Holy Avenger
Encyclopedia
Holy Avenger is a Brazil
ian comic book
series by writer Marcelo Cassaro
and artist Erica Awano
.
A successful post-teenage Brazilian comic, it is set in the medieval fantasy
world of Arton, part of the RPG
campaign setting Tormenta
.
-inspired art. It ended only because authors wanted to give an ending to the plot, following the tradition of manga - which, unlike many U.S.
comics (on which format most Brazilian comics are shaped), have a beginning, a development and an end.
There are many references to anime
titles on the issues. From anime theme songs
being sung by the characters (namely by the elven mage Niele, who makes constant references to Pokémon
throughout the series, sometimes confusing main character Lisandra) to anime characters hidden among the crowd.
The success of the series can be seen in its spinoffs, which include special issues that portray each of the main characters individually, an audio CD
with professional voice actors playing the characters, an RPG book based on events in the series, an artbook with original sketches, and even a new edition, which sends the comics back to newsstands, this time with new covers and more pages per issue.
The English
name Holy Avenger was given to the series because it can both refer to a famous D&D
magical item and one of the main characters, the Paladin. A Portuguese
name would have been gender-specific to indicate either the sword or the fighter, and thus wouldn't work the same way. In this case, the title becomes "Vingador Sagrado" (male gender
) or "Vingadora Sagrada" (female gender
).
game published in the RPG magazine Dragão Brasil, issues #44 to #46, in 1998. Positive feedback encouraged author Marcelo Cassaro to do something more with the characters, and gave him the general idea of the published adventure. In 1999, Cassaro made up his own RPG setting, called "Tormenta" (Storm, referencing an extraplanar storm that afflicted the campaign setting's world), which has been very successful with Brazilian RPG fans. He included the Holy Avenger characters in this new RPG setting. As he had already had modest success publishing his own comic books, in 1999 he teamed up with Erica Awano to start an ambitious project – a brand-new ongoing monthly comic series, an idea that had almost no chance of surviving in the Brazilian market.
Initially, sales were highly unsatisfactory, but after about 10 issues the magazines took off.
The series was sent back to the newsstands through the short-lived Holy Avenger VR, which lasted only seven editions, and through Holy Avenger Reloaded, which had more pages and extra material.
After 42 issues and a handful of spinoffs, an even more ambitious project is at a starting phase: a Holy Avenger animated series.
who was raised by animals on the island of Galrasia. She starts having dreams about the Paladin, a hero who mysteriously disappeared a few years ago. This Paladin had in his armour the Rubies of Virtue, twenty magical gems forged by each one of the twenty most powerful gods of the world of Arton. The gems were scattered all over the world after the Paladin's disappearance, and, according to Lisandra's dreams, it is up to her to find them and return them to the Paladin, in order to revive him.
At first, with her "cousin" (a cave wolf), she discovers that one of the rubies was in the possession of a man who was cursed into a dragon form. Unable to fight the dragon on her own, she begins a quest to find the great thief Galtran, and so she travels to the city of Valkaria. This is the first time she left her island, and she knows no other human being. So, in the city, her "cousin" draws the attention of the city guard. She explains that it means no harm and she is only looking for Galtran. The guards passing by say that everyone is looking for him. When she says that she wants to hire him, they tell her that she must come with them. The wolf attacks one of the guards to protect her and gets killed. For wanting to hire a thief and being responsible for the death of a city guard, she gets arrested. On the same night, Sandro Galtran (son of the great thief Leon Galtran) comes to rescue Lisandra from the palace's dungeon. After managing to escape, they go for the Ruby. The search for the Rubies spawned a multitude of plot twists and flashbacks to Arton's past events.
Many elements in the series are taken from the Dungeons & Dragons
game, including spells, character classes and the way magic
is treated.
Lisandra: A 19-year-old half-driad girl, raised by animals on the island of Galrasia. She is on a quest to reunite the 20 Rubies of Virtue to resurrect the Paladin.
Sandro: The son of Leon Galtran, the greatest thief of Arton. He frees Lisandra from a prison and helps her to find the Rubies. Sandro wishes to be a great thief, like his father, but he is very clumsy and untalented.
Niele: A busty and attractive elven mage, that dresses only with leather strips, she is famous for having saved the city of Malpetrim from a water dragon. She meets Sandro as he tries to steal her Ruby of Virtue. She ends up helping him with his hunt for the Rubies of Virtue.
Tork: Tork is a trog, a species of reptilian humanoid. He is very short for the standards of his race, and was abandoned by his tribe when he was a baby. He makes a living as a mercenary. He is the one who taught Lisandra to speak, use clothes, and walk on two legs. Because of this, he calls her his daughter. He ends up helping her find the Rubies of Virtue. He usually does not think twice before rushing headlong into battle, and has a foul mouth (being him the only character who curses
in the entire series).
The Paladin: The Paladin was once the Paladin of Jallar, a lesser goddess, but she killed him out of jealousy. He was resurrected and joined a group of adventurers. He later had his body infused with the 20 Rubies of Virtue by one of his ex-companions, Vladislav, granting him extraordinary powers and making him a legendary hero.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian comic book
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
series by writer Marcelo Cassaro
Marcelo Cassaro
Marcelo Cassaro is a Brazilian author of comics, RPGs and the sci-fi book Sword of the Galaxy . Along with Marcelo Del Debbio, he is one of the most well-known RPG authors in Brazil, he is also known for creating Holy Avenger, the longest living non-child-oriented comic in Brazil, as well as...
and artist Erica Awano
Erica Awano
Erica Awano , is a Japanese-Brazilian manga artist. She is a granddaughter of Japanese immigrants. Even though her style is heavily influenced by Japanese manga and she has been called "the best Brazilian manga artist", her works are considerably different from traditional manga, mainly because of...
.
A successful post-teenage Brazilian comic, it is set in the medieval fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
world of Arton, part of the RPG
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...
campaign setting Tormenta
Tormenta
Tormenta is a Brazilian campaign setting for role-playing games that is played with D20 System or 3D&T System. It was created by Marcelo Cassaro, Rogério Saladino, and J. M. Trevisan, and is published by Jambô Publisher since 2005. It is one of the most popular RPG games in Brazil.Tormenta is a...
.
Overview
The series lasted for 42 issues (40 regular ones and a 2-issue "post-end" story), drawn with mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
-inspired art. It ended only because authors wanted to give an ending to the plot, following the tradition of manga - which, unlike many U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comics (on which format most Brazilian comics are shaped), have a beginning, a development and an end.
There are many references to anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
titles on the issues. From anime theme songs
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
being sung by the characters (namely by the elven mage Niele, who makes constant references to Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
throughout the series, sometimes confusing main character Lisandra) to anime characters hidden among the crowd.
The success of the series can be seen in its spinoffs, which include special issues that portray each of the main characters individually, an audio CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
with professional voice actors playing the characters, an RPG book based on events in the series, an artbook with original sketches, and even a new edition, which sends the comics back to newsstands, this time with new covers and more pages per issue.
The English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
name Holy Avenger was given to the series because it can both refer to a famous D&D
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
magical item and one of the main characters, the Paladin. A Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
name would have been gender-specific to indicate either the sword or the fighter, and thus wouldn't work the same way. In this case, the title becomes "Vingador Sagrado" (male gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
) or "Vingadora Sagrada" (female gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
).
History
Originally, Holy Avenger was an adventure for a D&DDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
game published in the RPG magazine Dragão Brasil, issues #44 to #46, in 1998. Positive feedback encouraged author Marcelo Cassaro to do something more with the characters, and gave him the general idea of the published adventure. In 1999, Cassaro made up his own RPG setting, called "Tormenta" (Storm, referencing an extraplanar storm that afflicted the campaign setting's world), which has been very successful with Brazilian RPG fans. He included the Holy Avenger characters in this new RPG setting. As he had already had modest success publishing his own comic books, in 1999 he teamed up with Erica Awano to start an ambitious project – a brand-new ongoing monthly comic series, an idea that had almost no chance of surviving in the Brazilian market.
Initially, sales were highly unsatisfactory, but after about 10 issues the magazines took off.
The series was sent back to the newsstands through the short-lived Holy Avenger VR, which lasted only seven editions, and through Holy Avenger Reloaded, which had more pages and extra material.
After 42 issues and a handful of spinoffs, an even more ambitious project is at a starting phase: a Holy Avenger animated series.
Plot
The plot revolves around a 19-year-old girl, Lisandra, a druidDruid (character class)
In role-playing games, a druid is a character class that is generally portrayed as using nature-based magical abilities and striving to protect nature from civilized intrusion...
who was raised by animals on the island of Galrasia. She starts having dreams about the Paladin, a hero who mysteriously disappeared a few years ago. This Paladin had in his armour the Rubies of Virtue, twenty magical gems forged by each one of the twenty most powerful gods of the world of Arton. The gems were scattered all over the world after the Paladin's disappearance, and, according to Lisandra's dreams, it is up to her to find them and return them to the Paladin, in order to revive him.
At first, with her "cousin" (a cave wolf), she discovers that one of the rubies was in the possession of a man who was cursed into a dragon form. Unable to fight the dragon on her own, she begins a quest to find the great thief Galtran, and so she travels to the city of Valkaria. This is the first time she left her island, and she knows no other human being. So, in the city, her "cousin" draws the attention of the city guard. She explains that it means no harm and she is only looking for Galtran. The guards passing by say that everyone is looking for him. When she says that she wants to hire him, they tell her that she must come with them. The wolf attacks one of the guards to protect her and gets killed. For wanting to hire a thief and being responsible for the death of a city guard, she gets arrested. On the same night, Sandro Galtran (son of the great thief Leon Galtran) comes to rescue Lisandra from the palace's dungeon. After managing to escape, they go for the Ruby. The search for the Rubies spawned a multitude of plot twists and flashbacks to Arton's past events.
Many elements in the series are taken from the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
game, including spells, character classes and the way magic
Magic (gaming)
Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...
is treated.
Characters
The main characters of Holy Avenger are:Lisandra: A 19-year-old half-driad girl, raised by animals on the island of Galrasia. She is on a quest to reunite the 20 Rubies of Virtue to resurrect the Paladin.
Sandro: The son of Leon Galtran, the greatest thief of Arton. He frees Lisandra from a prison and helps her to find the Rubies. Sandro wishes to be a great thief, like his father, but he is very clumsy and untalented.
Niele: A busty and attractive elven mage, that dresses only with leather strips, she is famous for having saved the city of Malpetrim from a water dragon. She meets Sandro as he tries to steal her Ruby of Virtue. She ends up helping him with his hunt for the Rubies of Virtue.
Tork: Tork is a trog, a species of reptilian humanoid. He is very short for the standards of his race, and was abandoned by his tribe when he was a baby. He makes a living as a mercenary. He is the one who taught Lisandra to speak, use clothes, and walk on two legs. Because of this, he calls her his daughter. He ends up helping her find the Rubies of Virtue. He usually does not think twice before rushing headlong into battle, and has a foul mouth (being him the only character who curses
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
in the entire series).
The Paladin: The Paladin was once the Paladin of Jallar, a lesser goddess, but she killed him out of jealousy. He was resurrected and joined a group of adventurers. He later had his body infused with the 20 Rubies of Virtue by one of his ex-companions, Vladislav, granting him extraordinary powers and making him a legendary hero.
External links
- Former Official Site, as it was on 2007-03-26.
- The twenty gods of Arton - an example of Awano's work
