Dungeon (comics)

Dungeon (French title: Donjon) is a series of comic fantasy comic books created by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, with contributions from numerous other artists. It was originally published in France by Delcourt as a series of graphic albums; English translations of the first several stories have been released by NBM Publishing, first in a black-and-white periodical version and now as several color graphic novels.

The series is a parody of sword and sorcery conventions in general, and specifically of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. All of the characters are either anthropomorphic animals or other strange creatures. The "dungeon" of the title is, in the original series, a business establishment run by a mild-mannered chicken, where heroes come in search of adventure and treasure and invariably die. The timeline in the main continuity is described as the stages of day; the series that lead up to the dungeon's creation are described in the Potron-Minet (Dawn) segment, the castle's glory days are described as its Zénith, and its inevitable decay is described in the Crépuscule (Twilight) stories.

Now mostly available in English, the French Donjon is an extremely ambitious work consisting of three sub-series and various side projects.

Sub-series

Dungeon The Early Years (Donjon Potron-Minet)

With art by Christophe Blain and Christophe Gaultier, the five volumes of this series take place in an earlier era, describing events leading up to the creation of the titular dungeon. In English translation, the Dawn series is called Early Years.

Dungeon Zenith (Donjon Zénith)

DZ portrays the "golden age" of the world of Terra Amata . Albums 1 to 4 are drawn by Trondheim, 5 and 6 by Boulet.

Dungeon Twilight (Donjon Crépuscule)

In this darker series, of 8 volumes, Herbert the Duck has become the dark overlord of the Dungeon, known as The Great Khan. Marvin the dragon, old and blind, teams with Marvin the Red, a brash rabbit warrior. The first three volumes are drawn by Sfar, the others by various artists.

Dungeon Parade (Donjon Parade)

The five volumes of Dungeon Parade take place between volumes 1 and 2 of Dungeon Zenith, starring its protagonists Marvin and Herbert. The artist is Manu Larcenet.

Dungeon Monstres (Donjon Monsters)

Donjon Monstres features secondary characters from throughout the story. "Monstres" stories can be set anywhere in the timeline, and feature occasional appearances by the major characters. There is a wide variety of artists in the 12 volumes.

Others

The Zenith books begin at number 1, while Potron-Minet begins at -99 and Crepuscule at 101, implying that the authors intended to produce an unprecedented number of books. Trondheim originally stated in interviews that the authors "weren't crazy" and wouldn't release 300 books, trusting the reader to fill in the blanks of the missing numbers. However, in later interviews, he hinted that he had changed his mind and was seduced by the idea of creating a long-running and complex series of 300 books, which seemed possible with the collaboration of several different authors.

A third sub-series called Donjon Bonus exists of different editions (black and white or smaller format omnibuses) and work outside the comics, like the role-playing game Clefs en Mains.

With the 2014 issuance of the last two volumes of Dungeon Twilight, Trondheim and Sfar emphasized in an interview that the main story was "completely done". Trondheim said that new stories were "very improbable" due to Sfar's schedule; Sfar left the door open for more stories to be told.

Main characters

• Herbert the Duck is the "hero" of the story, and appears in at least Donjon Zenith and Crepuscule series. As his name suggests, he is a duck, although he has a humanoid body, and is covered in feathers. He is the possessor of the Sword of Destiny (a parody of other mystical weapons in adventure books). This sword is unique in that it can talk, and that has many mystical powers, such as being able to glow in the dark, being able to summon former bearers when someone other than its legitimate user tries to hold it, and not allowing the use of any other weapon by its owner. Also, one side of its blade has the enigmatic property of being able to cut -and even behead- living beings without killing them.
• Marvin the Dragon serves as the reluctant instructor and protector of Herbert the Duck. Marvin is a fierce warrior who loves a good fight, but at the same time he is bound by the principles of his religion. He is a strict vegetarian, refuses to eat "human" or animal flesh and will not attack anyone who has insulted him. Like other dragons, he can breathe fire, but will do so only when strictly necessary. Initially caused by indigestion due to eating little blue mushrooms, Marvin is capable of producing a "Tong Deum", a large blast of fire-breath. He looks vaguely humanoid, with huge muscles and scarlet skin. Marvin is loyal to his boss, the Keeper - though not entirely averse to keeping him in the dark about certain matters.
• Hyacinthe de Cavallere (aka the Dungeon Master or "the Keeper") is a greedy, yet lovable, capitalist who only cares about enriching himself by attracting adventurers and treasure-seekers to his Dungeon, where they will leave their corpses and possessions. In his youth, Hyacinthe was actually quite idealistic, and disguised himself as the nocturnal crime fighter "the Night Shirt". The Dungeon's core is the ancestral keep of the de Cavellere family, though greatly enlarged during Hyacinthe's lifetime.
• Marvin the Red, the hero of the Crepuscule/Twilight series. He is a tall, thin rabbit, colored bright red. He is a young warrior and very impetuous.

Bibliography

The following tables show all French paperback collections released so far, with information about English releases. Please note that in the Main Series table the Volume also corresponds to the level of the book. ^[1]

Main Series

Secondary Series

Other languages

• In 2005 now defunct publisher Dragon Rouge Kft. released volume 1 (Coeur de canard) in Hungarian.

Chronology

Since the series start, it has grown into quite a large of collection of volumes. The place of each book in an orderly timeline is worked out using levels (French: Niveau). The volume number of books in the main series (Dawn, Zenith and Twilight) is also their level. The Monsters and Parade level numbers are written down in the original books on the first page below the page number.

Notes

References

External links

• NBM Publishing — Trondheim/Dungeon page
• DonjonLand — Ex-official French-language website
• Les Murmures du Donjon — Official French-language fansite