Warning! Spoiler for Dark Agnes #1 below!
Dark Agnes, the swashbuckling firebrand from prolific swords and sorcery author Robert E Howard, taunts fate in her first Marvel solo comic book from Becky Cloonan and Luca Pizzari. Brandishing the blade of her slain captain and a blazing flintlock pistol, Agnes de Chastillon returns as a sellsword to 16th century France after a time-traveling duel of fates with Conan the Barbarian, Moon Knight, and Soloman Kane in the 4-issue Serpent War from Marvel Comics.
A “companion-in-arms and mistress to none,” the roguish Agnes de Chastillon is an endearing and spirited fighter who has chosen resolve and strength of character rather than brook the insults and injuries of her past. A creation of the pulp-era writer, Robert E. Howard, Dark Agnes first appeared in a trio of short stories, “Sword Woman,” “Blades for France,” and “Mistress of Death”, published in 1975, almost forty years after the author’s death. The tragic heroine, who ranks among Howard’s most enduring characters such as Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, and Kull the Conqueror, escaped the brutality of her immoral father and the horrors that awaited her in an arranged marriage to a vulgar man — by stabbing her betrothed to death with a dagger, a wedding gift from a merciful sister.
With the introduction of Dark Agnes into Marvel Comics through the recent Jim Zub/Ig Guara Serpent War mini-series, the combative heroine joins the likes of Robert E. Howard’s valiant female leads, Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast, Valeria, and Red Sonya of Rogatino (the inspiration for Roy Thomas’ Red Sonja in Marvel Comics). The new Dark Agnes story arc, a five-issue series, brings writer Becky Cloonan, renown for her work with Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse Comics on Punisher, Gotham Academy, and Conan the Barbarian, and Luca Pizzari, artist on Weapon X, and Black Knight together to weave a new tale from elements of Howard’s work. Pizzari’s bold and exuberant visuals capture the swashbuckling and heroic action with delightful characterization and pacing, and presents a phantasmagoric flashback sequence to convey the trauma of the experiences that drove Agnes to flee her former life.
Drawing directly upon the events in “Sword Woman,” the first issue of Dark Agnes finds her faithful compatriot, Etienne, facing certain death in a public execution as the vengeful Duke of Alencon set to exact retribution on the knave. Agnes appears without a moment to spare, freeing the rope-bound Etienne, and bedeviling the city watch with both sword and pistol to the riotous encouragement of the townsfolk gathered, however unwillingly, to witness the official execution. Once again on the run from the law, the two rogues gallop across the French countryside, regaling in their daring exploits and hatching fresh schemes of wealth redistribution. Taking the role of wagon guards in the employ of a desperate noblewoman, the two adventurers find themselves on the road to Fontainebleau, home to the Duke of Alencon. Will the fateful path Dark Agnes and Etienne have so brazenly chosen lead to fortune fulfilled or the gallows at the hands of the vile Duke?
Dark Agnes from Marvel Comics hits stores February 5, 2020.
