Once again, I’m still lingering on Cape Horn, this time on book two:

In the meantime, I’m still grappling hard to understand the relevant context and history of this particular region (Tierra del Fuego, set in the late 1800’s), as well as the various individuals the 4-tome series tracks in this chaotic, frontier environment. Anyway, let’s start with something pleasant:

It’s a young French officer serving with one of the local small navies (Chilean or Argentinian, I can’t remember) writing to his sweetheart. The words to me are almost secondary to the way the panels are pleasantly, skillfully laid out:

As a chronic fan of ‘show me, don’t tell,’ I really like the way these panels communicate his sweetie’s letter sparsely, mixed with getting a sense of the local flavor.

Ruh-roh, but now enters the sinister Kruger (see the map diagram last post for more on how he absconded with his buddies’ gold), who we now learn has even more of a darker backstory.

Poor Ernesto…

I can tell you, however, that Kruger will eventually pay for this humilation.

You see… that ‘she’ was in fact Ernesto’s wife, who he’d previously reformed and pledged his devotion to. Yikes.