La Compagnia della Forca

La Compagnia della Forca (lit. The Fellowship of the Gallows) is an old fantasy comic book from Italy, created by Roberto Raviola (aka Magnus of Alan Ford-ian memory) and his colleague Giovanni Romanini, published in 19 issues from 1977 to 1979. It is a surprisingly light-hearted work, mostly humorous while, at the same time, playing many tropes of fantasy and adventure straight, inspired by Marco Polo's Milione and Ariosto's works. The story opens with the wicked King Cardo laying siege to the enchanted castle of King Giglio in the name of the Dark Lord, confident in the assistance of the traitorous vizier Nefasto. However, there's a big threat to the ploys of evil, the fellowship of mercenaries known as the Compagnia della Forca, a ragtag and improbable group of heroes wandering across a fantasy Europe plagued with plots, rebellion, evil sorcerers, conflicts between empires and within empires and foul play from the forces of Evil. The fellowship is composed of Sir Percy of Montblanc, the haughty but incompetent heir of the Montblanc Duchy, Captain Golia, magister of the group, Annalise, Percy's smart and courageous sister, Sir Crumb, Percy's extremely old squire, Bertrando, wandering minstrel and casanova, Ciacco, former executioner and now cook and Ciacco's right-hand man, the lazy but smart Crusca. Their journey will bring them against the forces of darkness while meeting people from all over the world and all kinds of adventures, both mundane and fantastic as they run into dragons and imperial envoys, ogres and moors, ghosts and brigands, Norse beings of yore and advanced middle-eastern armies. The comic features an extraordinary mix of beautiful art and caricatural but well-done faces in Magnus' style, alongside a surprising amount of research in terms of places, costumes and armor. Initially published in a comic strip format with two panels per page, before eventually being re-print in a different, bigger format, ranging from 20 to 10 books, with the most recent work (a special edition made to commemorate Magnus' life and works) gathered the whole saga in two massive volumes. It was supposed to run for 24 issues, but an editorial problem forced Magnus to condense the last six volumes in a final one, succeeding in giving the story a good end while keeping all the stories he wanted to write more or less intact.


 * Abhorrent Admirer: Annalise is very pretty, which leads to several suitors, some of them less attractive than others, including an Ogre, a corrupted monk and an Arab warlord.
 * Accidental Hero: Part of the charm of the series comes from the fact that the Fellowship has no idea that King Cardo and his minions want them dead and more often than not overcome the obstacles sent to stop them by accident.
 * Action Girl: Annalise of Montblanc, Percy's adventurous and much more capable sister, good shot with a bow and definitively not a passive girl. Euriante goes from being an handmaid to becoming the queen of a pirate fleet, fighting in full armor and saber.
 * The Alcoholic: Sir Percy. Not surprisingly he's much more competent and action-prone when forced to stay sober while under Punisian captivity.
 * Amazon Admirer: Golia becomes enthralled by the huge, stunningly beautiful Bestla, a Norse Jotunn.
 * An Axe to Grind: Ciacco's former tool of the trade, currently double-bolted to the handle: as his backstory reveals, he was fired when he swung the axe too hard and caused the head to fly off the handle and hit his lord on the head.
 * Anachronism Stew: Acknowledge by the authors, so there's no surprise to have the struggle between Christians and Moors in the Mediterranean taking place while the War of the Roses rages, Vlad Tepes is dead and Mehmed II is about to invade Costantinople.
 * Badass Beard: Played straight by Golia, the de facto commander of the Fellowship, whose beard pretty much encompasses his entire face like a furball. Subverted by Percy, who grows a bushy blond beard during his period as a slave, but doesn't enjoy it and shaves as soon as he's freed.
 * Battle Cry: Captain Golia has two, suitable for his Boisterous Bruiser attitude: either "Smash and Crack!" or "Beat and Kill!" are the most commonly yelled, often one after the other.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: When Euriante is sold as a slave, one rich sheikh is so captivated by her beauty he orders his servant to make sure he can get her by paying more than anyone else: the servant promptly tops the starting offer of 200000 gold coins with one of 2 millions, shocking the sheikh so much he has a heart attack and dies on the second honeymoon night, leaving Euriante with all the money.
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted during the Bellorizzonte arc: the rough and homely captain Smeraldo is loyal and honorable, dedicated to protecting King Giusto from conspiracy and only being a secondary antagonist because he's manipulated by the slimy marshall Ligurio. Meanwhile the handsome and dashing chancellor Gerardo not only sleeps with the Queen, but also secretly plots to overthrow the King.
 * Belly Dancer: As she's journeying with a Burk merchant, Annalise is gradually conviced to exchange her tomboyish, Robin Hood-like attire for a fancy belly dancer outfit, veil first.
 * Big Freaking Gun: The closing issues shows the Burks (Turks) introducing massive artillery to the field of battle.
 * Big Bad: King Cardo, the evil lord besieging the city of King Giglio in the name of the Dark Lord.
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Princess Suleyma is visibly fat under her robes and veil (having a more pronounced belly and full cheeks) but is still drawn as a very attractive woman nonetheless, just like the slimmer Zezir.
 * Big Good: King Giglio, the absent-minded, chess-obsessed (but apparently sporting Obfuscating Stupidity) lord of Castel Giglio.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Black Eyes of Evil: The Great Dark's only distinctive feature is a pair of shiny black eyes floating in a circular black mass of shadow with two tendrils/whiskers below it.
 * Butt Monkey: Crocca, the she-vulture serving the Dark Lord and victim to abuse and misfortune at any turn. She's also the narrator for most of the series.
 * Cassandra Truth: At one point Sir Crumb speaks about how he used to be Sir Lancelot's squire at King Arthur's court, but he gets laughed at. Turns out he really is that old.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: In the final volume, Doctor Nadir's companion King Frog meets a regal-looking firefly.
 * Crazy Jealous Guy: Predace the Norman is Euriante's second in command and main suitor: he tries to kill Bertrando when he learns that she's smitten by him too and during the London arc he tries to have Lattemiele killed by two hitmen because he's jealous of him spending time with Euriante.
 * Cry for the Devil:
 * Dark Is Evil: King Cardo is dressed in black armor and all the things related to evil are dark and gloomy.
 * Devil but No God: At first seemingly played straight, with the "Dark Lord" highly implied to be Satan and no actual trace of an opposing good force in sight. We later see some good aligned higher powers, including one appearing as a brilliant candle flame directly opposing the Dark Lord.
 * Diamonds in the Buff: Invoked by the perverted husband of the beautiful slave girl Zezir, who's not satisfied with the already skimpy clothing of his harem and wants them to perform wearing nothing but strings of jewels.
 * Disney Villain Death: The evil Dwarf Svenborn in the "Fiery Maiden" story meet his doom when Golia sends him flying from the tip of his castle.
 * The Dog Bites Back:
 * Dracula: In the final issue, Ciacco and his pal are captured by Vlachs raiders and left in the ruins of a castle where a feral, now vampiric Vlad Tepes rises from his grave to attack them. Despite being a vampire though, he still suffers from a tooth cavity. He's eventually defeated by Golia, who smash his mouth with his hammer, removing the rotten fang and turning him more agreeable and affable.
 * Elemental Embodiment: In an attempt to hit on Crocca, Svenborg showcases his power to summon the spawn of the elements, conjuring up in order Fire (a flame with eyes), Water (a watersprout with a mouth), Wind (a whirlwind with eyes on the top) and Earth (a large boulder with a face on the side)
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Pops: For all his faults, Sparviero seems to really miss his father and thinks he'll never be able to live up to his name.
 * Evil All Along: In the Bellorizzonte arc, the king's servant Gerardo is framed for conspiracy and treason by the chamberlain... but when the traitor is disposed of, he reveals that he actually was planning of usurping the rightful king.
 * Evil Chancellor: Right at the start of the story we are introduced to Vizier Nefasto, the advisor of King Giglio plotting with King Cardo and the Great Dark to sell his city to the invader. The other notable one is King Giusto's marshal Ligurio, who secretly conspires to remove all obstacles to his rule and take over the kingdom of Bellorizzonte.
 * Evil Sorcerer:The Black Abbot employs some sort of unidentified black magic to manipulate the surrounding darkness, with the side effect of making the monastery a grim place to live. Another one is Ranetta, a sicilian necromancer who carries around a huge book of black magic and is instructed by the Great Dark to lay a trap for the heroes.
 * Evil Versus Evil:
 * Fair for Its Day: The comic has a couple of elements which may be considered offensive now at a first glance, such as Ludovico Levilaqua (a parody of Othello) depicted as a stereotypical black caricature with huge lips and round head, or the evil Norse Dwarf having a swastika-shaped cloak pin. For the former, is worth noticing that Magnus later drew other black characters in a less ridiculous way.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: The last we see of the necromancer Ranetta, he's carried away on the Ship of the Dead summoned by the Great Dark to get rid of the heroes, surrounded by skeletal wraiths and darkness.
 * Five Man Band: The Fellowship of the Gallows itself can be arranged into one:
 * The Hero: Technically Sir Percy of Montblanc, though his competence leaves much to be desired.
 * The Lancer: Captain Golia, the actual magister of the fellowship, as well as Annalise, Percy's sister.
 * The Big Guy: Ciaccio, the physically biggest member of the group and other main fighter.
 * The Smart Guy: Crusca, despite seemingly being a clueless trickster, is actually more brilliant than it seems.
 * The Chick: Bertrando the Minstrel, spending a lot of the stories in trouble because of women and being not much of an asset to the group. Similarly Sir Crumb.
 * Frogs and Toads: Doctor Nadir's associate is King Frog, a surprisingly intelligent toad who can communicate with his master and apparently is some sort of magical amphibian.
 * Gag Nose: As Alan Ford, Magnus' style frequently makes use of comically oversized noses on some characters, the most blatant examples being Sir Crumb and the Imperial Envoy (both of whom are caricature of Magnus) and the monk Occhidolci (who has an enormous nose almost as big as his cranium.
 * Giant Squid: Euriante has Bertrando and her Norman suitor compete for her love by recovering a pearl-encrusted jewel kept in the nest of a gigantic, canktankerous blue squid.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: In the final arc, when the Imperial Envoy tries to flog his servant Rosencranz for the latest mishaps, he turns into a werewolf under the full moon, causing him to run away in terror.
 * Giant Spider: Sparviero's castle include a "Spider Dungeon", an underground room covered in massive webs and inhabited by a host of vicious spiders the size of a large dog each. They wrap up the Quiet Knight and Ciacco in silk, but when they attack the heroes they're scared by King Frog (after all, frogs eat spiders) and run away.
 * Heroic BSOD: When Golia believes that Annalise has drowned in the sea alongside Ciacco, Crumb and Crusca, he falls in a catatonic state and becomes unresponsive to others, only blabbering nonsense regarding Annalise as if she's still with the group. Only after being visited by the Norse giantess Bestla he recovers his sanity.
 * Historical Fantasy: Early on the series was mostly fantasy-based, with very vague references to real life places and people. As the series went on, the setting becomes more historical as our heroes move around the Mediterranean, Africa and Balkans.
 * Historical In-Joke: Percy and Annalise belong to the Montblanc family. By the end of the story, Ciacco decides to dedicate to their family a new type of cake made of whipped cream and chestnuts.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: King Kotorsko tries to eliminate his political enemies with poison in their cookies. Because of a swap, the poison ends up in the Maraschino-flavored cake he can't resist eating, causing him to die by his own means.
 * The Black Abbot meets his doom by falling in the pit where he kept the Dragon prisoner.
 * Hordes From the East: "The Final Showdown" introduces the forces of the Golden Horde (lead by the Khan and his main lieutenant Timur) moving to fight back the Rusian Princes rebelling against their yoke. Aside from a brief encounter with Crusca's "Fellowship of the Four Lions", they and their battle play no part in the final plot.
 * Horny Devils: The Dark Lord sends a seductress to lure in and kill Bertrando, represented by a two-faced being: seen from one side, she appears as a veiled beuty with a crown-like diadem, but when upside down she looks like a leering skull. The woman side talks in pleasantries and kind words, the other side talks in threats.
 * Hot Gypsy Woman: The gorgeous Mabruka, a beautiful gypsy lady who earns a living by dancing alongside her pet bear. She's also a princess in disguise.
 * Interspecies Romance: Played for laughs when Svenborg Nordhrison, a Dwarf, tries to seduce Crocca, a female vulture. He must be really desperate for company.
 * Ironic Name: The Ogre's main servant is named Narciso, after the handsome Greek character who fell in love with himself, but is extremely ugly and disproportionate. For further irony, he also refers to himself as handsome and claims to have been disfigured when Annalise scratches him on the nose.
 * Karmic Death: It's very easy to see the villains fall victim to their own methods and evil ways.
 * Kavorka Man: Bertrando's rival Lattemiele is a short, plump guy with a vaguely effeminate face, but is surprisingly popular with women.
 * Living Statue: Sparviero tasks a huge golem shaped like a pharaoh's statue with keeping Crusca prisoner. Despite the fearsome appearence, he's tricked by the young squire and destroyed.
 * Love Makes You Evil:
 * Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Sir Crumb always carry around a massive kite shield which doubles as his bed for the night (he ties himself up to it and sleeps standing like a mummy) and is made entirely of wood. During the Iceland arc, Golia sports a massive round shield made entirely of Norse runes to defend himself from Svenborg's sorcery.
 * Made a Slave: At the end of the Bellorizzonte arc, the fake monk Occhidolci tricks all the castle's maidens into getting into his armored cart and deliver them to Arab slave traders. The girls are quick to see the advantages of the situation (Arabs are rich and handsome) and play along just fine. We later see how Euriante got out by tricking a truly old Emir into marrying her.
 * Magic Carpet: During his offpage adventures, Occhidolci gets his hands on a magic carpet inscribed with the symbol of the dollar, which he and Lattemiele use to fly from one place of Europe to another to get information faster and thus make better banking decisions to make money. They later use it to escape London and eventually reach the Fellowship.
 * Malaproper: The main enforcer of the King of Bellorizzonte, Captain Smeraldo, is a strong and valiant knight.... but can't get a verb right in any circumstance. When he's promoted for saving the King, he's ordered to take grammar lessons to improve his speech.
 * Meaningful Name: All over the place, starting with King Cardo (Thistle) and King Giglio (Lily), the Vizier Nefasto (Wicked), Ser Crumb's horse Pagnotta (Bread Loaf) and Percy's horse Arrogante (Arrogant).
 * Minion with an F In Evil: Crocca the vulture, to the point that she's eventually fired by the Dark Lord.
 * Miss Fanservice: Magnus is no stranger to drawing beautiful women, but probably the cake goes to the gorgeous Euriante, who spends a good half of her appearances showing a generous amount of bustline.
 * Night of the Living Mooks: Sparviero's castle is mostly guarded by monsters and living skeletons: one of the latter was actually a former comrade of Sir Crumb and starts reminiscing the old times with him.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Sir Crumb and Bertrando are caricatures of Magnus and Romanini, the two authors.
 * Old Retainer: Gerardo's servant, aptly named "Vetusto" (Ancient). Deconstructed in that he's pretty much useless and always confused.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: Invoked with Castellan Sparviero, who feels overshadowed by his more illustrious father, especially since not only he built the entire castle he's living in, but he also made a keystone in his image that can make the entire fortress crumble if destroyed.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons are supposedly extinct, but a Welsh one named Llevellyn still appears in the story "The Black Abbot": he's been imprisoned by the titular abbot, who's holding his pregnant wife hostage to make him pillage the countryside for him. These Dragons are cartoony in looks, with small wings, polka-dotted bodies and beak-like mouths.
 * Our Genies Are Different: Later on in the story a two-ended lamp is recovered, able to summon either Fong, a white genie of unbridled generosity, or Fang, a black genie of ruthless justice armed with a club. Ser Crumb lights both ends at the same time, summoning both genies at once and mitigating each other's flaw.
 * Our Ogres Are Hungrier: The third story (second, depending on the format) features the Ogre Barbarigo as the antagonist: he mostly resembles a large, fat, ugly human with sharp teeth, a lustful streak and a very bad temper. He currently lives in a castle with the alchemist Athanor and Athanor's wife Matilda (who's the only sane woman) and tries to kidnap and forcibly marry Annalise. Turns out he's actually already engaged to another Ogress, Cesarina, and has already spent some of her money on his own vices, but he refuses to marry her because he wants a normal wife. He's not much of a threat (being easily outsmarted by Crusca and Bertrando) and is ultimately turned into a golden statue by Athanor's mistake.
 * Rhymes on a Dime: Ludovico the Moor of Venice speaks in a mixture of Italian and Gratuitous English forming a rhyme.The Great Dark speaks in a similar manner, only without foreign languages in the way.
 * Pirate Girl: After marrying a rich Emir who mysteriously died during the honeymoon, Euriante ditches the widow's life to become the leader of a gang of pirates, riding the Panther of the Sea ship.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Sir Crumb, who once served at King Arthur's court as Lancelot's squire.
 * Rebellious Princess: Aside from the brilliant and brave Annalise (who's technically more of a rebellious duchess) we also have the princess of Punis Suelyma Hafsita, who openly challenges her brother's wish to have her undergo an arranged marriage and instead would rather elope with her Spaniard love interest.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Sparviero starts his plan to take over Bellorizzonte while the tournament is going on, the guest knights are quick to flee before things gets too dire.
 * Sinister Minister: The Black Abbot leads the monastery of Mount Black, but is an evil sorcerer who often beats up his own monks for shit and giggles, forces a Dragon to pillage the country for him and tries to force himself on Annalise.
 * Sinister Scimitar: Castellan Sparviero wields an evil sword with the appearance of a long scimitar with the hilt shaped like a winged reptile.
 * Sixth Ranger: Doctor Nadir, scholar of oriental arts, is not an official member of the Fellowship, but he often travels alongside them and ends up joining them in critical situations, including the final battle.
 * Sore Loser: Freccia, the dashing leader of the Free Woodsmen, is seemingly introduced as Annalise's love interest... but when she proves to be better than him at archery he becomes grumpy and refuses to even talk to her, breaking her heart.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: While some countries and people are called with their real life name, others uses slightly-modified names, such as the Bastians (Christians) and Moslens (Muslims), the Burks (Turks), the Kruscevites (Rus) and the city of Punis (Tunisy).
 * Take That, Me!: The Imperial Envoy is a caricature of Magnus, but is constantly subjected to ridicule and harm, eventually getting mutilated and abused in a truly staggering Humiliation Conga.
 * Those Magnificent Flying Machines: Sparviero hires a gang of mercenaries riding a flying machine, first called the "Thunderous Dragon" and, after being rebuilt and hired by some Norse princes, the "Flying Dragon". As a thanks for getting rid of the evil Dwarf Svenborg, their master orders them to serve the Fellowship.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Captain Golia, after undergoing a long process deeply influenced by Norse Mythology to recover his lost mind.
 * True Companions: Even though they may bicker and snark at each other, the members of the Fellowship are true friends who'll go through fire and flames for each other.
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * The Voiceless: Early on, the Fellowship runs into the "quiet knight", a knight with a long black beard who has taken the vow of silence: the frontal part of his helmet is locked close with a padlock and he has a blackboard embedded in his shield to communicate with others.
 * Weakened by the Light: The evil wraiths and ghouls serving the Dark Lord are weakened and dissolved by powerful lights, such as the one from Doctor Nadir's staff.
 * Weapon of Choice: Each member of the group has an iconic weapon: Percy carries a lance and a sword, like a knight, Golia wields a sturdy wooden club with a ring of spikes before being bestowed a hammer, Sir Crumb carries around a huge kite shield made of wooden planks, Bertrando has his sling, Annalise her bow, Ciacco his axe and Crusca whatever he can gets his hands on, but usually a length of rope with a noose.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: While being very good at tracking all the plots and characters, the evil Castellan Sparviero vanishes from the story after the Bellorizzonte arc.
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue:
 * Women Are Wiser: A recurring theme, with rare exceptions (such as Queen Bella of Bellorizzonte, who secretly cheats on her husband).