Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff (review)

Mr. Selim, an officer in the Turkish Janissary Corps and master brewer of tea, is an unlikely sidekick for wild-haired adventuress Delilah Dirk, who has relinquished her status as genteel maid at several European courts in favor of life on the road, thieving and sword fighting and flying her sea-to-air sailboat. When a woman endangers and then saves your life, however, you really do owe her, and as Mr. Selim becomes accustomed to his role as her bumbling aide de camp, he too develops a taste for action; after an attempt to return to quiet life in a fishing village, he tracks Delilah down and hitches his fate to hers. This graphic novel of mismatched road buddies, set in 1807 Asia Minor, has all the right components of an action-adventure tale, but there's little chemistry between the protagonists, who seem to play out their roles side by side rather than together. Delilah rushes headlong from one cleverly orchestrated fight to another, and Mr. Selim clings to his formal speech and manners in the most dire circumstances, but neither contributes the emotional capital needed to build a friendship, much less a romance. The transfer of Cliff 's concept from web comic to print ultimately may leave readers with the sense that Delilah and Mr. Selim's story is wrapped up before it ever really took off, but the tidily boxed action sequences are ably choreographed and will satisfy readers who like their swordplay laced with humor.