Tony Cliff (2)

As with the first two Delilah Dirk books, this is a fun adventure tale with snappy dialogue and beautiful art. book's overall design is clearly a labor of love. In this volume, Delilah and her traveling companion, Mr. Selim (who doubles as narrator) end up helping a journalist with questionable motives to find a vast underground city near the Mediterranean that may or may not really exist. To say more would spoil the fun.

A fun adventure story. I'll admit that I'm a little bothered by the imperialistic undertone of the story (I hear it's billed as a female Indiana Jones, which doesn't help at all). Delilah Dirk is a Greek-English woman who has traveled all over the world with her ambassador father. She grew up learning helpful survival skills from many non-western cultures, only to turn around and wreak havoc on many more non-western cultures. And now she's in Turkey, killing soldiers, blowing things up, and show more generally causing a mess as she picks up a charming new companion, the capable Mr. Selim. The characters are fun, but that doesn't cancel out the tired premise of "irresponsible white hero gallivanting around foreign lands with wild abandon."

All right, I've got that off my chest, so let me reiterate that it's a fun read. The dialogue is snappy and full of character, and it's amusing to see Dirk and Selim's (somewhat) carefully laid plans go awry at every turn. And aside from the sexist, bloodthirsty sultan at the start, many of the characters they encounter throughout the book are equally charming.

The art is beautiful - that's the only way I can put it. Every panel is masterful. There's a noticeable difference in style between the opening and the later chapters - not a change in quality, but it's clear Cliff changed his approach to his characters. It makes me wonder how much time lapsed between those chapters. The back flap indicates that the entire book took five years to create, which is quite a lot of work, indeed!

I'm already on book two (Delilah Dirk and the King's Shilling), which I'm enjoying more than the first. show less

Delilah Dirk has traveled all across the world-Japan, Indonesia, France, even the New World! Delilah is always seeking a new adventure, and her latest has taken her to Constantinople to...relieve the Sultan of certain choice artifacts. While making her escape she picks up a new partner, a Turkish Lieutenant named Selim, who somehow fell onto the wrong side of the Sultan and it isn't Delilah's fault at all! Nope, nothing of the sort...mostly. Together they'll head off on Delilah's flying boat show more onto new adventures and see what waits for them.

One of the great things for me about reading a new graphic novel is finding one that has a strong female character, and that's what we have here. Delilah is a well rounded character that acts like a real person! Imagine that! A female character that doesn't have to have a man save her. Shocking I know. Seriously though, Delilah is kinda of a female Indiana Jones. She goes around the world, has adventures, and while she may like company she doesn't need it. Selim on the other hand is the exact opposite, at least when we first meet him. He'd rather enjoy the simple things in life, like a good cup of tea, and just do his job. But together these two characters have great adventures and both are the better for it. And get this...they don't have a romance! Tony Cliff goes against all "normal" stereotypes to create a fantastic story, with memorable characters. This is just such a fun enjoyable read, I can't believe that I missed it when Tony first started publishing it as a webcomic, but man am I glad to have it now. It's one that I'll enjoy reading again and again.

Tony's artwork is flat out gorgeous. I'm not sure what Tony uses to create his artwork, but it's lush, detailed, and beautiful. I mean each and every page feels like something that could be hung up on the wall as art and you wouldn't get tired of looking at it. The colors are beautiful and the expressive faces just bring the characters to life. The action sequences are some of my favorites, especially when they're on the old stone bridge trying not to get blown up. The way the rubble falls, the smoke, the characters expressions...fantastic. I can't wait to see more of Tony's art.

This is a great book and I'd recommend it for teen readers and up. I can't wait to see if we get more of Delilah and Selim (one can hope.) I give the book 5 out of 5 stars.

ARC provided by Gina at FirstSecond show less

I enjoyed the first two books, but this adventure was a dull Indiana Jones homage with too many tombs, villains, and big nonsensical set pieces. At one point there is a literal and pointless doubling back on the route of the narrative all for a joke that just doesn't pay off. And Dirk now has an ongoing nemesis, apparently, who sucks the fun out of the story every time he is on the page.

Old man rant: Uncle Scrooge could have done it in a tenth of the pages and come out of it with a life show more lesson, a souvenir and a tidy profit.

Disappointing. show less