Long John Silver Vol 2 Cinebook review

As I’m sure you remember, we reviewed the first volume of Cinebook’s Long John Silver a while back, and it was good.

So it was with eager hands that I opened volume two, ready to experience something as good as the first volume. But, it is not as good. It is, if anything, even better than volume one.

The main reason for this is the title character. In volume one, Silver doesn’t get much to do, the main character is the delightfully odious Lady Vivian Hastings. Lady H is in here too, but she takes somewhat of a backseat to Silver this time around.

As I said before, previous attempts to write a sequel/spin-off/further adventure of the Treasure Island characters, and in particular John Silver, have failed by trying to make him into an heroic or likeable lead.

Xavier Dorison, the writer here, does not fall into that trap. His Silver is not a nice man. Witness here just how ruthless he is- how far he is prepared to go to silence any rumors of piracy or just what he is prepared to sacrifice to carry out his plan.

And the art by Mathieu Lauffray is… look, I’m running out of superlatives to describe the quality of art in these Cinebook volumes- okay? 

I absolutely love the version of Silver in these books- he’s massive and muscle bound with a dark cruelty behind his eyes, and his character is brilliantly realised- he moves through this book like a shark through water.

As is now the norm with Cinebook, this ends at a surprising point in the story. Not unexpected- what happens in inevitable, I was just not expecting to see it happen when it did!

This really is beyond good.

Long John Silver Vol 1 Cinebook review

Remember those books you read when you were young, and thought they were brilliant, and then, on revisiting them as an adult you discovered that they were actually utter rubbish?

This was/is not the case with all of them, of course. The most notable among them, in my opinion, is Treasure Island. This book is not just a rollicking adventure tale well told- it is also a genuinely important piece of literature. Literature that’s entertaining and cool! What an invention!

Anyway, there have been countless attempts to recapture the magic of the original novel in attempted sequels. Some of them have been okay, some rubbish. But each of them made the same error- they mistook the villain of the story for an anti-hero.

Long John Silver is not a nice man, and any attempts to soften him always end up failing. He’s a pirate, for goodness sake!

Which brings us to Cinebook’s Long John Silver.

This is not a sequel to Treasure Island, but merely "an homage to an extraordinary masterpiece" as they explain in the afterword.

So, in that respect, we should ask- does it succeed?

And the answer has to be: undoubtedly yes.

Our main character in this volume- Lady Vivian Hastings- is a gloriously grotesque person. She is cold and beautiful, scheming and cruel, selfish and greedy. She’d make a great villain. But, as is revealed, she has good reasons for her terrible behaviour, the reader ends up not only feeling sympathy, but rooting for her as a heroine.

And all this is before we have even met the titular character.

Do they do him justice? Well, for what I’ve seen so far with this volume (volume two is on the list for reading very soon!) they do. Silver here is a huge hulking man, intimidating and clever, but with a streak of charm running through the middle.

And the art... oh the art. It really is something else- absolutely exquisite. 

This first book is very much set up, with the characters only assembling for the adventure proper by the end of the book, but I can guarantee you’ll want to join them on board ship, as they set sail for whatever the future holds for them, in volume two.

New from Cinebook

I think we're all agreed the Cinebook produce just about the best comics around. Here are a few of there latest releases, all of which we would recommend, even though we haven't read them yet. That's how damned good they are!

In 1982, conflict erupts between Great Britain and Argentina, putting important forces into play. Argentina decides to seize the Falkland Islands, which had been occupied by the United Kingdom since the beginning of the 19th century.

Captured by neo-Taliban tribesmen along with French businessman Cordez, Najah is taken to Pashtun territory. Sam Nachez is looking for her, and French Intelligence are looking for Cordez, but none of them know precisely who took her or why. Nor do they know that Najah isn’t one to miss an opportunity to escape. Chance encounters, tribal politics, international finance… The justifications for Project Insider keep piling up–as do the threats to its only agent.


We had a look at this next one at Thought Bubble, and it is utterly gorgeous.

Twenty years after the events of Treasure Island, Lady Vivian Hastings knocks on Dr Livesey’s door. Her hated husband has sent word from the Amazon: He has found the fabled city of Guiana-Capac, and his brother is to sell the entire domain to pay for an expedition, dispossessing Vivian in the process. So the lady has come to seek the one man who can help her: Long John Silver…