No French She-Knight
Robert E. Howard is creator of several well-known fantasy heroes, Conan being the most famous, King Kull and Solomon Kane significant others. Howard`s name on the title page was what drew my attention to this publication with it`s typically Conanesque cover art.
The star of this issue is one of Howard`s lesser known adventurers, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, a tall, dark and scowling Irishman. The story is set not in some mythical, fantasy land but set in Turkey in 1190AD during The Crusades when Christian knights and Moslem armies were at each others throats...
The comic is a fairly brief introduction to our scowling Irish hero with a tale of revenge. Cormac returns to the East, it appears he is a mercenary who after a bloody tour elsewhere has returned to seek out an old employer/friend, Sieur Gerard. But bad news Cormac, Gerard is dead his castle having been stormed by raiders. But what really pisses off surly Cormac is learning that Gerard`s plea for help when the attack came was ignored - it seems Baron Conrad in a neighboring fortress was too busy supping wine to lend a hand...
Seething Cormac jumps on horseback and heads out to teach Conrad the error of his not-so-Samaritan ways! Needless to say he does this in swift and blood-splattered fashion...
Fans of this type of genre shouldn`t be disappointed although there is no magic and monsters that usually accompany such stories. This is more of an actioner with a historical setting, The Crusades being something I havn`t seen adapted to comic-books before. The dialogue has that medieval feel with phrases Thor would be proud of, the artwork is decent enough and the action scenes are luciously gory.
He`s no Conan, but Cormac Fitzgeoffrey`s first outings not bad...