Z/Web

This is a French graphic novel my brother brought back from Paris for me. I’d never heard of the series, about a wealthy American businessman named Largo Winch. The back story is that Largo was the illegitmate son who inherited a $10 billion empire one day out of the blue when his father died. Suddenly the earthy Largo is in a position of incredible power, and he chooses to use that power for good instead of evil, unlike his unethical father.

This book opens with Largo being interviewed on a TV show when a guest, a former employee of the man, blows his brains on TV. Largo learns that one of his many subsidiaries, a small snowboarding company in Montana, was closed for lack of profits, and in doing so essentially destroyed the economy of an entire mountain community. This man’s business was ruined and so he shot himself, blaming Largo for his ruin. Largo decides to investigate and unearths a complex mess of fraudulent accounting and realizes that someone switched the books, making it look like the snowboarding company was failing, when in reality it was profitable. When Largo goes to Montana to follow up on a lead, he’s framed for murder and arrested. He escapes and the book ends with him on the run. That’s correct, I said the books ends… because apparently this is volume one of a multi-part series! I hate that. Worse, this book was published in June 2004, so I guess I’ll have to wait for the ending. Bummer. But it was an interesting story, a little complicated for my French considering the accounting terminology, but it was good practice for me — by the end I was reading it fairly well. Apparently Largo Winch is popular in Europe — there’s a TV show and everything. I’d have to read more to see how I like the whole series, but the concept isn’t bad and the artwork is excellent.