Bourbon Island 1730

For today's review, i chose another Baltimore comic con purchase, Bourbon Island 1730, by Appollo and Lewis Trondheim. This is my first foray into French comics, and I must say it was a good experience.
I initially picked up the book, because i liked the cover. I think it is beautifully painted and drawn, the back cover is also very nice, with good color choice. When i opened the book, i saw that the art, while still appealing to me, was not nearly as sharp as the art on the front/back covers. That isn't to say it isn't good, but sometimes i feel it might walk the fine line between intentional sloppiness, and sloppiness. Lewis Trondheim's storytelling and characters are fun and engrossing, so I cant be too negative about the art.
The story revolves around one Raphael and one Mr. Despentes. Despentes is looking for a DoDo on Bourbon Island, to capture and examine. Raphael wants to join up with pirates. Raphael seems naive and a little dim-witted about pirates and life in general at first. Meanwhile, the Bourbon Island authorities have captured Buzzard, a famous pirate, and are holding him captive to get at some treasure he's hidden. A group of "Maroons" (escaped slaves) contemplate whether to break Buzzard free or not, while the plantation owners blame the Maroons for the capturing of one of their member's daughters, who ran off into the forest of her own accord.
The book paints a somewhat gloomy picture, and shows the terrible treatment of slaves by the inhabitants of Bourbon island. The Runaway girl, Virginia, tells Raphael about the slave's lives, how they are murdered, and raped and tortured. She shows him a tree, after he sees a hung escaped slave, that has the hands of escaped slaves nailed to it. She tells him there will be a white hand among them one day, hers. The lives of those people was "the price of his European coffee" she tells him. On his return voyage home Raphael is offered some coffee. He turns it down, perhaps he is a little less naive then he was at the onset.
Overall I would say this is an excellent read, with a lot more plot and interesting characters than i had patience to write about. I was expecting a story about pirates and treasure when i picked it up, and got something a lot more interesting and thought provoking. A welcome surprise.