Lebanon, 1940. The country is part of the Levant states controlled by French. Since the France has fallen in Hitler's hands and started collaborating with the Axis, the newly formed so called Vichy government came into power in the France and in the Levant as well. The Axis sent the delegation consisting of German and Italian soldiers to monitor the disarming of French forces. But there are also Gestapo officials, who aren't on good terms with the army, present and French rebels led by General Charles de Gaulle are hiding nearby. Of course, those areas are populated by a lot of Arabs and Jews also and, while the Jews are forced to keep low profile, the Arabs conspire against them. As if the situation isn't complicated enough, a rich and famous American woman comes to Beirut to help smuggle a Jewish professor to Palestine. In the midst of all that stands amoral, shady and selfish character by the name of Marcel Labrume.
Libya, 1942. The Second World War is in full roar. Germans and Italians battle British along the coast of Egypt and Libya, with Tubruq on the Libyan coast as one of the key strategic positions. Near Tubruq there is a small village by the name of Ain el Gazala with Italian headquarters in it. The day of the attack on Tubruq is approaching and German Lieutenant general Erwin Rommel and his troops come to help the Italians. The soldiers in search of fun and woman's touch go to a local brothel to have their way with the girls. Little do they know that their favorite girl, popular because of her "golden bosom", is a spy sending information to the Allied forces. And once again between the hammer and the anvil there is a troubled figure of Marcel Labrume.
Those are the synopses of the only two episodes of "Marcel Labrume", a comic book written and drawn by Attilio Micheluzzi. Labrume is a smart but self-centered guy who seems to have a soft spot for equally smart and self-centered women. They also turn out to be his most reliable source of trouble and create most of the emotional impact in the book. The interesting stories taking place during the Second World War are slightly undermined by the way they are told. Too many sudden and unrelated jumps between characters and events disrupt the rhythm of the stories, or rather create an unusual one which needs some time getting used to. The oddness is even more emphasized in the second episode where the role of the narrator (in the first episode it was Labrume) is seemingly taken by the author who then communicates directly with his main character.
That kind of writing needs exceptional drawing to succeed as a whole, and luckily that's the case here. Beautiful black and white drawings make this book a joy to look at. The focus on the faces of the characters and the skill with which their emotions are shown through the drawings make the words almost unnecessary. And the amount of detail dedicated to all of the characters gave each of them a unique personality before they even started to speak. The diversity of angles and great framing of the scenes, together with the great use of black in the shadows and night scenes, make both episodes exciting in spite of sketchy writing.
The unique charm of Micheluzzi's work, in this case "Marcel Labrume", needs some time to grow on you. So don't rush to call it off if you're not thrilled when you come to the last page. I, for one, like it now, after going through it back and forth and thinking about it for a while, a lot more than when I finished reading it for the first time.
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