Templar
*Starred Review* The creative trio of Mechner, Pham, and Puvilland got their high-adventure story rolling with Solomon’s Thieves (2010). What wasn’t apparent in that first volume of the planned trilogy was how deeply into historically weighty territory the story would cut. Happily, the whole story has been collapsed into one hearty, hefty tome that includes the already published Solomon’s Thieves and the rest of the tale. The historical framework concerns the fall of the Knights Templar after the king of France, with the insidious councilor Nogaret tugging his ear, hurls accusations of sodomy, blasphemy, and worse at the order. The knights are imprisoned and put on trial before a flimsy commission of bishops, but what of the fabled horde of treasure they brought back from the Crusades? A band of Templars-in-hiding race against Nogaret’s machinations and brutal manipulations to save the treasure and maybe even the good name of their order. But, as anyone versed in the history of Jacques de Molay, the last grand master, will know, even the pope, trapped in a political vise, is unable to save the holy knights from doom. The torture the men are put to, the lies they are broken by, and their fate at the stake constitutes a searing, sobering counterweight to the story’s high-wire derring-do and jovial camaraderie. Add to all that a nifty Ocean’s Eleven–style caper, outstanding artwork, and enough romance to get the heart invested, and you have an epic adventure comic for the ages. --Ian Chipman