Review by Roy Boyd

 Spoilers in review

For the most part, The King’s Ransom hews closely to the traditional legend of Robin Hood, when Richard the Lionheart, King of England, is being held captive by a French noble. While this may conjure up images of rotting in dank dungeons, warring nobles in this era often spent time as hostages, and were usually treated as honoured guests. Well, you could be next.

The opening scene introduces Prince John, always portrayed as a nasty piece of work, and lays out his evil schemes for taking advantage of his brother’s absence. Then, we’re transported to Nottingham’s Sherwood Forest, where an old hag (Scarlett) and her small band of poachers are putting a hooded stranger through an arduous trial by combat. While this is going on, we’re treated to a whole bunch of exposition from a young maiden, Marian. The twist in this particular version of the tale is that our Robin Hood is none other than William de Wendeval, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin’s bitter enemy in most versions of the story. Sir Hugh de Morville, Prince John’s evil sidekick, is our villain, occupying the role normally filled by the Sheriff.

William and Marian hope to recruit the poachers to help steal Prince John’s gold, but their plan doesn’t survive first contact with reality and they have to adapt quickly. By the end of this first volume, William and Marian have gone their separate ways after an acrimonious split.

The book has a 12+ rating, though there’s nothing too strong to upset anyone but the most sensitive. For example, one character repeatedly refers to his ‘bum’, when surely ‘arse’ would have been a more accurate and appropriate choice of word.

Writers Emmanuel Herzet and Vincent Brugeas combine historical fact with folklore and legend and try to do something new with it. They largely succeed, though the book would have benefitted from better art, something with a bit more punch. Benoit Dellac’s art – reminiscent of Charlie Adlard on a bad day ¬ lacks sparkle, with action scenes in particular badly laid-out. However, an eye-grabbing cover, and flashbacks, depicted in monochromatic pencil with a sepia wash, are really quite atmospheric and impressive. Perhaps the entire book would have looked better in pencil.

The series continues in The Hunt.