Artesia is an epic fantasy comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series authored and illustrated by Mark Smylie

Mark Smylie

Mark Smylie is a comics creator, writer and illustrator. He is best known for his Artesia epic fantasy comic series.Born in Florida in 1967, he studied political science, philosophy, art history, and English lit at Columbia University for four years. Besides Artesia, Smylie has also done numerous...

. Artesia is also the name of the heroine of the cycle. Smylie has described her as a "Pagan Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...

", to use a popular reference, while noting that the closest historical model is the Irish Queen Medb

Medb

Medb – Middle Irish: Meḋḃ, Meaḋḃ; early modern Irish: Meadhbh ; reformed modern Irish Méabh, Medbh; sometimes Anglicised Maeve, Maev or Maive – is queen of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology...

. The series is noted for its depiction of feudal politics, intrigue, and power struggles, its complex mythology and world history, and its strong female characters.

Currently the series is composed of four "books": Artesia, Artesia Afield, Artesia Afire and Artesia Besieged. Each book is composed of six episodes, or fairly standard comic book-sized episodes. Each book has been followed by an annual compendium

Annual publication

An annual publication, more often called simply an annual, is a book or a magazine, comic book or comic strip published yearly. For example, a weekly or monthly publication may produce an Annual featuring similar materials to the regular publication....

 including short stories and details of the history, geography and mythology of Artesia's universe. The books together constitute part of a cycle called The Book of Dooms. Smylie has said that it would take 22 books to tell Artesia's story in full, but that at least 7 will be completed "hell or high water".

Artesias first two books were published by Sirius Entertainment

Sirius Entertainment

Sirius Entertainment is an American comic book company which celebrated 15 years of publishing in 2009. Sirius has published popular titles such as Dawn, Poison Elves, Akiko, and Mark Smylie's epic fantasy Artesia series during its first years....

. After that point it was published by Archaia Studios Press

Archaia Studios Press

Archaia Entertainment, LLC is an American comic book publishing company established by Mark Smylie in 2002.-History:Mark Smylie formed the company as a home for his comic Artesia because the publisher, Sirius Entertainment, wanted to print the third series in black and white...

, which was founded by Smylie.

In 2005, a role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

 set in the world of Artesia was released. It uses the Fuzion

Fuzion

Fuzion is a generic role-playing game system created by the collaboration of R. Talsorian Games and Hero Games. Fuzion is a combination of the Interlock System, , and the HERO system...

 role-playing system, and is called Artesia: Adventures in the Known World

Artesia: Adventures in the Known World

Artesia: Adventures in the Known World , is a role-playing game based on the comic book Artesia is written and illustrated by Mark Smylie and published by Archaia Studios Press ....

.

External links

• Artesia online
• A review of Artesia Afield at The Daily Cross Hatch, from March 14, 2007