Merlin #5

The fifth volume of Soleil's Merlin series arrives in 2004 with a cover that grabs attention immediately — a massive crimson dragon coils around a lone stone tower, its jaws open wide as a solitary dark-cloaked figure stands defiant at the tower's peak. Writer Jean-Luc Istin and artist Éric Lambert bring their Arthurian world to this confrontation subtitled "Brendann le maudit" (Brendann the Cursed), with Lambert's linework and Bruno Stambecco's rich, moody colors giving the scene a genuinely dramatic weight. If this cover is any indication, the creative team is in fine form for what promises to be a tense chapter in this French-language fantasy saga.