Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling

Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling by Tony Cliff
Format: Original Graphic Novel
Illustrated by: Tony Cliff
Series: Delilah Dirk #2
Publisher: First Second
Published: 2016
Length: 272 pages

After I finished the first Delilah Dirk book, I noticed there was a second volume that had just been released. That’s the pleasure of being a few years behind the ball, I suppose. I picked it up at a local comic store soon after, and was pleased to find that it was twice the size of the first.

The first book focused more on the story of Selim, the Turkish Lieutenant, while keeping Delilah a super-powered mystery. In this book, we get to see more of her human side, as the story brings the two of them to her mother’s home in England. She’s not known as the mythical Delilah Dirk there, but merely as her mother’s daughter, an unwed upper class woman. She’s expected to attend balls and find a suitor rather than wander the world in search of treasure and adventure.

Delilah didn’t travel back to England for fun, but rather was drawn there to protect her name and honour and to exact revenge. The book begins with her crossing Portugal after a completed job, where she encounters a corrupt English officer and finds herself being accused of treason. He’s a cocky and entitled child of a high-ranking general, so the reader is really rooting for Delilah Dirk in this one. It’s a bit like the lovechild of Indiana Jones and Jane Austen hunting down one of Trump’s children, which makes for a satisfying read.

These books are a lot of fun. I’m assuming and hoping there will be more. I just love the expressive art, the humour, and the unapologetic pulpy action.