Tellos is a comic-book 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...

 series created by Todd DeZago

Todd DeZago

Todd Dezago is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his collaborations with penciller Mike Wieringo on The Sensational Spider-Man and their creator-owned fantasy series Tellos, which premiered in 1999, as well as for co-creating Young Justice with artist Todd Nauck in the 1998...

 and Mike Wieringo

Mike Wieringo

Michael Lance "Mike" Wieringo , who sometimes signed his work under the name Ringo, was an American comic book artist best known for his work on DC Comics' The Flash and Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four....

 and published by Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

. Three issues at the end of the initial run were printed through Gorilla Comics

Gorilla Comics

Gorilla Comics was a short-lived American comic book imprint launched in 2000 by creators Kurt Busiek, Tom Grummett, Stuart Immonen, Karl Kesel, Barry Kitson, George Pérez, Mark Waid, and Mike Wieringo...

, which was co-founded by Wieringo). After that company folded, the book returned to Image as a series of one-shots. Wieringo died on August 12, 2007, leaving the future of the series in doubt. In an interview with Indie Comics Network, DeZago stated that he may continue Tellos some day in the future if the demand is there.

Plot

The series featured a young boy named Jarek and his half human, half tiger companion Koj. They encounter the swashbuckling pirate Serra, a literally fox thief named Rikk, his companion in crime Hawke, Brad the dragon, Tom a turtlish-wizard and many other mysterious entities. The heroes strive to unravel the mystery behind Jarek's origin and escape the attentions of a mad boy-wizard seemingly bent on his destruction.

Jarek has a powerful genie at his control, which is limited to defending him and him only. Jarek tends to throw himself between his friends and danger so the genie is forced into battle.

The series features shadow-hopping ninja frogs as enemy cannon fodder. In fact, many of the citizens of this realm are half-human and half animal, along with other full humans such as Hawke and Serra.

About midway through, the series takes a break from Koj and Jarek to focus on Hawke and Rikk in an adventure in a levitatating city (it is held down by chains).

The heroes band together to stop Malesur, the boy-wizard, once and for all. During the latter part of the series, Jarek suffers a severe injury, requiring him to wear an eyepatch for some time.

The ending of the initial story arc proves retroactively that the series is a work of metafiction

Metafiction

Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...

.

Publication

The ongoing series was preceded with the publication of the "prologue," "prelude" and "preview" one-shots through Image and Dynamic Forces. The original series lasted 10 issues from 1999 to 2000, starting at Image Comics and later moving to Gorilla Comics.

One Shots

Three oversized one-shots: Maiden Voyage, The Last Heist and Sons and Moons, were released in 2001 through Image Comics. Each volume contained several stories written by Dezago and illustrated by various artists, some flashbacks and others taking place after the original series. The world and characters also appeared in an issue of The 10th Muse

Tenth Muse

The Tenth Muse is an independent superhero comic book series about a modern-day daughter of the Greek god Zeus. It was created in 2000 by Darren G. Davis and originally written by Marv Wolfman...

 set during the original series.

A 3-issue miniseries, Tales of Tellos, followed in 2004.

The Last Heist

This one shot focuses on the continuing misadventures of Rikk and how the events of the main series continue to have long-lasting repercussions. The main focus is a magic mirror. Mirrors are rare enough as it is, but this one can keep an image reflected for as long as the user desires. Brad the dragon and a messenger pixie attempt to help out any way they can. In the end, the mirror is sent to Serra, back on her ship and lacking her sea-legs, who uses it in closure of some long-standing emotional issues.

The secondary story, which has Dava Hata on creative assistance, features Koj and Brad discussing the concept of 'destiny' and having their own adventures.