365 Days of Manga, Day 133: Le Chevalier d’Eon

LE CHEVALIER D’EON (”Chevalier”) (シュヴァリエ) • Tow Ubukata (original story), Kiriko Yumeji (art) • Del Rey (2007-ongoing) • Kodansha (Magazine Z, 2005-ongoing) • 8+ volumes (ongoing) • Shônen Historical Transgender Occult Action • 16+ (language, graphic violence)
Based on the novel by Tow Ubukata (also adapted into an anime with a considerably different plot and mood), Chevalier D’Eon is inspired by the 18th century French historical figure Charles d’Eon de Beaumont, a diplomat and spy who lived the latter half of his life as a woman. For once, fiction is stranger than truth: in the manga, d’Eon is a bumbling cadet in the Paris police, who secretly serves under the king as a cross-dressing superhero, possessed by the spirit of his dead sister, and fighting possessed poets who write revolutionary poems in human blood. As d’Eon and his boy assistant Robin fight maniacal half-human, half-snake monsters, Yumeji covers the pages with beautiful, chaotic Gothic art: deep shadows, exaggerated poses and extreme foreshortening reminiscent of Hellsing. In between the fights, historical figures like Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV and the Comte de Saint-Germain ramble on about Cabalism, alchemy, and wordplay. In true superhero comic style, though, it all boils down to the fight scenes: all the complicated historical references and weird occultism (and the historical in-joke that the subversive “underground writings” which preceded the French Revolution are in fact magical psalms written by snake monsters) suddenly seem quite simple whenever d’Eon crosses swords with a bad guy. Plotwise, it’s much simpler and easier to digest than Ubukata’s similar but overly ambitious Pilgrim Jäger, and Yumeji’s extravagant (if sometimes confusing) art matches the excess of the writing.

Today’s winner is Nicole S. of Ohio. Congrats, Nicole! Yesterday I had the pleasure of playing a live role-playing game with the amazing Ari Marmell, Diana Rowland, and Peter V. Brett, as well as Michael, Alchar and Kathleen, three of the winners of the King of RPGs: Tell Me About Your Character contest! The whole thing is now available online together with illustrations, artwork, strange magic, monster-fighting and fish-kissing. Check it out at the website for the Suvudu Live Chat RPG: King of RPGs: Scourge of the Swamp Goblins!