Presented many times in the cinema including by Bruno Podalydès, The Mystery of the Yellow Room is now adapted into a comic book by Soleil.
Successful adaptation
An English scientist, Stangerson, assisted by his daughter, carries out research in France but one night, Mathilde, narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in her room yet closed from the inside. Intrigued, the intrepid journalist Rouletabille sets out to solve the mystery of this room.
Jean-Charles Gaudin directs a faithful version of Gaston Leroux's detective novel. A specialist in adaptations – he previously worked on The French Village and The Royal Assassin – he takes up the story, the era, the characters and the dialogues of the book. He reproduces very well the atmosphere, the characters of the characters and manages to condense the novel into one volume. The twists and turns are quickly very gripping and the reader turns each page wondering who is the murderer. Sometimes very melodramatic, the reader is still quickly taken by the characters. This book is very French because everything revolves around sex and love. This comic marks the beginning of a series on Rouletabille's investigations.
An impossible investigation?
Initially, Gaston Leroux's novel is based on an intellectual game: how to kill in a closed room? To find out the solution to this problem, Sainclair and Rouletabille conduct the investigation as journalists. They are French Sherlock and Watson. Rouletabille is a keen observer and supporter of logic – like his English counterpart – while a policeman bends logic to his conceptions. He is also proud because he wants to surpass the police. He knows better how to analyze footprints and is very human while the investigating judge is a snob who accuses a poor man without thinking. But the young journalist has a very different character from the English investigator. Far from being taciturn or cold, he is boastful. He knows how to spare his belongings when he arrives at the court at the last minute. Handsome and gallant, he does not reveal Mrs. Stangerson's secret in court. Very good investigator, he still seems very little busy writing his articles.
A classic drawing
Sibin Slavković's drawing is classic with a layout by fixed boxes but he does a very good job. The faces and action are artistically realized and regularuntil the end of the volume. The sets are well reconstructed. Joël Odone's pretty warm colours embellish Slavković's drawing. There is certainly a lot of text but it is very easy to read.
Once the mystery is revealed, this book turns out to be a good adaptation by Gaudin and Slavković. Soleil offers a very successful start to the adventures of the French investigator and thesuoite with Le parfum de la dame en noir promises to be interesting.
