About a month ago, Black Panel Press reached out to us about reading their new book Putin’s Fortune. Our history with Black Panel Press consists of only one book, Al Capone written by Shawn Meralli and art by PF Radice. A book that was a random pick up at a library due to my love for mafia and gangsters. A graphic novel about Vladimir Putin was definitely not on my radar for something I would be reading in 2026.

Putin’s Fortune is a dense story, it covers over 30 years of Putin’s political and somewhat mafia career. Yeah you read that correctly, not much of a difference between the two while reading this graphic novel. Putin’s Fortune is written by Yvonnick Denoël and art by Gildas Java with the story being based on real life investigations, interviews and archival research. As someone who is aware of Putin, I’ll admit that my knowledge of how he came across his wealth and power was lacking.

For such a controversial being, the creators did a lot of research with back material and a sources page at the end of the book. This acts as both a weakness and strength for Putin’s Fortune. The first chapter “Once Upon a Time in Saint Petersburg” is filled with exploration, which made my time with the first chapter slow. It would have benefited from a preface or character guide to start the book. The book does have a character guide at the end of the book, however I feel it would have benefited with it at the beginning.

As Chapter One set the tone for what to expect, Putin’s Fortune really hits its stride with Chapter Two and Three. The second chapter, “Once Upon a Time in Moscow” is the rise of Putin’s power and financial gain. And “Once Upon a Time in The Empire” explores the person we have come to know currently. While reading these two chapters, I found myself thinking this could be like a Russian version of Succession. So much backstabbing for financial and political gain. By the end of the book, my feelings of a literary Putin matched that of the real life person.

Credit to Gildas Java’s artwork, their expression carried an overall dialogue heavy narrative. It reminded me of Al Capone, a unique style that at first takes some time to adjust to, but once the story is flowing Java does a wonderful job with facial expressions. Hopefully, we can see their work on another title in the future.

If you are looking for a political narrative about a controversial political figure, I’ll recommend this. It’s not an easy read for those that are used to superheroes or science fiction storytelling in the medium. This is truly an informative and engaging story. Definitely interested to see what else Black Panel Press has in store for their upcoming books.

Find Black Panel Press on Instagram, YouTube and their website. Upcoming projects that we are interested in are Death Metal Duck and Death Save. But if you don’t want to wait, pick up Putin’s Fortune, Al Capone and so many other great titles.