In Review: Kenya – Aberrations

Kenya 3 Cover
Kenya – Aberrations is the third book in Cinebook’s translation of Leo (Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira) and Rodolphe’s (Rodolphe Daniel Jacquette) ongoing series of spies, extinct beasts and strange flying lights that is set in post war-Kenya.

After reporting to London, British agent Kathy Austin returns to Kenya to continue her investigation and, at the palace of Count Di Broglie, she finally meets the last survivors of the obnoxious America writer John Remington’s expedition. They describe the count’s palace being invaded by dead people and then being attacked by a tentacled monster – yet there is no physical proof for their remarkable story. Meeting up with a British Army patrol sent to the area with scientists to investigate what is going on, Kathy receives orders from London to travel to Lake Victoria and continue her investigations there. Meanwhile the mysterious albino Irmanius, who has been spying on the army patrol, takes off in his Lysander observation aircraft to follow a pterosaur and also ends up at Lake Victoria.

Kenya 3 B
After a pause at the end of the second book for everyone to regroup, this third books continues this often perplexing tale of extinct animals, UFOs and Cold War spies after one of Kathy’s acquaintances was shown to be working for the Soviets. As the third in a five part series Aberrations shows a bit of the stodgy centre as it tries to, partially at least, tie up a section of the story to allow Kathy to move on to a new locale and yet more extinct creatures.

As I have said in previous reviews, Kenya shows a mixture of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger/Lost World stories and the Primeval TV series, and is none the worse for either. Leo and Rodolphe’s combination of scripting and art chores continues to work well with Leo’s imagination for weird and wonderful creatures being ever impressive, while the end of this book perhaps, just perhaps, begins to reveal a little of what on earth (or off) is happening.

Kenya 3 A
As frustrating as the series can be in not giving away just exactly what is going on, Kenya remains a favourite series of mine and Aberrations, like the books before it, is an intriguing page turner.

• There are more details of Kenya on the Cinebook website.

• There are more details of the original French Kenya series on the Dargaud website (in French).

• The previous books in the Kenya series are Apparitions and Encounters.

• Cinebook will have sales tables at both the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal over the weekend of 17/18 October 2015 and at Thought Bubble in Leeds over the weekend of 14/15 October 2015 where they will have Kenya titles for sale as well as many of their other ranges of translated Franco-Belgian Bandes Dessinees albums.



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