A Double for Detection

Wishing on a dream that seems far off, hoping it will come today

"Wind's Nocturne"

Hmm, discussions on non-Japanese comics are rather rare on this blog, which is why I use the manga tag for all comics...

Stanislas-André Steeman was a French-speaking, Belgian illustrator and novelist, who wrote mystery novels (in French) from the 1930s until the late 1950s. I have to admit, I had never ever heard of his name until I started to see references to him in Japanese literature: while he is apparently fairly well-known in the Franco-language sphere of mystery fiction, just two of his novels have been translated to English, and they sell for quite the price. Apparently his work is also available in Flemish (Dutch) translation, I have never seen them going around in the used market, so they are not that common either. As my French isn't that good, I never really thought about looking deeper into this (I do believe there are multiple film adaptations of his books). But earlier this year, I learned a few of this books had been adapted as comics in the late 1980s, and the Flemish translations of these comics are still very cheap in the used market. The imprint which published these comics did several detective and thriller adaptations, ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Rouletabille. Interestingly, some of these adaptations inserted detectives in stories they were not originally part of, like having Rouletabille appear in The Phantom of the Opera.

These four books were all adapted from Steeman's novels by André-Paul Duchateau: the first three featured art by Xavier Musquera, the last one by Didier Desmit. The art obviously follows the French Ligne claire style, and the comics are also all the same lenght at around fifty pages. This does mean some of these stories feel rather rushed, though I can't say whether that's only because of the limited page count, or whether the original books also felt like that. Still, I feel that for some stories, an extra ten pages would have changed a lot. The page layout is, as often is with these comics, rather static, so it's a bit boring to look at at times, but that's also partially because I read much more manga, where page layouts are often more dynamic. That said, for those who are not as familar with manga, these comics might be easier to read exactly because they are so static in layout.

Zes dode mannen ("Six Dead Men") is based on 1930-1931's Six hommes mort (a book which is also available in English), and concerns a pact by six men down on their luck, who want to change their fate. They will split up and try to make something out of themselves and in five years, they will reconvene and share all their wealth with each other. Every mystery fan recognizes this has a tontine-esque element (if someone dies, the share of the remaining people grows). Five years later, most of them have indeed crawled up the financial ladder and are making their way back home to share their fortune with their friends, but one of them dies on the boat back. Another man has tattoed the secret to his fortune on his chest, but he has been followed by a mysterious figure, and just as he explains about this, he is shot and later his body (with the tattoo) is even spirited away. The men are offed one by one, and not even Inspector Wenceslas Vorobeitchick, also known as Wens, seems to be able to do anything. But will this really continue until one is left alive?

This story is absolutely fine to read as a tontine-based thriller, but as a proper mystery story, it's quite outdated. I am going to guess many readers will guess what is going here, as you will probably have seen the criminal's big gambit in a similar form one way or another in mystery fiction before, and... it's just not surprising anymore to the modern reader. There is a minor locked room-esque situation when one of the men is found dead in an elevator cage even though he was seen stepping inside the cage alive, but it is solved rather swiftly and it's not really a major problem in the book, just a short mystery to temporarily halt M. Wens' actions, even though he solves it rather quickly. Some parts of the plan of the murderer also seem a bit weird (the endgame for killing everyone in the tontine can't really work... right?), which is probably why as a contemporary reader, this is more fun to read as a thriller.

De vijand zonder gezicht ("The Enemy Without a Face") based on 1934's L'Ennemi sans visage (also released as M. Wens et l'automate) starts off really creepy: the death row inmate Jund is given a chance on a new life, as he is given the chance to become a guinea pig for professor Arthus, who is researching a way to transfer a human brain to the body of an automaton.  So yes, Jund's brain is going to be put in an automaton, and if he's lucky, he'll have a second life as he was supposed to be executed anyway. A prison detective is assigned to watch over Jund as they go to the professor's home, where his daughter and two sons also live. M. Wens is also present in the creepy house that is full of automatons that can move on their own once activated. During the brain operation however, something happens and they find the professor killed in the operation room, and the automaton with Jund's brain has gone missing. Has the automaton become a killing machine? Again one that is best read as a pulpy thriller. There are some scenes where Wens 'fights' the automaton, but the explanations for the powerful automaton are disappointing and as a whodunnit, it's not really remarkable.

De moordenaar woont op Nr 21 ("The Murderer Lives At Number 21") is based on 1939's L'assassin habite au 21, which I believe isn't originally a Wens novel, but he's in this adaptation as well. A murderer roaming the misty streets of London has been leaving calling cards signed "Mr. Smith" at his crime scenes, but one day, a drunk guy tells a police constable he actually saw Mr. Smith after his latest murder, and saw him enter Russel Square 21. The problem? It's a guest house, so which of the people staying there is Mr. Smith?  The police try to ask the French professor Julie, who is slated to stay at the house during his stay in London, to act as their spy, but he becomes scared, but before he is even able to flee the house, he's murdered by Mr. Smith, which seems to confirm the police's suspicions Mr. Smith lives there. But who is the murderer? What follows is a story that is actually pretty funny, because the guests have rather strong personalities and bicker a lot with each other. But the comic ends in a rather abrupt manner, and I have no idea whether the original book is like this too, or it's just because the comic has a rather limited page count. No motive is given for Mr. Smith's murder's before that of M. Julie. The murder of M. Julie does include an interesting dying message idea, which I think works on paper better than on... comic page paper. As in, I think the idea is good, but I don't think the comic itself really sold the idea really well, though I can't say whether the book did it any better. I think the atmosphere of the story is good though and of the four, I liked this volume the best.

Kaarsen voor de duivel ("Candles for the Devil") is based on Des cierges au diable from 1932 (also known as Les Atouts de M. Wens) and deals with the twins Frédéric Dolo and Martin Dolo: Freddy is a notorious swindler who has always been able to stay out of the police's hands, while Martin is a hardworking salesman who as of late has been making fewer sales due to his infamous brother. After a poker night at Georges D'Aoust's home, Georges is found shot in the head the following morning. At first it appears to be a suicide, but as Freddy Dolo was one of the poker players, the police start to suspect this was no self-inflicted death and start looking for Dolo, while some figures in the underworld also want to "pay back" Dolo for "services rendered" in the past. Martin Dolo too also gets involved in everything, as the brothers' resemblance leads to more than a few mix-ups, while more and more people with a connection to Freddy get attacked or killed. At this point, I was of course not surprised I enjoyed this better as a suspense thriller with mild mystery elements, rather than full-blown fair-play mystery. The story's big surprise won't really surprise now, I think, and I also have my doubts about how surprising it really would have been back when this was first released, but it wasn't boring at least!

Overall, I can't say these comics really made me a Steeman fan, though I am glad to have finally read something of his work (even if it's an adaptation). While I don't think I have seen anything that's really impressive in these stories, they were okay thrillers that build on familiar mystery tropes. Perhaps I would have been more enthusiastic about them if I had read the originals in the 1930s, and of course, the comic format and the limited page count might have changed the feeling of the novels too, but for now, I think I have gotten some idea of Steeman's work in terms of plotting, and I don't feel the immediate need to search for more, though I am happy to have read these four.