William Vance (1935–2018)

It must be almost 20 years since I read Bruno Brazil for the first time. First volume introduces us to Bruno Brazil, James Bond-like spy while trying to obtain the Nazi gold for his government from the jungles of South America.

Story is very much Ludlum-like (ex-Nazi's, subplots, assassins chasing each other for the money - everything is here :)) so it flows very naturally and is a great (albeit short - 48 pages) read.

Recommended for spy-fiction fans.

After shady organization tries to impose its will through pirate TV signal Bruno Brazil is called to handle the situation. To achieve the goal he creates a team (Commando Caiman) and goes after the criminals.

While there are elements here that are over-the-top at the time this was expected (and might seem outdated now). Team of ragtags no official likes (not unlike dirty dozen), Bruno Brazil as extremely capable team lead encountering crazy villain in the depth of the jungle.

Although use of show more TV as a hypnotic media might sound preposterous there are elements here that do have footing in reality - constant bombardment of information or suggestions through commercials come to mind, would not you agree - maybe hypnosis would not work on everyone in populace but very large number is susceptible to publicly spun stories.

So, in short story is again very Ludlum-sque but with elements of reality (it was interesting to see exclusion of one team member because he is not fit enough for task and limits to which some team members are ready to go to and casualties taken during the parachute infiltration - all the things that are not so common in comics).

Art as always is excellent, I am very much fan of William Vance's work both here and in XIII series.

Recommended for spy-fiction fans. show less

For me this was a re-read of the story after several decades. Story of the amnesiac found on the shore by an elderly couple sounds very much like beginning of Jason Bourne story.

But this is where all similarities end because XIII is involved in something much nastier than even Bourne. And this shows in way that XIII is pretty much on the run from everyone (government official and unofficial services, corrupt cops, unknown killers and mercenaries) from the day he tried to find out more about show more himself.

XIII's life story is never truly revealed (no flash-backs, nothing; we only follow the information as revealed by other people he encounters along the way), and while he tries to find more about himself he accidentally kicks the hornet's nest and causes all sorts of fallout and people start getting murdered just by being associated with him.

Great start for the series.

Highly recommended for all thriller fans. show less

After escaping the hired killers and shadowy government organization, XIII uses the only thing remaining - picture of him and his wife on a lake shore - to find more about himself.

Fast-paced and with lots of twist-and-turns.

Recommended to all thriller fans.