La Compagnia della Forca
The Company of the Gallows is an Italian comic book series written and drawn by Magnus from 1977 to 1979.
Characters
The Company of Monblanc is a seedy company of mercenaries led by Sir Percy of Montblanc, bumbling knight and young heir of Montblanc family. Other company members are:- Capitan Golia, magister militum, warrior
- Annalisa of Montblanc, sister of Percy, archer
- Bertrando, minstrel and slinger
- Messer Ciacco, sutler
- Ser Crumb, squire of Sir Percy
- Crusca, scullery-boy
Oscuro Signore, driven by a prophecy, is trying to destroy the company using his minions. Among them, Crocca, a female vulture which starts the series telling company's story and the defeat of Evil.
Among the characters there are sages, corrupt monks, genies, dragons, dwarves, giants, fantasy and historical characters.
Themes
The story is an epic quest without its basic elements: the group, the aim, the battles, a clear separation between the good and the evil, a strong protagonist who decides what to do.The style of Magnus pencils often retains funny and grotesque elements shown in Alan Ford.
The text, instead, is a mixture of sarcastic Max Bunker's style, Tolkien fantasy elements, medieval history, classical Northern European and Middle Eastern traditions and lore, and personal travels.