Vance - Lot 118

Vance WILLIAM VANCE XIII Spads (T.4), Dargaud 1987 Original plate n° 30. Signed. India ink on paper 43.9 × 59.7 cm (17.28 × 23.5 in.) On May 14, 1987, Jean Van Hamme wrote to William Vance: "I've sweated quite a bit on this script [...] I've changed my mind about Carrington. My original idea, remember, was to make him one of the principal members of the plot to establish a right-wing dictatorship in the United States after Sheridan's assassination. It was with this in mind that he had been sent to SPADS, in order to frame him later, and once again, for yet another political crime." But Van Hamme, like his readers, has grown attached to "this virile and sympathetic old general". And then he found the process "both disappointing and phony". Hence a change of pace, with this marvelous sequence in which XIII, revealing his identity (one of them, at least), is trapped by one of the leaders of the plot. A magnificently executed panel, with William Vance at the top of his game and Jean Van Hamme impressively powerful. SPADS - the third album in the series - is the moment when the XIII series clings to the firmament of success.