Review: Djinn Volume 5 Africa
When it comes to 80s movies, many thoughts run across many people’s heads with numerous adjectives describing the ridiculousness of many of their premises. Who can forget Red Dawn, a film that’s both far fetched and plausible considering the hostile geo-political climate of today’s world relations. Then there is Weird Science, a screwball comedy where two boys accidentally create the perfect woman. Then there is the Tom Hanks fantasy Big, which is both fun and melancholy while not forgetting the innocence of childhood.
The movies from that decade that seem to hold a special place throughout generations are those romantic comedies. One of the best is Money Can’t Buy Me Love featuring a then unknown Patrick Dempsey as an awkward teenager navigating puberty and love. Then there is Daryl Hannah and Peter Gallagher’s Summer Lovers where they are an American couple who engage in a relationship with a young French woman in Greece. In the fifth volume of Djinn, our characters embark on a new escapade much like the characters in Summer Lovers, one which takes them to Africa and even more stimulating opportunities.
We find Lady Nelson, mostly unharmed but the rest of her party annihilated, while both Lord Nelson and jade are missing, when Charles Augery, a friendly face supervisor at the local trading post, somewhere in Africa. WE soon find out that the two had been kidnapped by a local tribe whose main attribute is that their affliction is leprosy. We soon find out through a series of flashbacks, that Jade, through her benevolence, also may lead to her fate, as the tribe wants to purify her by fire. By book’s end, Jade awakens an ancient deity that may wield some unknown power that she has unleashed onto the world.
Overall, this volume resets the series, offering readers a different mystery on in which the reader gets entrenched in a jungle adventure. The story by Jean Dufaux is enigmatic, perilous, and enjoyable. The art by Ana Miralles is elegant and vivid. Altogether, a great installment in an already stellar series.
Story: Jean Dufaux Art: Ana Miralles
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy
I remember the first time I ever watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and the feeling I left the movie theater with. The way that whole movie started with Indiana Jones in the middle of the jungle, trying to retrieve that long lost artifact was thrilling. The whole scenario that played out soon after that was probably the most exciting 10 minutes my four year old self had seen up to that point. At the end of the scene the viewer find out Indiana is more that he seems to be. Instead of a smuggler he’s an archaeologist. The character would go on to three other movies, with a new one the way as well as a television show featuring a younger version of the character.
Legacy is one of those words that carries a lot of weight for many of us, with known or unknown ancestors. Many times, our families’ legacies is so much of us, that we not only carry it in name but also in standings. As anyone who has searched their family history, has found their background is as diverse as America is, and not what some may hope it to be. This world is not monochromatic nor is any family that exists today.
Every family has a history, one that if they dig deep enough will not only see themselves but most importantly understand who their family is. What people find, is a more complications than boring portraits of a family, one where certain choices that are made, which explain the present state of their family. Most of these family histories are marred by disputes and incredibly bad things they do to each other. The things that most families find odd or even dark, is often the most fascinating part of their lives.
If you were a child growing up in the 1980s, many people will remember, what was called “Event TV”. These days, event TV, may only follow a few nights, and ones that most people don’t remember, as they follow a weekly format. Growing up, I remembered how important these TV miniseries were, as we did not have DVR growing up, but just about everyone had a VCR, which you could pre-program. Ask anybody growing up then, and they could remember watching miniseries like Shogun.