Where would we be without the shipping container, so much of the world's freight is now carried in these things by boat, train and truck. The ships and ports sections are probably the most interesting, though of course much of the information contained in here is a bit out of date.
But the humble shipping container still rules the roost, being transported around the world daily in the thousands. Quite a few end up repurposed for use as storage, or just abandoned to rust away.
The book includes the full range of lifeboats from sailing boats to modern motor boats and even hovercraft! Every boat has a small profile and photograph. This really is an excellent book packed full of information and very lavishly illustrated.
Highly recommended.
The Asterix saga was at a major turning point therefore. The creators were either too old to continue or had already passed away, the only way the franchise could continue was with new blood at the helm. You can imagine that the team of Ferri and Conrad, who created this story, felt a huge amount of pressure when they were putting Asterix and the Picts together...
NuAsterix (a term i invented, feel free to borrow) could well have lived or died on how good this story was. If it had been bad then there might not be much chance to keep the characters going for much longer. Luckily, Asterix and the Picts is actually pretty good!
I wouldn't say its the best Asterix book ever but it is definitely the best for some time, and certainly better than most of the ones Uderzo wrote and drew on his own after the passing of Goscinny. Not that i am as down on Uderzo's version of Asterix as some people are, the books are still pretty fine or at least OK but they lack the subtlety and warmth of the older books.
Asterix and the Picts takes a bit of a middle ground, it still has some of the more slap stick graphically heavy humour of Uderzo's Asterix but also some more of the word play and puns of the original version. The story gets off to a bit of a clumsy start but then starts to find its feet and includes a few genuine laugh out loud jokes.
In truth, the book was a bit safe and maybe lacks a clear identity but you can understand that because of what was riding on it. I suspect NuAsterix is now safe for the foreseeable future and a number of other volumes have followed. By Belanos what a relief!
Later on, his blindness is cured and he falls in love with a mysterious woman. However, he knows that she was involved in the murder but is not sure exactly how...
Although the book was a success when released in the late 19th century, and was adapted into a stage play, i found this a troublesome and frequently annoying read though the premise is pretty interesting.
The story moves on at a decent pace, though i found it rather melodramatic and the plot a bit too fanciful, though this was a common fault/feature (delete depending on your point of view) of the time.
Olrik gets involved with their plot, devised by the shadowy Grand Druid (the identify of whom is pretty obvious early on in the story), who seeks the sword Excalibur and the treasure hoard of King Arthur. Both are thought to be buried underground somewhere in Cornwall, they need Professor Mortimer's latest invention which can tunnel through solid rock like it isn't there, nothing at all like the Mole from Thunderbirds oh no...
So, this is a fine Blake & Mortimer adventure, as usual mixing mad science, a past reimagined and a dose of the mystic. However, it is by no means the best volume in the series. Blake & Mortimer is somewhat notorious for heavy use of word panels to explain the story. Whilst this can be a wordy story too there were times where it was a little unclear what was going on, maybe a little more explanation was needed in this instance! Still, great fun to read.
The professor is pretty reluctant to do this, having tired of being an amateur detective, but soon finds himself embroiled in a rather complicated situation with various suspicious characters, and also another murder!
This isn't the best Basnett book, he is maybe a little too jaded and reluctant to give the story much energy, and it needed some due to the number of characters introduced. The unveiling of the culprits is also rather low-key, taking place in the background. However, as with all of Ferrer's books it was still an enjoyable read.