Johan, De Rode Ridder

Johan, de Rode Ridder (Johan, The Red Knight) stands up for the weak and oppressed and fights for injustice. He got the nickname because of the red tunic he wears.

Books

The whole saga started with books by Leopold Vermeiren. In the books Johan is introduced as a young serf. A serf occupies a plot of land and was required to work for the Lord of the Manor who owned that land, and in return were entitled to protection, justice and the right to exploit certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence.

History

The first stories of Johan start out close to the vision that the original story writer Leopold Vermeiren had written in De Rode Ridder books. Willy Vandersteen added the legend of Arthur myth to the character's story line and Karel Biddeloo who took over from Willy added a lot more fantasy elements to the story line.

The first few issues don't tell a lot of where Johan came from except that he's not a nobleman who fought his way up to being a knight. He swore his faith to the church and the king and protects the land as best he can drifting from place to place. In later issues he's reffered to as the half-brother of Amelrick Pynnock, one of the 'Heren van de Rode'.

Johan has worked with King Arthur and sat at his Round Table as one of his knights. Most issues take place in Flanders, which is the Dutch speaking side of Belgium but he has been known to travel most of Europe, but his adventure in Chamelot set the basis for most of his future adventures and it's the place where he meets a lot of characters that return in later stories like Merlin the wizard, Sir Lancelot who becomes his best friend and also his arch-nemesis Bahaal.

His travels take him as far as the far east where the more mystical and fantasy stories take place. Each issue sees the decorum change to the fantasy side.

The love off his live is Galaxa, Fearie of the Light, and they feature together in a lot of issues, fighting of the evil in the world for a chance to be together.