DIETER LUMPEN
Author photo © Jorge Zentner
THE ADVENTURES OF
JORGE ZENTNER was born in Basavilbaso, Argentina in 1953, studied journalism and psychology, and was a newspaper and radio reporter before leaving Argentina in 1977 and settling in Europe. He has published novels, short stories, articles, and poems, but it’s for his comics that he’s best known, particularly those in collaboration with Rubén Pellejero. They were awarded the Best Foreign Book prize at the 1997 Angoulême festival for Malka’s Silence, about the Jewish community in Argentina that fled from the pogroms in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century.
$49.99 • EuroComics.us • idwpublishing.com
Author photo: D.R.. © Dargaud.
RUBÉN PELLEJERO was born in Badalona, Spain in 1952, He began his career in 1970 as an illustrator before turning to comics in 1983 with the historical series “Stories of Barcelona.” In addition to his extensive collaboration with Jorge Zentner, he has worked with writers Denis LaPiere and Frank Giroud, among others. In 2010 he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Barcelona Comic Fair. One of Europe’s most admired comics artists, he was chosen in 2015 for the plum job to illustrate the new adventures of Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese.
Dieter Lumpen is a man of the world, an adventurer who wants no part of adventure. Nonetheless, he is swept along to exotic locations from Turkey to the Caribbean, from China to Venice. The stories are set in the 1940s, but the protagonist is not the typical hard-boiled adventure hero. As written by Jorge Zentner, Dieter’s irony is gentler, more subtle and reflective; he is more pragmatic and romantic than hard or bitter. A healthy dose of the metaphysical adds an even more intricate dimension to the tales. Rubén Pellejero’s drawing and his sophisticated staging perfectly complements Zentner’s dense storytelling, delightfully challenging the reader from page to page. Pellejero also exhibits an impressive mastery of color—from the desert’s blazing sun-drenched sky viewed from a hot-air balloon to an eerie neon-riddled oasis seen from a hearse speeding down a Southwest highway. “I envy anyone about to discover their work for the first time.” —Tim Sale
JORGE ZENTNER • RUBÉN PELLEJERO
The first English translation of the entire Dieter Lumpen series, the most famous work of the Angoulême award-winning team of writer Jorge Zentner and artist Rubén Pellejero. This omnibus edition contains all eight short stories and the three graphic albums that European comics readers have enjoyed for years.
A BRAVURA PERFORMANCE. The team of Jorge Zentner and Rubén Pellejero created Dieter Lumpen in 1985 and collaborated on new adventures for a decade. EuroComics is proud to present this English translation of every story in this much-lauded series.
OTHER BOOKS FROM
EUROCOMICS/IDW
CORTO MALTESE BY HUGO PRATT PARACUELLOS BY CARLOS GIMÉNEZ
EDITOR Dean Mullaney ART DIRECTOR Lorraine Turner TRANSLATION Carlos Guzman and Dean Mullaney PUBLISHED BY Ted Adams
EuroComics.us EuroComics is an imprint of IDW Publishing a Division of Idea and Design Works, LLC 2765 Truxtun Road San Diego, CA 92106 www.idwpublishing.com Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors 1-410-560-7100 ISBN: 978-1-63140-606-5 First Printing, June 2016 IDW Publishing Ted Adams, Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer/President Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Dirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services Jeff Webber, VP of Licensing, Digital and Subsidiary Rights Jerry Bennington, VP of New Product Development Published by agreement with Astiberri Ediciones. THANKS TO:
Laureano Domínguez-Caamaño, Diana Schutz, Justin Eisinger, and Alonzo Simon. Text and illustrations © 1987, 2016 Jorge Zentner and Rubén Pellejero Introduction © 2016 Tim Sale English translation © 2016 Library of American Comics LLC. All rights reserved. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All rights reserved. The EuroComics logo and colophon is a trademark of The Library of American Comics, LLC. All rights reserved. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the comic strips in this publication may be reprinted without the permission of the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Korea.
7
I STILL REMEMBER HOW HAPPY I WAS WHEN OLD LADY FRÜHLING HIRED ME AS A CHAUFFEUR FOR HER ROLLS.
A DAGGER IN ISTANBUL
IT WAS EXACTLY THE KIND OF EASY, COMFORTABLE, AND SAFE JOB I HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR. I THOUGHT THAT NOTHING COULD BE MORE SERENE THAN DRIVING THE CHARMING FRAU BERTA ON A TOUR OF MUNICH’S PASTRY SHOPS. . . I WAS NAIVE.
8
WELL, I THINK I LOST HIM.
BANG!
DIETER, MY BOY, IF WE DON’T HURRY IT’S LIKELY THAT HALF OF ISTANBUL WILL TRY TO NAB US.
CHARMING, TIMELY, AND DISCONCERTING FRAU BERTA.
9
DIETER, DO NOT STOP UNTIL WE REACH TOPKAPI PALACE. I THINK IT IS TIME WE ASKED THE MUSEUM DIRECTOR FOR HELP.
IT IS AN HONOR TO MEET YOU, FRAU BERTA. OUR MUSEUM IS ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO YOUR LATE HUSBAND, PROFESSOR FRÜHLING, FOR THE DONATIONS HE MADE IN 1905.
OH...I SEE. YOU REFER TO THAT FANTASTIC PIECE THAT WAS STOLEN SOME YEARS AGO. REGRETTABLY, THE POLICE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO RECOVER IT. AND WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE I’M HERE? I LEARNED THAT THE DAGGER NEVER LEFT ISTANBUL AND I’VE COME TO RECOVER IT. THE OBJECT HAS GREAT SENTIMENTAL VALUE TO ME...
TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH, HERR DIRECTOR, I WISHED YOU WOULD HAVE ALSO ETERNALLY GUARDED THE PRECIOUS DAGGER THAT WAS A PART OF THAT COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES...
10
IN THE DAGGER’S HANDLE, HE... PROFESSOR FRÜHLING HID A CAMEO OF ME THAT I GAVE HIM WHEN WE WERE FIRST COURTING.
IT’S CLEAR THAT DEEP DOWN, FRAU BERTA IS A ROMANTIC AND SENTIMENTAL OLD WOMAN.
ALL THIS ROMANTICISM HAD ALMOST COST ME MY SKIN. AND I WAS JUST THE DRIVER!
FURTHERMORE, DIETER, DID YOU NOT SAY THAT YOU HAD MANAGED TO RETRIEVE THE DAGGER, BUT HAD TO ABANDON IT AS YOU FLED?
ALTHOUGH I SEE THAT AFTER ALL THIS EFFORT, YOU WISH TO ABANDON ME...
IF YOU WOULD ALLOW ME, FRAU BERTA, I THINK THE DIRECTOR IS RIGHT. WE SHOULD DISAPPEAR, LEAVE ISTANBUL AND LET THE POLICE TAKE CARE OF...
IT’S TRUE, FRAU BERTA. AT THE LAST SECOND, I HAD TO LEAVE IT IN HANDS OF THAT...FRIEND. WELL, YOU KNOW. BUT IT WOULD BE CRAZY FOR ME TO GO BACK THERE.
...AND DEPRIVE ME OF THAT MEMORY OF MY YOUTH...OH...SO PRECIOUS TO ME.
11
NO, NO, NO! THAT IS OUT OF THE QUESTION! IT WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME THAT AMONG THE SECT OF FANATICS THAT STOLE THE DAGGER THERE WOULD BE MORE THAN ONE POLICE OFFICER.
IF SHE IS A FRIEND, AS YOU SAY, SHE WON’T LET THE DAGGER BE TAKEN FROM HER SO EASILY. YOU SHOULD GO GET IT.
I UNDERSTAND THAT, AFTER ALL, IT MEANS NOTHING TO YOU...BUT I HAD THOUGHT...