Crusade: Book I - Simon Dja

Crusade: Book I - Simon Dja

Cinebook

Having seen the cover promoting this series for some time I considered it the Cinebook title most likely to find interest with American audiences since the drawing style wouldn't be out of place on a mainstream title from say DC or Image Comics.

Turning to the back of the book, the credits reveal that artist Phillipe Xavier lived in America for a period of time and worked in its comics industry, works I've not read, but those English speaking fans of those books will also check it out for that reason.

While keeping his work contemporary there is an American cinematic storytelling approach in Xavier's art that recalls Gulacy, Steranko and ultimately Will Eisner (one image of a seated Arab in particular) all filtered with a European illustrative perspective.

Belgian writer Jean Dufaux previously worked as a journalist and his succinct essay on the Crusades and how we've reinterpreted, mythologised, and demonised them down the centuries is succinct good reading matter.

Dufaux also notes that his is a tale of a crusade that never happened, a work of fiction.

Gauthier of Flanders is a worthy knight, but he refuses to join a crusade that would be a suicidal venture that would only benefit the greed and vanity of another; for this he is castigated not only by the forces of Christendom in the East but his very wife.

Meanwhile, the Sultan Abdul Razim finds destiny forcing him to seek the aid of dark mystic forces to protect the faithful from being attacked.

One suspects that in future volumes these two noble men from opposing sides may find mutual enemies.

But for now, in this volume, there are sword fights and raisings of the dead, thwarted plans and new quests to be made, while illicit love is kept at bay...

It's an absorbing adventure, with a tip of the hat to A.E.W. Mason's The Four Feathers and Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman. Really worth checking out.

For more information on Crusade visit: www.cinebook.com