Striking The Balance (Pico Bogue, #4) by Dominique Roques, Alexis Dormal
Release: November 2016
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Europe Comics
Source: Netgalley
Synopsis:
Pico Bogue and his little sister Anna revel in the delights of winter, from Halloween to snowball fights, and, of course, that special Christmas magic.
Striking The Balance Review:
A big thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of “Pico Bogue – Striking the Balance” for my opinion. I initially picked up this book because I really like Calvin and Hobbes and thought this comic would be in reminiscent to it.
To begin with, there were some parts of this comic that was very entertaining. For instance, I really liked the strips where there is no dialogue and the humor is only in the illustrations. Some examples are when Pico and Anna walk into the fresh snow and mess it up, or when they are ice skating and someone bumps into Pico. Moreover, the illustrations are simply amazing and makes the panels stand out with its striking colors and imagery. I especially loved the visuals in the panels where Anna is listening to the violin player, and when the kids go to the candy store. I also loved some of the jokes that take place during Halloween/Winter/Christmas time, like when Ana tries to understand if there is a Santa Claus or not.
However, apart from the above, I couldn’t enjoy this graphic novel as I would have liked to. I felt the main problem is in the jokes, and a lot of the humor is lost on translation. From what I can tell, these comics have been translated from French. Perhaps the jokes are much funnier in its native language, but in English, some of it seemed odd. In Calvin and Hobbes, even though there is a lot of intellectual humor, it is mostly between conversations between the two. But in Pico Bogue, Pico is at times, snobbish, snarky and rude towards everyone around him. Due to this, I really did not find the characters charming or endearing in anyway.
Overall, Pico Bogue – Striking the Balance has some funny moments, but could have been much better if the jokes were better translated or modified for English readers.
