Dungeon Twilight volume 3: The New Centurions


By Joann Sfar & Lewis Trondheim, Kerascoet & Obion, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-56163-578-8

This slim tome is yet another instalment of the eccentric, raucous, addictively wacky and frankly stupendous franchise that is far better experienced than read about. Dungeon: Twilight joins Dungeons Parade, Zenith and Monstres as a wholly defined sub-series of a truly vast epic which follows the history of a fantastic magic castle on the magical, anthropomorphically stable world of Terra Amata…

The inhabitants of this weirdly surreal universe include every kind of talking beast and bug as well as monsters, demons, smart-alecs, wizards, politicians and stroppy women-folk. There’s always something happening and it’s usually quite odd…

The nominal star was originally a duck with a magic sword which forced him to channel dead heroes and monsters, but by this stage Herbert of Craftiwich has risen to the rank of Grand Khan – though he’s still not quite sure how – the doddering old guy in charge when the entire world of Terra Amata exploded. Now secondary stars have risen to prominence, off-beat heroes such as the nomadic crimson warrior Marvin the Red – an unsavoury bunny in super-powered armour – and Herbert’s revolting children: the sexually voracious acting ruler Duchess Zakutu and her treacherous, spiteful brother Papsukal.

This volume starts as the world’s various exotic survivors eke out a perilous existence on isolated islands chaotically afloat hundreds of metres above a global sea of molten lava…

Comprising two translated albums it all kicks off with ‘The New Centurions’ illustrated by the delightfully adroit Kerascoet, in which Marvin begins to chafe under the Machiavellian intrigues and back-biting that dominate life in the ruined court of the Khan. Tasked with training assorted soldiery who won’t take a rabbit-warrior seriously yet keenly aware that the vultures are circling Marvin knows that when the take-over attempt begins they won’t be ready…

Inevitably that day comes and the usurpers are victorious, but Herbert survives to regroup: however Marvin and his mentor the Dust King are fed up with the whole interminable push-and-shove of politics and quit. Sneaking away they go looking for some uncomplicated adventuring among the floating Islands in the sky…

In ‘Revolutions’, with art by Obion, the pair are soon stranded on a giant chunk of land that is slowly rotating in a downward manner. With their bat-steed dead and Marvin’s armour lost to carnivorous grass the wanderers are forced to continually climb upwards just to stay in place. The alternative is a rapid and terminal plunge to the surging lava-seas below…

Eventually they come across a group of bears and other creatures who are pulling a gigantic villa and garden, keeping it one step ahead of the rotation doom. Why do the bedraggled and exhausted volunteers pull so determinedly? Is it for the eight hours of rest and sustenance in the paradisiacal gardens they are granted every third shift? Is it the favours of the willing women of the little Lord Takmool’s family? Or is the diminutive aristocrat simply the slyest snake-oil salesman and most duplicitous capitalist conman in the universe?

The Dust King is not so easily fooled but even he eventually joins the eager Marvin on the team – it is, after all, the only game in town. However this Garden of Eden supplies its own temptations and serpents and the darkly satiric allegory looks set to come to a bloody end until catastrophe strikes the entire island and a whole new world comes into being in the spectacular aftermath…

Surreal, earthy, sharp, poignant, hilarious and brilliantly outlandish, this fantasy comedy is subtly addictive to read and the vibrant, wildly eccentric cartooning is an absolute marvel of exuberant, graphic style. Definitely not for the young reader, Dungeon is the kind of near-the-knuckle, illicit and just plain smart read that older kids and adults of all ages will adore, but for a fuller comprehension – and even more insane fun – I strongly recommend buying all the attendant incarnations too.

© 2006, 2009 Delcourt Productions-Tronfheim-Sfar-Kerascoet-Obion. English translation © 2010 NBM. All Rights Reserved.