Kingdom of the Wicked
Encyclopedia
Kingdom of the Wicked is a comic book
series written by Ian Edginton
and illustrated by D'Israeli
. It was published as a mini-series
in 1996
and collected into a hardcover volume in 2004
.
by Caliber Comics
.
After Dark Horse Comics
published Edginton and D'Israeli's Scarlet Traces
in 2002
, they released an updated version of Kingdom of the Wicked on December 1, 2004. The new version was collected as a hardcover, colored, included a new eight-page prologue and extra story at the end, and was revised to include references to contemporary children's fantasy, such as J. K. Rowling
and Lemony Snicket
.
. As he grew older, he eventually abandoned Castrovalva and its population of made-up friends. (The new prologue shows how, after Chris left, a monster in the shape of a boy arrived to begin terrorizing the populace) After marrying and having his first child, Chris began to write stories again to amuse his daughter. His wife collected them and, without his knowledge, sent them in to be published. Now, several years later, he is known as the greatest children's writer in the world, besieged by offers of movie rights, sequels, art galleries, and the like.
At a press event, Chris begins having a series of blackouts, finding himself back in the world of Castrovalva. However, Castrovalva is now a war-torn landscape, where his childhood friends are fighting a war similar to World War I
against a figure known as "the Great Dictator". The Great Dictator was the monster-child from the prologue, the "spitting image" of Chris. Chris sees his friend, teddy bear
Sergeant
Fuzzbox, get killed by going over the top and another friend, tin soldier
Captain (now Colonel
) Flashheart be murdered by an agent of the Great Dictator.
In the real world, Chris' wife and his doctors realize the reason he has been having the blackouts is due to a parasitic twin
that failed to develop in pregnancy, and has attached itself to Chris' central nervous system
. In Castrovalva, Chris has been manipulated into entering the Land Under the Bed that serves as the Great Dictator's headquarters, where the Great Dictator explains much the same thing. He was only able to look out at the world from Chris' senses, being otherwise incapable of anything. When Chris abandoned Castrovalva, the Dictator moved in, finding it a fully made world that he would actually be able to inhabit and live in. However, after tiring of toying with its imaginary inhabitants, he lured Chris back in through the blackouts in order to kill him and possess his real brain, therefore becoming the "real" Chris.
Chris manages to stop the Dictator's attempts by realizing that Castrovalva is his territory, and that he can make the rules there. At the same time in the real world, Chris undergoes surgery to remove the fetus from his skull. However, Chris takes pity on the Dictator, and absorbs his essence into his. A brief afterword states that Chris took nine months to regain consciousness, and never told anyone of the events. However, the final page shows him working on a script entitled "Kingdom of the Wicked", implying his next book will be based on what he saw, and the final panel shows Chris and the Dictator, both as small boys again, running through a restored Castrovalva to play with Fuzzbox, Flashheart, and the other friends who died in the war.
#38, have been collected into two volumes
:
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series written by Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer.He is one of the few British comic talents to follow the reverse trajectory to the one usually taken: becoming successful in American comics before returning to work for 2000 AD.-Biography:...
and illustrated by D'Israeli
D'Israeli
Matt Brooker, whose work most often appears under the pseudonym D'Israeli , is a British comic artist, colorist, writer and letterer. Other pseudonyms he uses include "Molly Eyre" , for his writing, and "Harry V...
. It was published as a mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
in 1996
1996 in comics
-Year overall:* Malcolm Jones III commits suicide at circa age 37.* Boody Rogers, creator of Sparky Watts, dies at c. age 92-January:* January 19: Bernard Baily, co-creator of The Spectre and Hourman, dies at age 79.* January 28:...
and collected into a hardcover volume in 2004
2004 in comics
-February:*February 6: Marvel Enterprises and Electronic Arts announce a multi-year agreement in which EA will develop a new generation of fighting video games pitting Marvel superheroes against a new, original set of EA heroes....
.
Publication history
Kingdom of the Wicked was originally published as black and white comics in the mid-1990s1990s in comics
See also:1980s in comics,other events of the 1990s,2000s in comics and thelist of years in comicsPublications: 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999-1992:See also: 1992 in comics...
by Caliber Comics
Caliber Comics
Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, in the next decade Caliber published over 1300 comics and ranked as one of the America's leading independent publishers...
.
After Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
published Edginton and D'Israeli's Scarlet Traces
Scarlet Traces
Scarlet Traces is a comic story of the Steampunk genre, written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by D'Israeli. It was original published online before being serialised in 2002. A sequel, Scarlet Traces: The Great Game, followed in 2006....
in 2002
2002 in comics
-March:* Adventures of Superman #600: super-sized anniversary issue by Joe Casey, Mike Wieringo, and Jose Marzan, Jr. -April:* Batman #600: "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive," part one, 64-page giant, written by Ed Brubaker.-January:...
, they released an updated version of Kingdom of the Wicked on December 1, 2004. The new version was collected as a hardcover, colored, included a new eight-page prologue and extra story at the end, and was revised to include references to contemporary children's fantasy, such as J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
and Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
.
Plot
Kingdom of the Wicked focuses on Christopher Grahame. As a young child he was bedridden and to amuse himself began writing stories centered around an elaborate fantasy world named CastrovalvaCastrovalva (M. C. Escher)
Castrovalva is a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, first printed in February 1930. Like many of Escher's early works, it depicts a place that he visited on a tour of Italy....
. As he grew older, he eventually abandoned Castrovalva and its population of made-up friends. (The new prologue shows how, after Chris left, a monster in the shape of a boy arrived to begin terrorizing the populace) After marrying and having his first child, Chris began to write stories again to amuse his daughter. His wife collected them and, without his knowledge, sent them in to be published. Now, several years later, he is known as the greatest children's writer in the world, besieged by offers of movie rights, sequels, art galleries, and the like.
At a press event, Chris begins having a series of blackouts, finding himself back in the world of Castrovalva. However, Castrovalva is now a war-torn landscape, where his childhood friends are fighting a war similar to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
against a figure known as "the Great Dictator". The Great Dictator was the monster-child from the prologue, the "spitting image" of Chris. Chris sees his friend, teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Fuzzbox, get killed by going over the top and another friend, tin soldier
Tin soldier
Tin soldiers are miniature figures of toy soldiers that are extremely popular in the world of collecting. They can be bought finished or in a raw state to be hand-painted. They are generally made of pewter, tin, lead, other metals or plastic...
Captain (now Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
) Flashheart be murdered by an agent of the Great Dictator.
In the real world, Chris' wife and his doctors realize the reason he has been having the blackouts is due to a parasitic twin
Parasitic twin
A parasitic twin is the result of the processes that produce vanishing twins and conjoined twins, and may represent a continuum between the two...
that failed to develop in pregnancy, and has attached itself to Chris' central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
. In Castrovalva, Chris has been manipulated into entering the Land Under the Bed that serves as the Great Dictator's headquarters, where the Great Dictator explains much the same thing. He was only able to look out at the world from Chris' senses, being otherwise incapable of anything. When Chris abandoned Castrovalva, the Dictator moved in, finding it a fully made world that he would actually be able to inhabit and live in. However, after tiring of toying with its imaginary inhabitants, he lured Chris back in through the blackouts in order to kill him and possess his real brain, therefore becoming the "real" Chris.
Chris manages to stop the Dictator's attempts by realizing that Castrovalva is his territory, and that he can make the rules there. At the same time in the real world, Chris undergoes surgery to remove the fetus from his skull. However, Chris takes pity on the Dictator, and absorbs his essence into his. A brief afterword states that Chris took nine months to regain consciousness, and never told anyone of the events. However, the final page shows him working on a script entitled "Kingdom of the Wicked", implying his next book will be based on what he saw, and the final panel shows Chris and the Dictator, both as small boys again, running through a restored Castrovalva to play with Fuzzbox, Flashheart, and the other friends who died in the war.
Collected editions
The mini-series, along with "Kingdom of the Wicked: Little Monsters" from Negative BurnNegative Burn
Negative Burn is a black-and-white anthology comic book published beginning in 1993 by Caliber Press, and subsequently by Image Comics and Desperado Publishing...
#38, have been collected into two volumes
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
:
- Softcover (Caliber, softcover, 1997, ISBN 0-941613-97-6)
- Hardcover (Dark Horse, 120 pages, 2004, ISBN 1-59307-187-6)
External links
- Kingdom of the Wicked review, Read About Comics
- Kingdom of the Wicked Annotations