LADY S. VOLUME 5 & VOLUME 6

PORTUGUESE MEDLEY | A SECOND OF ETERNITY
Artwork: Philippe Aymond | Colors: Sébastian Gérard | Script: Jean Van Hamme

LADY S. book 5 begins with our heroine, now going by her birth name of Shania following her exile from the United States in the last volume, working as an interpreter at the European Parliament. But we learn in short order that she's actually there as an agent of CATRIG, which she has finally joined full-time. Her true purpose in this role is to draw out a Farik, Hassine, a known terrorist spotted in the area. And she does so, thanks to her roommate hooking up with his friend, leading to a double-date for Shania and Farik.

But the plot thickens when Shania's long-thought-dead father, Abel Rivkas, apparently resurfaces at the United States embassy in Lisbon. Shania heads there immediately with Ralph Ellington, the CIA field agent-turned-archivist who has popped up in most of her adventures, to confirm her father's identity. But unknown to Shania, Farik hid a disc in her handbag during their date when he saw the police nearby, anticipating that his friend, who had slept with her roommate, would be able to later retrieve it.

So the terrorists head to Lisbon as well, on Shania's trail to recover the disc. But Shania finds it in her bag and turns it over to the authorities before her meeting with the man who, indeed, turns out to be her biological father. What follows is a relatively light-hearted (for the most part) Lady S. adventure, as the CIA, working in conjunction with CATRIG for a change, easily outwits the semi-incompetent terrorists. The best analogy I can come up with is that this one feels like an episode of 24, if 24 was a dramedy. In fact, the nice balance of comedy with intrigue may very well make this my favorite Lady S. story to date.

LADY S. VOLUME 3 & VOLUME 4

GAME OF FOOLS | A MOLE IN D.C.
Drawing and Color Work: Philippe Aymond | Script: Jean Van Hamme

Revelations abound in the third LADY S book, which I find to be the strongest one so far. In this volume, our heroine, Suzan, is on vacation with her father at their villa in France -- but their trip is not a peaceful one. It seems the CIA has learned of the mysterious Lady S., and believes she is connected with an unofficial European intelligence agency called CATRIG -- the Center for Anti-Terrorism Research and Intelligence Gathering. CATRIG's very existence infuriates the CIA, who, as the "world's peacekeepers", can't abide a rogue organization running around and fighting terror on its own. So the CIA stages an international incident: they send operatives posing as members of a Middle Eastern terror organization to raid the villa and kidnap Ambassador Fitzroy, leaving his daughter, Suzan behind. The intention is that Suzan will then run straight to CATRIG for help, and the CIA will draw the rogue organization out of the shadows.

But what follows instead is a comedy of errors. Unknown to the CIA, Suzan has no way of contacting CATRIG (and probably wouldn't want to do it in the first place since the past few times she's worked for them it was under duress). However, CATRIG finds her when her handler, Orion, shows up at the police station after she's finished giving her statement about the kidnapping. Orion, identifying himself as a French government official, takes Suzan "into custody". But Suzan's movements are being observed by Ralph Ellington, the CIA operative who she previously befriended in book one (and who took the fall for her theft of a file from the Turkish ambassador's safe in that volume). Ralph believes Orion actually is with the government, and knocks him over in a fender bender, taking him out of action.

LADY S. VOLUME 1 & VOLUME 2

HERE'S TO SUZIE | LATITUDE 59 DEGREES NORTH
Drawing and Color Work: Philippe Aymond | Script: Jean Van Hamme

LADY S is a European comic series which began in 2004 and follows the exploits of Suzan Fitzroy, the adopted daughter of a roving United States ambassador, who finds herself working a side gig as an unwilling agent of a top-secret European peacekeeping organization under the leadership of Colonel Orion.

The first book in the series, HERE'S TO SUZIE, was published in 2004, and lays out our heroine's backstory through a series of out-of-sequence flashbacks. I have to admit that as I read the story, I was slightly dreading the fact that when I finished it, I would need to sort through those sometimes-convoluted flashbacks and piece together Suzan's history for a summary paragraph here. So imagine my relief when I got to book 2 and found a nice recap page leading things off, which filled everything in quite succinctly! Thus, rather than try to stumble my way through resummarizing it, here's a brief history of Lady S from the horse's mouth, for your edification:

LADY S

As mentioned in December's Unboxing, late last year I picked up the first five volumes of a European series called LADY S. I'm not sure exactly what prompted me to get it, other than a bargain price and some intriguing covers. It looked like a political spy series of some sort, and I liked the art style, so I went for it.

And now the time has come to read it! Beginning Monday, at a pace of two books per week, we'll check out those five installments (and if I like them enough, I'll probably buy the sixth and final volume as well to cover that in the final post).

...and usually I have more to say in these announcements, but since I have literally no idea what to expect from this series, that's all I got. See you on Monday for LADY S vol. 1: HERE'S TO SUZIE and vol. 2: LATITUDE 59 DEGREES NORTH!