Thieves and Kings (stylized as Thieves & Kings) is a Canadian comic book series written, penciled and published independently and irregularly by Mark Oakley.[1][2][3]
Thieves and Kings | |
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Publication information | |
Schedule | Monthly |
Genre | High fantasy |
Publication date | 1994 |
Main character(s) | Rubel Heath Wingwhit Quinton Zempfester Soracia Katara Red Sorceress Ramanious |
Creative team | |
Created by | Mark Oakley |
Written by | Mark Oakley |
Artist(s) | Mark Oakley |
The first issue was published in September 1994, with the creator planning on publishing a complete saga comprising 100 issues and about 2000 pages. The series is available as individual comic issues and in trade paperback form.
Thieves & Kings is high fantasy set in a land called Oceansend, with most of the story focused in and around the capital city of Highborn. The story follows the life of a young thief named Rubel and a young sorceress named Heath, but features a larger cast of characters.
Thieves & Kings is distinct from most other comics in that the creator makes extensive use of illustrated story pages in addition to the traditional sequential art found in most comics.
Steve Raiteri gives this summary of the Thieves & Kings story: " In this thoroughly engrossing self-published black-and-white fantasy saga, a multi-faceted conflict plays out between the evil Lady Locumire, who supports a power-hungry prince in his war of conquest, and a loose group of friends and factions opposing her. Among the cast are 12-year-old Heath Wingwhit, a powerful sorceress living through successive reincarnations, brought 1000 years into her future to learn magic; Rubel, a teenage thief with special abilities and charisma; Soracia, a beautiful 10,000-year-old sorceress attempting to reclaim herself from evil; Princess Katara, Heath’s current incarnation, who’s hatching a still-obscure but ambitious plot with her friends the trolls; and the immortal wizard Quinton Zempfester, who provides hilarious comic relief on-panel but holds great power behind the scenes."[4]