From Eroica with Love Vol. #06

By Patricia Beard     July 04, 2007
Release Date: February 08, 2006



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Yasuko Aoike
Translated by:Tony Ogasawara
Adapted by:Tony Ogasawara

What They Say
When the British Crown goes on exhibit in Germany, the Major knows Eroica is bound to follow. NATO, the CIA and even the KGB conspire to lure the world's most elegant art thief away from the world's most irresistible jewels. Will Eroica take the bait?

The Review
This volume opens with a side story centering on the Major. In "Special Vacation Orders", NATO's Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach is ordered by the director to take a ten day vacation to the town where he went to boarding school for nine years to attend his school reunion. While the Major (and his KGB counterparts) assume this is some sort of super clandestine operation, the director's motives are simply to get the Major to lighten up by getting him married. But before Klaus gets wise to the plan and derails it, we are treated to an amusing, but not surprising, recollection of his days at the boarding school and, in a setup which is cheesier and much funnier than it probably was intended to be, reunion with the nun who taught the Major the goodness of fried potatoes. Yes, the Major has a chip fetish - if only Dorian knew.

This series is about very gay thief Dorian Red, Earl of Gloria, stealing beautiful objects,and pursuing the uptight, asexual, deeply closeted Klaus with the Major attempting to foil him on both counts. In "Glass Target (Part 1)" Yasuko Aoike doesn't deviate from the formula, but this time Eroica's after the British Royal Crown on exhibition in Cologne. And this time Aoike has the Major divert Eroica with an elaborate ruse for which Eroica responds in kind and then some - by impersonating the Major, a feat which Aoike pulls off very well on the page. There is also no letup in the innuendo. For example, British SIS agent Lawrence fantasizes about the Royal Crown encased in German glass as an Anglo-Saxon maiden slumbering in the arms of a German warrior. The Major never gets these analogies and his reactions are part of his frozen Teutonic charm

The dialog continues to be literate and snappy giving full flavor to Klaus' direct and salty speech, and the translator can be given credit for maintaining most, if not all, of the popular culture references, such as the reference to the movie, "Caligula". Even the suspect "Pampers" reference is in the original. The looser, more comfortable figure design that began to emerge with volume 3, along with more detailed backgrounds, is very much in evidence.

Fans of the series will find this a well-plotted and paced read with all the fun that one has come to expect. Readers new to the series will find nothing to bar their enjoyment, but the Major is such an attraction that one would want to start from the beginning.