Olympia is a direct sequel to the stylish thriller The Grand Odalisque, by the same trio of cartoonists: Odalisque was a 2012 book translated in '21; Olympia was originally published in French in 2015 and came to the English-speaking world in this Montana Kane translation in '22.
Everything I said about Odalisque is still relevant here: the lack of clarity around credits for the trio of creators, the style, the energy, the sense, the substance, the way this is basically a "turn your brain off" action movie on paper.
We start in the aftermath of Odalisque, with the three art thieves Alex, Sam, and Carole having successfully stolen a major painting from the Louvre, but been separated in the mayhem. Carole is in hospital, and allows herself to be thought dead. Flashforward a year later, and Alex and Sam are being their typical selves: Alex is partying all night with Eurotrash, Sam trying to be serious and plan a new heist.
They do manage to steal something major, and head off to Venice to meet with the buyer. Alex, as usual, sends things in a bad direction, but the trio is reunited and must now steal three paintings from the same Paris museum to get out from under a nasty gangster (who might well decide to kill them anyway).
Most of the book is the big three-painting heist, which is more complicated than the one in Odalisque - and I should say messy as well, in several ways - but not as exciting or iconic. You can bake the soufflé again, but it never comes out quite as fluffy or delicious. It's still a lot of big-screen fun, and ends well - in a way that could lead to a third book, or could be a real ending, depending on what the creators want - but it's clearly another run at the same thing, which here, as usual, leads to diminishing returns.
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