Graphic Novel Review: 'Zaroff' by Sylvain Runberg & François Miville-Deschênes

'Zaroff', written by Sylvain Runberg and illustrated by François Miville-Deschênes, is billed as an unofficial sequel to Richard Connell's 1924 short story, 'The Most Dangerous Game', (which was later adapted into the 1932 RKO Pictures film of the same name, starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks), that features a big-game hunter from New York City who falls off a yacht and swims to what seems to be an abandoned and isolated island in the Caribbean, where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat.

 

Although it follows on from the original, 'Zaroff' is still a standalone story, so like myself, there is no need to have any knowledge of the original material.

 

The story picks up 8 years later with Sanger Rainsford, the big game hunter from the original story, having survived his encounter with Zaroff, and now in New York addressing the media of his experience. The media is generally unbelieving of his tale, except for a mysterious woman listening with intent in the gathered crowd.

 

General Zaroff, having escaped the original island, now lives on a remote island off the coast of Venezuela. A new hunting ground where he can continue his deranged hobby of hunting people that become stranded on his island. But ever the sportsman, he does give his quarry a 'sporting' chance, however, by equipping them with weaponary and if they can escape his clutches for three days, they are free to leave. But when one of the General's victims is a Boston mob boss, his daughter and a group of mobster heavies arrive on the island looking for revenge. But there is more at stake than just the General's life.

 

This was a thrilling read. Runberg has crafted an exciting story that turns the evil villain of the original story into the protagonist. He's still a cold and calculating character, but with the tables turned, you kind of root for him to pull through the hunt. It is helped with the way Fiona Flanagan and the mobsters are portrayed in the story, who are definitely playing up to their antagonistic roles. 

The story starts off strong, hinting at what had gone before and laying the seeds for what's to come, with some good exposition. There isn't much plot to it, as when you boil it down, 'Zaroff' is just a cat-and-mouse chase / hunter-becoming-hunted story, but it's written in such a way that even with the lack of substance, you are still engrossed in the story and the pace of the storytelling is just unwavering, as you get swept up into the chase, and never really runs out of steam as you turn the last page!

 

The artwork by Miville-Deschênes is simply stunning. As always! As such, it suited the story very well and was easy to get absorbed in the life-like details in the comic panels that bring out the vividness, and lushness of the jungle, as well as the brutal and horrific. It's got to the point that any graphic novel with artwork by François Miville-Deschênes is to savoured!

'Zaroff' is a thrilling read with beautifully rendered artwork, that once the chase begins, is unrelenting and full of suspense, tension and horror! A must read!

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