The Boar - a Comic Book About Richard Iii by Cecilia Latella

In my constant quest for real Richard III, I've found out this graphic tale online. It is by an Italian graphic artist who happen to be also a Ricardian with a degree and Phd in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Cecilia Latella has been a Richard III fan since she read Robert Louis Stevenson' s The Black Arrow at 13. Later on,  she studied English Language and Literature at University in Italy where she researched, wrote and discussed a thesis about Richard III.  She works in a graphic studio now. You can visit her at  Holy Grail Comics, her blog.

In the preface to  The Boar  (first published in Italian as Il cinghiale)  she tells how she came to create a comic about Richard III: "I joined the Society in 2003-4 and in June 2008 I had the lucky chance to take part in the Ricardian Rover organized by the American Branch. During the long rides from site to site, to keep myself busy, I started doodling little scenes featuring Richard, who has
been a favorite subject of mine for artistic  exercises for more than a decade now. In Fotheringay Church I bought a used copy of  Rosemary Hawley Jarman's  We Speak No Treason . I had previously enjoyed examples of Ricardian fiction but Jarman's prose somewhat disturbed my jealous nature by presenting Richard from the point of view of his mistress. In the following days of minibus rides, I sketched the beginning of The Boar as you can see it now, centring the story around Richard and Anne."


Leaf through the first pages of The Boar ...

The drawings,  all sketches, no colours, convey all the tragicality of the passionate love story between Richard III and the Earl of Warwick's younger daughter, Anne Neville. The story starts with a hunting scene, Richard is just a boy allowed by his father to hunt for the first time: he kills a boar. And a white boar will become his symbol once he is Duke of Gloucester, then king  Richard III.
The story is narrated from a very personal angle , focusing on the tormented, guilt-ridden soul of Richard Plantagenet  first as a boy, then as  a young man  and finally as an adult. The leitmotiv is his longing for Anne, his only love. She is the strength and light in his life, once she is no longer with him,  he will lose his will to go on living. Bosworth victory is not a merit of smart Henry Tudor, but a battle lost by a man already defeated by life.
The historical facts, battles and politics,  are just hinted at:  it is mainly a romance made up of flashes with many shifts in time. If a flaw must be found in this beautiful , original graphic work it is that someone who does not know the facts  may feel lost and disoriented. But it is such an atmospheric, gripping tale that they may be lead to search and discover more about this fascinating character: "Dickon", the man who will become Richard III.

Visit Cecilia Latella's BlogGet The Boar at lulu.comThe Richard III Society