BOB MORANE RESURRECTION VOLUMES 1 & 2

"RARE EARTH" | "THE VILLAGE THAT DIDN'T EXIST"
Writers: Luc Brunschwig & Aurélien Ducoudray
Artist: Dimitri Armand | Colorist: Hugo Facio
Based on the novels of Henri Vernes

As I discovered (and mentioned) while looking at the third RIC HOCHET book a few weeks ago, this Bob Morane character was a contemporary of Ric's, having been created around the same time -- albeit in a series of novels rather than comics. But Morane eventually branched out into graphic novels as well (plus a TV show and other media adaptations over the decades). However, unlike Ric, who appeared to remain forever set in the 1960s (at least in the recent books I looked at), Morane's adventures seem to always be set in the modern day (again, at least per these two new volumes).

And as it happened, I had picked up two BOB MORANE books -- the only two available in English, so far as I can tell -- in some Comixology sale or another a while back. The stories were originally published in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and comprise one single story arc which, while somewhat resolved by the end of book two, ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Book one opens with our hero, French soldier Bob Morane, standing trial over an event that occurred in the recent past, when he was part of a U.N. peacekeeping detail in Nigeria. We quickly learn that Morane defied orders to save the life of a Nigerian presidential candidate, which landed him in hot water with his superiors. But when that candidate, Oussman, is elected, he negotiates Morane's pardon and invites the ex-soldier to come work with him as an advisor. The story then skips ahead six years, as we find that a French tech company, Belfon, is working to provide aid to Nigeria, under Morane's auspices.