Tony Cliff is an illustrator and comics artist whose comic story, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, was published this year in graphic novel format — to wide acclaim.

The heroine is a kind of 19th century Indiana Jones/Laura Croft adventurer, but portrayed with more originality, wit and style than that description might imply.

You can read a special 11-page self-contained story Deliah Dirk and the Easy Mark on Tor.com. The story serves as a kind of prequel to reading the graphic novel. You can read the first two chapters of the latter on the Delilah Dirk website.

I particularly like the balance of stylization to realism, and level of rendering and color Cliff uses in his comics, which is well adapted to his lighthearted adventure storytelling.

Cliff’s website is basically just a jumping off point to other sites. His deviantART gallery serves as a portfolio, and includes his delightful “travel posters” featuring the characters from Delilah Dirk, along with other projects (including the nice homage to Hergé shown above, bottom). Cliff also maintains a blog which features news and info as well as additional artwork. There is a brief interview with Tony Cliff on Comic Book Resources.

You can probably find the Delilah Dirk graphic novel at your local comic book store, or online if they are sold out.