crossings by a mysterious new world order/secret society who are behind the assassination of the US president.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

As reviravoltas que a história dá neste volume é inacreditável.
O coronel amos é manipulado por todos e o nosso herói amnésico foi recrutado para ajudar a descobrir quem está por trás de um golpe para obter controle absoluto do país .
Fantástica intriga

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

d/2007/0086/135-›'vingt-sixieme edition' ¦ 19 tomes ¦ 10,40€
-›26 printings in the 20 years since the eo?!

The reproduction of the art, especially the rough color job by Petra, looks terrible- as if nothing changed in the printing process since 1987.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upeita kuvia ja tarina joka harppasi eteenpäin mies-askeleen tässä osassa. Hyvää ja sujuvaa eikä edes selittävien päiden paljous kiukuttanu.

[Apa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enemmänkin selitysryhmä. Albumin lopusta 15 sivua on pelkkää selitystä, miten juoni oikeasti menee ja mikä salaliitto tässä oikeastaan on. Nyt on unohtunut "show, don't tell".

[Chidambaram · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important part of the series where the whole plot revealed

[Saoirse · Rating 3 out of 5]

L’histoire avance, on connaît enfin l’identité de XIII. J’ai un peu moins accroché à ce quatrième tome.

[Vincent Saint-Cyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spads is on my point of view the 2 masterpieces (with Red Total) of the series of XIII.
The duo Vance (William for the drawing and Petra his wife for the color) is excellent.
The storyline by Jean Van Hamme is also excellent.
The psychology of the main character felt, especially the one of XIII that we have found out that he is definitely not a military or a killer. The one of curvy/sexy Betty with her complex.
Last things the punchlines between XIII and Jones make this book very pleasant to read, despite the warrior environment.

[Dave Glorioso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really enjoying this series. The art continues to be fantastic, especially the military art in this volume.
The twists and turns are a bit much but make it interesting.
Jones is a fantastic character so far.
Amos surprised me but glad things went as they did for him. I have changed my opinion on him.
There was a lot of jumping around in this volume that would have benefited from headers redirecting the reader such as stating time and location.

[Matty Dub · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was perfect! It has tons of organic exposition that answered just about every questions I had and I had a lot. This thriller has so many plots and subplots, it was getting a little overwhelming in the last volume but after this book I am extremely excited to keep reading XIII. It’s also full of action, it progresses the plot nicely and the art is so stunning!! William Vance deserves more renown, he’s an incredible visual storyteller!

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otro tomo bastante normal de una serie que en conjunto rozaría las cinco estrellitas. En este caso, la violencia y el militarismo desdibuja un poco la trama de espionaje, pero en ningún momento deja de ser un comic excelente. Lo tengo en la edición española (de Norma, creo), y cuando lo relea y tenga los datos seguro la suba acá.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se desenmarcaran varias cosas, como la iniciativa que el padre del presidente asesinado tiene contra un golpe de estado y la identidad de XIII, que se descubre al pasar un tiempo entrenando con un grupo de fuerzas especiales.

[Zoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great and very interesting issue about XIII trying to find out who he really is. The only negative thing about this comic series is that there's no collection of more or all stories in one huge volume but 19 volumes of 50 pages each instead... But definitely worth reading them one by one!

[Yves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les choses commencent maintenant à se clarifier. On apprend quelle est la véritable histoire de XIII et son véritable nom. Au début, je trouvais l'histoire top lente et qu'elle n'avançait à rien. Heureusement, tout change à la fin avec les révélations et un peu d'action.

[Coralie Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

XIII poursuit sa quête d'identité dans ce quatrième volume qui nous apporte pas mal d'informations. Son passage express dans les SPADS lui permet de fermer définitivement la piste Rowland. Mais nous nous retrouvons dans une enquête concernant des complots au sommet de l'état. A suivre donc...

[Victorvanr · Rating 4 out of 5]

You need to start with the first book in the series otherwise the story is hard to follow. For the rest great Belgium comic from a good period.

[Tommi Mannila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meno vaan paranee, tähän mennessä paras XIII-sarjakuva.