I love the XIII BD even though it’s dumb, but reading the translations gets on my nerves for some reason. I think a lot of the appeal of the series for me is practicing my French, and a slightly stilted translation obviously doesn’t provide that appeal.

I still enjoy the universe for all its dumbness, though, and I started reading this spinoff series on Hoopla several months ago before turning to something else. I’m toying with the idea of going through them all this time and began by rereading this one.

I found myself troubled by the violence, bothered by the different art style, and annoyed at having to read it in translation. It was still interesting, though, and I think I’ll probably continue.

• XIII
• The Mongoose
• Xavier Danson
• Ralph Meyer