'The Eagle With No Claws' with art and script by Christian Lax is about the early days of the Tour de France and one man's ambition to win.

The story begins in 1907 with a group of soldiers carrying supplies up a hill to build an observatory. One man, Amedee, becomes fascinated with the brave cyclists he learns about and wants to become one. First, he must buy a bike, and this leads to hard work and sacrifice. When tragedy falls on him, he doesn't let it stop him. His goal is to win the Tour de France.

I'm not a fan of the sport, but I found this story touching. I really loved the art with the lean riders wearing tire tubes around their necks. I couldn't find if Amedee was based on a real person, but there are other famous cyclists of the time in the book. I liked this one quite a lot.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

An interesting graphic novel with a good storyline. the art style was not for me, but the story kept me going.

An interesting story about a young man who is determined to ride in the Tour de France.

He struggles to make enough money to buy a bike by taking deliveries to an observatory. He is beset by all kinds of disappointments including a terrible injury but he perseveres and eventually makes it to The Tour de France.

This is a great story of determination and endurance with good art but the story comes to a sudden abrupt ending which left me feeling rather disappointed.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This could be a very good book for those with an interest in the history of the Tour de France. For the rest of us it's a tale of a gutsy man who turned himself into a human pack mule for the benefit of a scientific observatory in the Pyrenees mountains, in order to save up for his first pushbike good enough for him to compete. Every knockback imaginable seems to come his way at one point or another – including, unfortunately, the final one, which we can see coming for a lot longer than its blunt presence on the page lasts. The biggest problem, however, is the text, which – whether through translation or original intent – is complete with the worst exposition. It's not just the spectators of the race stages telling each other what they both know for our benefit, but anything and everything drops into exposition for the sake of getting the research across. Still, time spent in the company of this heroic competitor is not completely wasted, and stars will be added to this rating for those with a knowledge of the Tour of those times.