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Donjon Zénith #3-4
Dungeon: Zenith - Vol. 2: The Barbarian Princess
Herbert’s fictitious Princess in distress to lure more hapless warriors to the Dungeon turns out to be all too real and quite a handful!
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Joann Sfar
488 books509 followersJoann Sfar (born August 28, 1971 in Nice) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, and film director.
Sfar is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu and six other artists. He also worked together with many of the new movement's main artists, e.g. David B. and Lewis Trondheim. The Donjon series which he created with Trondheim has a cult following in many countries.
Some of his comics are inspired by his Jewish heritage as the son of Jewish parents (an Ashkenazi mother and a Sephardic father). He himself says that there is Ashkenazi humor in his Professeur Bell series (loosely based on Joseph Bell), whereas Le chat du rabbin is clearly inspired by his Sephardic side. Les olives noires is a series about a Jewish child in Israel at the time of Jesus. Like Le chat du rabbin, the series contains a lot of historical and theological information.
His main influences are Fred and André Franquin as well as Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Will Eisner, Hugo Pratt and John Buscema.
From 2009 to 2010, Sfar wrote and directed 'Serge Gainsbourgh: Une Vie Heroique', a biopic of the notorious French songwriter, of whom Sfar is a self-confessed fanatic. The film, which draws substantially on Sfar's abilities as a comic book artist through its extensive use of fantasy artwork, animation and puppetry, was released in 2010 to general critical acclaim.
Sfar is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu and six other artists. He also worked together with many of the new movement's main artists, e.g. David B. and Lewis Trondheim. The Donjon series which he created with Trondheim has a cult following in many countries.
Some of his comics are inspired by his Jewish heritage as the son of Jewish parents (an Ashkenazi mother and a Sephardic father). He himself says that there is Ashkenazi humor in his Professeur Bell series (loosely based on Joseph Bell), whereas Le chat du rabbin is clearly inspired by his Sephardic side. Les olives noires is a series about a Jewish child in Israel at the time of Jesus. Like Le chat du rabbin, the series contains a lot of historical and theological information.
His main influences are Fred and André Franquin as well as Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Will Eisner, Hugo Pratt and John Buscema.
From 2009 to 2010, Sfar wrote and directed 'Serge Gainsbourgh: Une Vie Heroique', a biopic of the notorious French songwriter, of whom Sfar is a self-confessed fanatic. The film, which draws substantially on Sfar's abilities as a comic book artist through its extensive use of fantasy artwork, animation and puppetry, was released in 2010 to general critical acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 8, 2020
I think I liked this a little better than the first. It introduced a few new characters, and all of them are fun and distinctive.
October 23, 2017
The "Barbarian Princess" was fast-paced compared to it's predecessor "Duck Heart" and I've read it in just one hour without getting bored at all. I enjoyed it, especially the magician town-Pigsville sequence, although it was overall a bit less memorable than the first one. Still a 4/5 -a great rating for a comedy comic compared to other genres- but just a tad less funny.
Still Marvin the vegeterian dragon and Herbert the Duke of Craftiwitch are the best duo in Terra Amata and one of the best slapstick comedy duos overall.
I'll start the third one to conclude with the best trilogy of the series.
Still Marvin the vegeterian dragon and Herbert the Duke of Craftiwitch are the best duo in Terra Amata and one of the best slapstick comedy duos overall.
I'll start the third one to conclude with the best trilogy of the series.
December 4, 2021
Gotta have it: this one was great. Funnier and with a more diverse cast to spice things up. Or maybe I'm just growing to it all. Whatever it is, keep em coming...
March 28, 2018
So I took out every volume of Dungeon that the library stocks. Now, you have to understand that Dungeon has several incarnations - Zenith is the main story. The Early Years is the ancient past. Parade are humorous side stories that take place during Zenith. Downfall is the era after Zenith, and Monstres tells epic adventures of side characters in Zenith. Each separate arc is two or three books long, and the library doesn't have ANY sequential books! Not even a single two-book sequence! So I'm reading a completely scattershot selection of Dungeon books.
The Barbarian Princess finds the central cast, notably Herbert (the irresponsible duck) and Marvin (the brusque dragon), trying to boost tourist traffic at the Dungeon by claiming that there is a princess being held captive in the area. Turns out Herbert accidentally names a real princess from a real kingdom, and she's missing, so the Dungeon winds up being threatened with war by her father! The princess, Isis, is hilarious after she's introduced, and she winds up accompanying the heroes on a great quest (which partly involves finding her a wedding dress, a great twist unto itself!). Trondheim and Sfar keep enough twists coming, and keep things just serious enough that you care how the story resolves, but they clearly have a lot of fun along the way.
The Barbarian Princess finds the central cast, notably Herbert (the irresponsible duck) and Marvin (the brusque dragon), trying to boost tourist traffic at the Dungeon by claiming that there is a princess being held captive in the area. Turns out Herbert accidentally names a real princess from a real kingdom, and she's missing, so the Dungeon winds up being threatened with war by her father! The princess, Isis, is hilarious after she's introduced, and she winds up accompanying the heroes on a great quest (which partly involves finding her a wedding dress, a great twist unto itself!). Trondheim and Sfar keep enough twists coming, and keep things just serious enough that you care how the story resolves, but they clearly have a lot of fun along the way.
May 27, 2015
Ehhehhehee, ei tästä voi kuin pitää. Ei aivan Duck heartin veroinen, mutta miekkaa ja magiaa sekä parodiaa aivan koko hinnan edestä. Dungeon ei kiinnosta seikkailua etsiviä ja kultaa ryövääviä sankareita entiseen malliin. Ankka Herbert saa toteutettavakseen keksityn juonen sankareiden houkuttelemiseksi. Paha vain, että juoni on liian hieno ollakseen toteutumatta ja kohta Dungeonissa on kasakkaprinsessa Isis perässään Isiksen isän, Atamanin kasakkasoturit. Tässä albumissa tutustut tarkemmin peikkoihin, jotka syövät vauvoja, jättiläisen silmään, kohtalon kaapuun ja moneen seikkailuun Terra Amatassa.
March 24, 2008
This is Dungeon vol 2 and another series of two short stories. In the first Herbert improves business for the Dungeon by making up a story about a captive princess. The only problem: they do have a princess lost in the dungeon! In the 2nd tale the princess herself joins the action on a shopping trip for some magical items including a new dragon. When they find themselves scammed a massive chase ensues with some undesired results. Overall, clever and fun, with gore and death.
March 25, 2010
More great stuff.
I read this the first time in the original English black and white single issues, but I recently scored an ex-library copy really cheap, so I'm re-reading it in color. Some things work well in B/W, but this stuff was made for color.
Better in color. Definitely. Overall not as good as the first volume, but still pretty great.
I read this the first time in the original English black and white single issues, but I recently scored an ex-library copy really cheap, so I'm re-reading it in color. Some things work well in B/W, but this stuff was made for color.
Better in color. Definitely. Overall not as good as the first volume, but still pretty great.
November 12, 2015
These are funny and awesome. They bring me back to my childhood reading cartoons in the back of Dragon magazine. They're keeping me interested and smiling at age 45 so that's a good sign. They make me want to create something like this, a silly fantasy adventure with no rules and limitless imagination.
February 1, 2021
The Zen-ith! I enjoyed this but:
Assumptions: I realized why they must've brought in other artists afterwards. I think they did some Dupuy/Berbarian action (words and art never apart) but didn't clear their schedules for such an endeavor. I believe that pages and/or panels were dropped as well for reasons unknown and the kinks in the creator page-numbering (bottom left) seems to prove it.
Lexical: The plotting is well orchestrated but I got hiccupped by interior logic and dialogue gaps a handful of times which I had to shrug off at the sake of my comprehension pride because, after many tomes of his work, I trust Joe Johnson's translation.
Visual: Trondheim's goofy style, specializing in Ductwork, and Sfart are acquired tastes, to my nose, which completely depends on the story's visual content and while I enjoy it D&Dfarsically I cannot give it more than ***. I hate to admit that I prefer others' renditions of their style within.
Assumptions: I realized why they must've brought in other artists afterwards. I think they did some Dupuy/Berbarian action (words and art never apart) but didn't clear their schedules for such an endeavor. I believe that pages and/or panels were dropped as well for reasons unknown and the kinks in the creator page-numbering (bottom left) seems to prove it.
Lexical: The plotting is well orchestrated but I got hiccupped by interior logic and dialogue gaps a handful of times which I had to shrug off at the sake of my comprehension pride because, after many tomes of his work, I trust Joe Johnson's translation.
Visual: Trondheim's goofy style, specializing in Ductwork, and Sfart are acquired tastes, to my nose, which completely depends on the story's visual content and while I enjoy it D&Dfarsically I cannot give it more than ***. I hate to admit that I prefer others' renditions of their style within.
January 25, 2022
(4,2 of 5 for Zenith 2 - a lot is going on)
And yes, it is. Dungeon kickstart with fake princes started to backfire, there is also a journey to "wizard town" which goes seriously sideways and all meets in ticking bomb for dungeon existence. This (double) volume is quite an adventure and action-packed.
July 13, 2019
I'm sure that starting on volume two didn't help, but this edition leave me wanting to read more.
December 12, 2023
The plots thicken! All of them.
March 29, 2024
can't get enough of this series.
Read
August 18, 2008Can Herbert the Timorous Duck defend the Dungeon against a fearsome force of tentacled soul-eaters?
April 4, 2009
A friendly parody of all things D&Dish and a good story to boot. This sequel is an improvement on the first one.
September 24, 2009
See my review for vol. 1. I'd read all of these if I could get my hands on them.
May 21, 2016
I found this middling and the humor forced.
June 13, 2010
Chaotic and uneven, but a lot of fun when it's really firing.
July 2, 2010
great. My favorite comic series I think.
May 15, 2014
pales slightly in comparison with the poo ecology story in the volume of Parades i just read. or possibly i've just devoured a bit too much, when i should be saving it up as a treat.
July 28, 2012
Graphic Novel 4-14-2012
April 30, 2012
Continuing adventures of Herbert and the Dungeon gang as they strive to raise more revenue and replace their dragon. Disaster of course in ensues. Enjoy at your own risk.
May 18, 2025
Faster pace and a bit more serious than the last volume. This is were Dungeon starts to get really good. And i love the tough but kindhearted Isis.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews