Prince Lao #3

Philippe Gauckier's Prince Lao series continues with this 2008 Le Lombard album, Pirates des cimes, and the cover sets an immediately charming tone: a massive, gentle-looking snow creature cradles a young girl in orange robes against a wintry mountain backdrop, while a small boy in red and a curious white cat stand below, a burning tower looming in the smoky distance behind them. The contrast between the creature's softness and that ominous blaze in the background hints at an adventure full of wonder and peril high among the peaks. A lovely, imaginative all-ages bande dessinée that earns its place in any Franco-Belgian comics collection.