King Arthur and the legendary knights of his order are characters who have featured in myths time and time again. The innumerable Arthurian legends have all been retold and reimagined countless times, and now, courtesy of Ignition Press, the incredible creative team of Si Spurrier (Minotaur, The Flash) and Christopher Mitten (Hellboy, The Autumn Kingdom) are bringing us a brutal, dark fantasy tale that would be right at home in any Conan the Barbarian comic. Rampant Swine is a six-issue reimagining of the classic myth of Culhwch and Olwen, bringing a much darker, more complicated light to one of the oldest Arthurian stories out there.
ComicBook is proud to show a special extended preview of Rampant Swine‘s first issue, including four covers and eleven pages, three of which are shown here first. This is a story that, if you’re a fan of legendary myths, Conan-style conflicts, or any of the work Spurrier and Mitten have put out before, you will not want to miss.
The story of Culhwch and Olwen is one of the oldest Arthurian legends, possibly even being the very first. It tells of the titular Culhwch as he spurns his new stepmother’s attempt to marry him to her daughter, only for her to curse him to only love the beautiful Olwen, daughter of the mighty giant Ysbaddaden. From there, he recruits the aid of his cousin, the incredible King Arthur and his many knights, who join him on the quest to win Olwen’s favor. Her beastly father challenges them to complete seemingly impossible tasks, though of course, it all ends happily with the evil father dead and the couple living happily-ever-after.
Of course, Rampant Swine is not content with the tale as it was. After all, all myths are sanitized stories, and Arthurian legends especially exist to make the titular king and his Roundtable knights look good, but the world is so much more complicated. That’s evident right off the bat with this comic, as it promises that King Arthur is just as savage and brutal as the original tales depict him as heroic. This is a world of stories that are as fiction as they are true, influenced by biases and half-forgotten memories. These knights are legendary, but also violent and merciless, serving as actors in the last days of dying magic. Check out the story for yourself in this special preview.
From the jump, it’s clear that this comic will focus on the line between myth and reality. Everyone is the protagonist of their own story, and we’d all tell of the same events in different ways. Culhwch goes by the literal name of Lean Hog, shoving in our faces that this story will focus on the animalistic, gut-wrenching desires that live inside every person, but are especially pronounced in those with unchecked powers. Everything is in question, especially the motives of each character.
But there’s also something deeper here. The turning of destiny and the idea that the world shouldn’t be this bloody, that idea that everything should be much brighter in these legends. Pride, greed, and ownership infect every character and action in these pages, and the set-up is clear for an exploration of the very nature of what a legend is, and what it means to be a knight in a magical world being exploited to its last breath. This isn’t a hero’s tale, but the tale of the powerful in a way that is sure to make us all question the very foundation of the myth itself.
What type of reimagining do you think this story will bring to the classic myth? Let us know in the comments below!
