Dungeon (Donjon) | |
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Created by | Joann Sfar Lewis Trondheim |
Publication information | |
Publisher | Delcourt |
Original language | French |
Genre | |
Publication date | 1998 â Present |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | Joann Sfar Lewis Trondheim |
Artist(s) | Various |
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 is originally published in France since 1998 by Delcourt as a series of graphic albums; English editions of a large amount of stories have been released by NBM Publishing between 2002. And 2023 in translations by Joe Johnson, first in a black-and-white periodical version and then 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 & Dragons. All of theââcharacters are either anthropomorphic animals/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 upââto the dungeon's creation are described in the Potron-Minet (Dawn) segment, the castle's glory days are described as its ZĂ©nith (Zenith), and its inevitable decay is described in the CrĂ©puscule (Twilight) stories.
Sub-seriesâ»
Dungeon is an extremely ambitious work consisting of several sub-series and various side projects. The Zenith books begin at number 1, while Early Years begins at -99 and Twilight at 101, implying that the authors intendedââto produce an unprecedented number of books.
Early Yearsâ»
Dungeon Early Years (Donjon Potron-Minet, literally Dawn) describes the events leading up to the creation of the titular dungeon, with art by Christophe Blain, Christophe Gaultier and Stéphane Oiry.
Zenithâ»
Dungeon Zenith (Donjon ZĂ©nith) portrays the golden age of the world of Terra Amata . The first four books are drawn by Lewis Trondheim, and from book five onwards by Boulet.
Twilightâ»
Dungeon Twilight (Donjon Crépuscule) is a darker series where 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 Joann Sfar, the others by various artists.
Paradeâ»
Dungeon Parade takes place between volumes 1 and 2 of Dungeon Zenith, starring its protagonists Marvin and Herbert. The artists are Manu Larcenet then Alexis Nesme.
Monstresâ»
Dungeon Monstres (Donjon Monsters) features secondary characters from throughout the story. 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 numerous volumes of this sub-series.
Antipodesâ»
Two additional series (Donjon Antipodes â and Donjon Antipodes +) explore the distant past and the far future of the other series.
Bonusâ»
A last sub-series called Donjon Bonus hosts works outside the comics, like the tabletop role-playing game Clefs en Mains
Bibliographyâ»
Since the series start, it has grown into quite a large collection of volumes. The place of each book in an orderly timeline is worked out using âlevelsâ. The volume number of books in the main series (Early Years, Zenith, Twilight, Antipodes) is also their level. The Monstres and Parade level numbers are written down in the original books on the first page below the page number.
The following table shows all the French volumes by Delcourt (published since 1998) and information about English-language releases by NBM Publishing (published since 2002 and stopped in 2023). The table can be sorted by series. Or by chronological order using âlevelsâ. Unless otherwise noted, all the books are written by Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar, with various artists.
Level | Series | French editions | American editions | Artist | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
â99 | Early Years | â99 | La Chemise de la nuit | 1 | The Night Shirt Omnibus: The Night Shirt |
Christophe Blain |
â98 | Early Years | â98 | Un justicier dans l'ennui | Christophe Blain | ||
â97 | Early Years | â97 | Une jeunesse qui s'enfuit | 2 | Innocence lost Omnibus: The Night Shirt |
Christophe Blain |
â84 | Early Years | â84 | AprĂšs la pluie | Christophe Blain | ||
â83 | Early Years | â83 | Sans un bruit | 3 | Without a Sound | Christophe Gaultier |
â82 | Early Years | â82 | Survivre aujourd'hui | StĂ©phane Oiry | ||
1 | Zenith | 1 | CĆur de canard | 1 | Duck Heart Omnibus: The Barbarian Princess |
Lewis Trondheim |
2 | Zenith | 2 | Le Roi de la bagarre | Lewis Trondheim | ||
3 | Zenith | 3 | La Princesse des barbares | 2 | The Barbarian Princess Omnibus: The Barbarian Princess |
Lewis Trondheim |
4 | Zenith | 4 | SortilĂšge et Avatar | Lewis Trondheim | ||
5 | Zenith | 5 | Un mariage Ă part | 3 | Back in Style | Boulet |
6 | Zenith | 6 | Retour en fanfare | Boulet | ||
7 | Zenith | 7 | Hors des remparts | 4 | Outside the Ramparts | Boulet |
8 | Zenith | 8 | En sa mémoire | Boulet | ||
9 | Zenith | 9 | Larmes et brouillard | 5 | Fog & Tears | Boulet |
10 | Zenith | 10 | Formule incantatoire | Boulet | ||
101 | Twilight | 101 | Le CimetiĂšre des dragons | 1 | Dragon Cemetery Omnibus: Cemetery of the Dragon |
Joann Sfar |
102 | Twilight | 102 | Le Volcan des Vaucanson | Joann Sfar | ||
103 | Twilight | 103 | Armaggedon | 2 | Armageddon Omnibus: Cemetery of the Dragon |
Joann Sfar |
104 | Twilight | 104 | Le Dojo du lagon | Kerascoët | ||
105 | Twilight | 105 | Les Nouveaux Centurions | 3 | The New Centurions | Kerascoët |
106 | Twilight | 106 | RĂ©volutions | Obion | ||
110 | Twilight | 110 | Haut Septentrion | 4 | The End of Dungeon | Alfred |
111 | Twilight | 111 | La Fin du donjon | Mazan | ||
112 | Twilight | 112 | Pourfendeurs de dĂ©mons | â | â | Obion |
113 | Twilight | 113 | Passation | â | â | Obion |
1.5 | Parade | 1 | Un donjon de trop | 1 | A Dungeon Too Many | Manu Larcenet |
1.5 | Parade | 2 | Le Sage du ghetto | Manu Larcenet | ||
1.5 | Parade | 3 | Le Jour des crapauds | 2 | Day of the Toads | Manu Larcenet |
1.5 | Parade | 4 | Des fleurs et des marmots | Manu Larcenet | ||
1.5 | Parade | 5 | Technique Grogro | â | â | Manu Larcenet |
1.5 | Parade | 6 | Garderie pour petiots | â | â | Alexis Nesme |
â4 | Monstres | 1 | Jean-Jean la terreur | 1 | The Crying Giant | Mazan |
3.5 | Monstres | 2 | Le GĂ©ant qui pleure | Jean-Christophe Menu | ||
103 | Monstres | 3 | La Carte majeure | 2 | The Dark Lord | Andreas |
103 | Monstres | 4 | Le Noir Seigneur | Blanquet | ||
â97.5 | Monstres | 5 | La Nuit du tombeur | 4 | Night of the Ladykiller | Jean-Emmanuel Vermot-Desroches |
40 | Monstres | 6 | Du ramdam chez les brasseurs | Yoann | ||
â90 | Monstres | 7 | Mon fils le tueur | 5 | My Son the Killer | Blutch |
â85 | Monstres | 8 | CrĂšve-cĆur | 3 | Heartbreaker | Carlos Nine |
75 | Monstres | 9 | Les Profondeurs | Patrice Killoffer | ||
95 | Monstres | 10 | Des soldats d'honneur | 5 | My Son the Killer | BĂ©zian |
â400 | Monstres | 11 | Le Grand Animateur | 6 | The Great Animator | Stanislas |
6 | Monstres | 12 | Le Grimoire de l'inventeur | Nicolas Keramidas | ||
79 | Monstres | 13 | RĂ©veille-toi et meurs | â | â | David B. |
7 | Monstres | 14 | La BiĂšre supĂ©rieure | â | â | Bastien Quignon |
â24 | Monstres | 15 | Les Poupoutpapillonneurs | â | â | Juanungo |
â79 | Monstres | 16 | Quelque part ailleurs | â | â | Guy Delisle |
114 | Monstres | 17 | Un hĂ©ritage trompeur | â | â | Bertrand Gatignol |
115 | Monstres | 18 | Noces de fleurs | â | â | Aude Picault |
â10,000 | Antipodes â | â10000 | L'ArmĂ©e du crĂąne | â | â | GrĂ©gory Panaccione |
â9,999 | Antipodes â | â9999 | L'Inquisiteur mĂ©galomane | â | â | GrĂ©gory Panaccione |
10,000 | Antipodes + | 10000 | RubĂ©us Khan | â | â | Vince |
10,001 | Antipodes + | 10001 | Le Coffre aux Ăąmes | â | â | Vince |
10,002 | Antipodes + | 10002 | Changement de programme | â | â | Vince |
10,003 | Antipodes + | 10003 | Retour de flamme | â | â | Vince |
â | Bonus | 1 | Clefs en main | â | â | Lewis Trondheim Joann Sfar Writing: Arnaud Moragues |
â | Bonus | 2 | CrĂ©ation et parchemins | â | â | Lewis Trondheim Joann Sfar |
â | Bonus | 3 | Dynastie et magiciens | â | â | Lewis Trondheim Joann Sfar Writing: Arnaud Moragues Pierre Chabosy |
Main charactersâ»
- 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 "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.
Notesâ»
- ^ "About Dungeon". NBM Graphic Novels. 2024-02-06. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
- ^ The three books taking place in level 103 retell the same events from three different points of view.
- ^ Haut Septentrion et La Fin du donjon can be read in parallel.
External linksâ»
- Dungeon at NBM Publishing
- Dungeon at the Grand Comics Database