The Secret History Book 7: Our Lady of the Shadows

Written by Jean-Pierre Pécau
Art by Igor Kordey

I've written before about the depths of my interest in the First World War, and really, it was this issue that had me most interested in reading The Secret History from the beginning.  The Archons found their power base much diminished in the flight from monarchy that happened during the later 1800s, and had little influence left in Europe before the coming of war.  With the outbreak of hostilities though, all four Archons get involved, as does Dyo's partner William of Lecce.

The result is a bloodier and more vicious war than we are used to reading about.  In addition to the hideous new weapons man invented on his own, we have dragons and other creatures fighting on the side of the Germans.  Actually, the early scene where a dragon goes after a biplane reminded me a little of the Busiek/Pacheco classic Arrowsmith series, which I miss.

This volume suffers from the same fault as the earlier ones - it jumps around and never gives characters enough time to be developed.  It seems that the Archons are always making use of earnest young men who get paired up with mercenaries - there is an extended scene at the Somme that reminds me of the Nostradamus issue.

At the same time, setting a comic in some trenches is always enough to make me happy...