Bad Break, Chapter #2 by Philippe Riche

I still don't know what "Bad Break" means, exactly. At times in this book, it seems to be the name of a person, in flashbacks. It's also the last word spoken in the story, in the metaphoric sense, as a zinger that demands to be punctuated by a David Caruso CSI: Miami meme. I suspect creator Philippe Riche doesn't care all that much: he's going for style and energy and vibes here, not so much a story that's completely coherent, consistent, and satisfying.

(See the cover? Notice how all three main characters are naked? You probably wonder why. They spend most of the middle of this book naked, actually. It's not a good reason, but I won't spoil it here. But, if you are putting naked + French + adult + comics together and getting anything that = sex, I sadly inform you that you are completely wrong.)

On the positive side, Bad Break, Chapter #2 [1] is actually stylish and energetic. It adds more depth and detail to the three characters we met in the first book - they even get names, Ernst-Lazare and Simon and Rebecca X - as they chase three old tattoos that will, we learn here, lead them to something vague and secret from the god Patakyuku. Patakuyuku was the creator-god of wherever the antagonist gang of head choppers are from: somewhere tropical and fairly "savage" fifty or so years ago, probably in the French sphere of influence. Mythologically, Patakuyuku bequeathed his seven major powers to his sons, but then took those powers back, and his sons' heads, when they fought each other. Those seven actual heads - whether divine or just dead-human is never clear - are the McGuffin that Ernst-Lazare is looking for, or rather the biggest piece of the Patakuyuku legacy that he thinks he'll find all in one place.

Riche keeps a lot of this vague, so we don't know what Ernst-Lazare thinks he can do with the heads. He may think those supernatural powers will be available to him, and, within the story, may even be right - even though, if his story is correct, those heads sat in a random tribal village for thousands of years without giving anyone any superpowers. Or, since he's a dealer in "antiquities," which seems to be mostly human remains, he may just think he can display and/or sell them.

Anyway, our three main characters chase up the third tattoo, get naked for an insufficient reason, have to flee the head choppers naked, and come back to where the story started for the big ending, all the while Ernst-Lazare tells stories of Patakuyu and flashbacks about the three old men that had the tattoos. They do steal clothes, among other things, along the way. And they do find what they were looking for, more or less...but it's a "bad break."

YEAAAAHHHHHH!

Bad Break is yet another object lesson that it's much easier to start a noirish, stylish story than to finish one successfully. It's not bad - don't get me wrong - but it's a bit unsatisfying, vague, and confused by the time it's done. The fact that Riche draws two of the characters in the flashbacks to look exactly like Simon and Rebecca X never becomes important, either - are they reincarnations? Does that matter, in some way? (There's no other hint of reincarnation anywhere in the story.) Or is it just the way Riche draws that kind of character?

We also seem to quietly forget in this book that Ernst-Lazare is immortal, and don't learn any explanation for that. Are we mean to assume he is Patakuyuku, who lost his powers to his sons and is questing through the ages to get their heads and retrieve his godhood? Again, Riche will give a lot of style and a lot of vibes, but somewhat less in the way of detailed explanations of what happened and what it all means. But, if you want a twisty, flashback-filled French crime story drawn in moody tones and featuring three people who spend a lot of time naked, go check out Bad Break.

[1] Online catalogs tend to name this book as Vol. 2, but the cover clearly says it is "Chapter 2."