Kabur

"Kabur" is a French comic book character written by Claude J. Legrand and illustrated by Luciano Bernasconi for French publisher Editions Lug in 1975. Prince Kabur is the son of King Sharon of the mythical Kingdom of Ultima Thule one hundred millions of years ago. He is exiled after being accused of nefarious deeds, in reality perpetrated by an evil twin, created by the wizard Sham. Kabur and his companion, the beautiful Lagrid, wander the world, fighting for justice and trying to prove his innocence.

Eventually, Kabur manages to expose and defeat his evil twin with the help of the wizard Balthazar. He and Lagrid then return to Thule. During the course of their journey, they encounter a mercenary called the "Faucheur" (Reaper) and two other heroes from Lug's universe: Zembla and Wampus.

Upon his return, Kabur discovers that his father is dying; soon afterwards, Lagrid his kidnapped and he is forced to embark on a new quest.

Kabur was originally published in five A4-sized magazines. The series was then discontinued. A sixth original episode was eventually published in 2000 in No. 157 of the magazine "Special-Zembla".

With No. 158, Kabur then returned in a series of new adventures, written by Jean-Marc Lofficier and, at first, still drawn by Bernasconi. Bernasconi was then followed by Spanish artist Mike Ratera, Belgian artist Willy Hudic, and Mexican artists Juan Roncagliolo Berger and Manuel Martin Peniche. The series stopped when "Special-Zembla" was cancelled with No. 175 in 2003.

Spin-offs included stories about Lagrid, Young Kabur and a graphic novel entitled "King Kabur", by Lofficier and Ratera, published by Semic Comics in 2004. The graphic novel took place 6000 years after the original series and saw the Reaper resurrect Kabur to help him defeat the Wan Lords who have taken over the Earth.

Kabur is now part of Hexagon Comics which has published a collection of his adventures translated into English.

External links

* [http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/kabur.htm Kabur entry at Cool French Comics]
* [http://www.hexagoncomics.com/kabur.htm Kabur entry on Hexagon Comics site]