Dungeon Monstres: The Dark Lord

This latest collection of the French heroic fantasy spoof finds the cast dealing with Terra Amata, the landscape where the series takes place, exploding into a myriad of floating islands that resemble a cartoon version of a Roger Dean Yes album cover. In “The Great Map,” Marvin the Red, a fanged rabbit hero in a suit of armor, must find the map of the just-exploded realm, while in “The Dark Lord,” the Grand Khan, a powerful dark lord who also happens to be a duck, renounces his baleful powers, an act that causes the sundering of the world. There's a lot going on in both stories, all of it quite entertaining and very well illustrated. The guest artists acquit themselves nicely—Andreas's work brings to mind Sergio Aragones or Stan Sakai, while Stephane Blanquet's highly appealing style looks like a fusion of Charles Burns and Gabor Czupo. Great fun, although the curious are advised to pick up the previous volumes. (Nov.)