The Freebooters Collection

    (Fantagraphics, 2005)
™ and © 2005 Barry Windsor-Smith and BWS

Barry Windsor-Smith is a comics industry legend whose gorgeous line-work always makes a project just a bit more special. This hardcover, the second in a series, collects the Freebooters material that was published in the Storyteller anthology nos. 1-9 and includes unpublished installments in the tale of Axus the Great, a warrior who has retired from adventuring to run an inn and long for his heroic past. His life is an endless parade of barmaids, barflies, and barroom brawlers, and until the young seer Aran Ana-Kashan arrives at the Ram and the Peacock with news that Axus’ arch-enemy, Ammon Gra, may soon be reborn, the former adventurer leads an unsatisfying life that only occasionally provides him with opportunities to recapture his former glory. Looks like things are picking up for our hero, eh? This special edition includes notes and commentary from Windsor-Smith that make it an interesting look at the creative process.

— Thomas Moudry
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