Nottingham's a " medieval noir " take on Robin Hood.

[thanekos]

The protagonist is the county sheriff, Everard Blackthorne.

A man as imposing-looking as his name sounds, he's dealing with the problem of tax collectors being murdered.

The trail of the latest murder, on the edge of Sherwood Forest, led him to the lady Marian Fitzwalter.

" We both know that [the collector] was traveling without a guard. " he said, leaning in towards her.

" He wasn't calling on you to collect taxes. "





(The sheriff's the best part of this art - his threatening, hunched-over figure, and the expressions he goes through in the panels of this page.)



That rainy night, the sheriff led the city of Nottingham's guardsmen door to door, seeking the collector's killer.

In one house, they found the mask of a member of the Merry Men.

Suspicion fell on the house's young man - and was diverted by sounds overhead.

There was another man of the house, coming off the roof, landing on the wet ground - and being pursued by the sheriff.

The sheriff caught up to him, taking him into custody after a fight.



(Other " villain-cast-as-protagonist " reimaginings of Robin Hood - Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris' script Nottingham, which became that Russell-Crowe-as-Robin-Hood movie, or Toby Venables' " Hunter of Sherwood " series - have interpreted their main characters as comparatively sympathetic human beings hunting correspondingly more offputting Robin Hoods.

This series, like the former movie script of the same name, makes the sheriff a man doing a job - and makes him unapologetically coarse in the course of it.)



Back at her home, Marian received a visitor.



(The mask has a smile, because Robin - or " Hood " - and his Men are Merry.)



" .. dealt with. "

That night, Robin broke into the Nottingham guard's jail to do so.



(Writing's David Hazan, art's Shane Connery Volk, colors're Luca Romano, and letters're Joamette Gil.

Publisher's Mad Cave Studios.

Issue #2 came out last week.)

Comments

[arilou_skiff]

It's an interesting thing how all these "gritty" takes on Robin Hood often feels significantly more "modern" and contemporary than the weirder stuff. Like attempts at making it more grounded often seems to highlight the modern perceptions of society rahter tahn medieval ones.