She first causes his execution and then saves his life. To repay that debt Selim the mild-mannered Turkish Lieutenant joins firecracker Delilah Dirk on her adventures, and thus a partnership is started on page 30 and they (and the reader) are off and running at breakneck speed on an adventure that sits squarely at the crossroads of Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Moonlighting, the Hope/Crosby Road movies, Buffy, and Robin Hood.
In a wonderful inversion of the normal roles Delilah is the skilled thief who acquires a diamond-in-the-rough distressed damsel sidekick in the form of Erdemoglu Selim who prides himself on his ability to make great tea. They steal treasure, are pursued, lose treasure, steal more treasure, and each comes to the conclusion by the end that the greatest treasure is the adventures themselves. The story such as it is exists only to move along our “heroes” from one adventure set piece to the next. While the pace may be fast author Tony Cliff still manages to sneak in enough character bits to give us fully fleshed out characters and not just cyphers.
Lately it seems to me that the big two are putting out nothing more than complex cross-connected stories you need to have read the last five years of continuity to understand. And the violence, blood, and language would rate at least a PG-13 rating on the big screen it is nice to find a self-contained, fun book suitable for all ages. This is a summer blockbuster of a book and I mean that in the nicest possible way. And speaking of younger readers…..
Fairy Tale Comics