Thieves & Kings Volume One, The Red Book [Paperback]

Mark Oakley (Author)

Book Description

Volume one of Thieves & Kings collects the first six issues of the original comic book series under one cover, introducing the story of the young thief, Rubel. Making his way amidst the powerful events changing his world, soldiers and pirates, kings and princesses, and a Shadow Lady of the Sleeping Wood fill his life with gambles and adventure.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...[s]ounds pretty cool, eh? Well, try it with this modification: The thief is a 14-year-old kid. Such is the premise of Mark Oakley's Thieves & Kings, a wildly entertaining, incredibly inventive series evocative of the very best in fairy tales, fantasy literature, and, yes comic books. Like Dave Sim, Jeff Smith, and James Owen (his spiritual if not thematic predecessors), Oakley has carefully and conscientiously laid down the framework for a wholly unique milieu that is his and his alone. From the vaguely Arabian feel of the city to the hodgepodge of citizens to the intricately-designed costumes and implements of the characters, Oakley has conjured a new realm and allowed us to peek in. Those aren't panel borders, people--they're the windowframe to the magic glass through which we peer into another world... -- Barry Lyga

About the Author

Mark Oakley was born in 1970 in the province of Quebec to British immigrant parents, Mary and Robert Oakley. His father, a young engineer newly employed with a large telecommunications firm, moved to Canada with his wife to start the new job and begin a family. The first seven years of Mark's life were lived in a suburb of Montreal in an english speaking community. The low lying social stresses between the French and English common in Canada, and particularly in that region, mystified Mark. He recalls his parents and the French neighbors not liking each other very much, and he recalls being bullied often by the neighborhood kids. It was not until later, when he learned of the long adversarial history between France and England, and of the rocky beginnings of Canadian history, that some of his childhood experiences began to make more sense. Nonetheless, he made a few friends, and it came with difficulty when his father's job required that the family, then with two younger brothers, Gareth and Jamie, move to another city in another province.

The new home was in Saint John, New Brunswick in Eastern Canada. This was a fine place for a growing boy, much different from the suburbs he was used to; this was a neighborhood standing on the cusp of nature. Every home in the region stood on large property. Some of the families in the area even worked their land into modest plots to produce potatoes and other vegetables to supplement their income and earn farmer's tax benefits. There were small lakes, and stands of natural forest, and a freight railway running across the town, and Kent's corner store in the middle of it all; all within walking distance for a healthy eight year old. Mark, unused to not being bullied by other kids, made excellent friends with several of the local children, and lived very happily for three years in this idyllic environment before pulling up roots again.

The timing, however, could not have been more perfect; as Mark was just becoming aware that an idyllic, small environment might some day become a confining small town, the Oakleys moved to the metropolis of Toronto. Mark grew up there into his early teens, and through to adulthood.

One of his first jobs, taken at the age of seventeen saw Mark working at Lightbox Animation Studios. The company, a producer of many animated ad spots for well known breakfast cereals and the sort, ran two large animation cameras and held a small staff of animators and cell painters, all of it in an old three story house on downtown Dundas Street. Mark, after discovering the company in the course of a school project, visited with the director, Greg Duffel, and after several wide-eyed visits to use the animation cameras and film equipment for his own projects, ask if he could have a job. He got one. Mark's duties ranged from pulling weeds in the back yard and emptying pencil sharpeners, all the way to cell painting and eventually being offered a full time position with the company as an in-betweener. (The job of filling in the frames left blank by the key animators.) All within two months.

Mark, flattered, decided however to turn down the job offer, wanting to finish high-school first. During the following year, though, Mark found himself bored and ill satisfied with the academic process. He virtually stopped going to class, spending most of his time working on scripts, comic strips and prose fiction. Mark's grades dropped from an 'A' average to failing in all his classes for the final year of high school. --All except for an accounting course and an unusual english writing class taught by David Young, a published author and play write from the Toronto art scene. Practically kicked out of high school, Mark managed through the weight of his portfolio, to secure entrance into the esteemed Sheridan College of Art, a major source of North America's most highly qualified animators.

Having lost interest in pursuing animation, however, Mark opted instead to enter the illustration program. He only stayed for six months before leaving, disillusioned and irritated once again by the scholastic process, his biggest complaint being that the school made far too many demands on his creative time and energy, which he felt would be better spent on projects of his own determination. So he left the educational system altogether.

Part time jobs and sympathetic parents sustained Mark for four more years while he focused his efforts on putting together what is now Thieves & Kings. The decision to devote his efforts to creating Thieves & Kings in comic book format over all the other mediums he'd considered came for one primary reason; he believed that comics made it possible to have an idea, and within only a few weeks turn out a completed product entirely true to the artist's vision. In film or animation, this would certainly take much more time, and involve many more creative people and thus also involve many more conflicts and delays than he had patience for. Mark was not willing to share the workload his visions required with anybody but himself. To this day, Thieves & Kings, from scripting to the cover paintings and everything in between, is entirely his creation.

The first issue of Thieves & Kings, when published in 1995, was an immediate success with fans of the fantasy genre. While never genetrating the kind of mass audiences of comic book fans which can make millionaires of people, Mark had always set out to reach an audience he felt was not well represented by the average comic book reader. It was his plan to create something which could appeal more to the general public's tastes, in the form of thick, square bound books printed with bright covers and filled with uplifting and involved tales of adventure; a type of product perhaps better suited to bookstores where, he felt, the adolescent power fantasy common in the comic book world was not the primary source of interest. Still, Thieves & Kings continues to entertain a core audience of devoted comic book readers, the majority of whom are individuals of sterling character who live their lives in full awareness of the grand beauty which is the universe around us all.

Still living in Toronto, and now sharing studio space with friend and fellow comic book artist/publisher, Tara Tallan, M'Oak continues to write and draw Thieves & Kings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 154 pages
• Publisher: I Box Pub; 2 edition (September 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968102506
• ISBN-13: 978-0968102503
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,921,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is NOT out of print., December 14, 2003

By 

Mark Oakley (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thieves & Kings Volume One, The Red Book (Paperback)

Hi. I'm Mark Oakley, and I both wrote and illustrated this book, as well as volumes two, three and four also listed here. (There is a fifth book on its way for 2004!)

Amazon incorrectly lists these books as being, 'Out of Print.' They are not.

I just don't sell to Amazon anymore due to the poor economics of the affair. After they take their 50% retailer's cut, and after I pay for shipping the books to Amazon, my publishing company winds up either barely breaking even, or more often than not, actually losing money on each sale. If Amazon were to order in proper quantity, say 30 at a time, and thereby justify their retailer's volume discount, then it would all work nicely because shipping in volume is much less expensive than sending copies one at a time as sales click through! Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't work this way. During the three years I was selling through Amazon, a lot of T&K books were purchases by Amazon customers. I figured, "Oh, well it's only a handful of sales every week or two. It's worth it for the advertising value." Well, after a while, those sales added up to hundreds of dollars worth, and I got tired of watching Amazon profit from my work while I ran in circles.

Small press is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately, in my case it doesn't work well with the Amazon business model.

So if you want to purchase copies of this or any of the Thieves & Kings books, please swing by my company website at. . .

www.iboxpublishing.com

The books are popular and they are ALWAYS in print.

Cheers!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest modern fantasy stories in ANY medium..., January 13, 1999

By 

"cormorant" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thieves & Kings Volume One, The Red Book (Paperback)

The fantasy genre is experiencing a rebirth in the comics medium with titles like Bone, Castle Waiting, Akiko...and Thieves & Kings, my personal favorite.

The basic premise that launches the story: a young thief named Rubel befriends a princess and is drawn into a world of magic, mystery, and adventure. Don't let the cliched premise fool you for a minute - read a few pages into the story and you'll find Thieves & Kings to be one of the most novel, imaginative fantasy stories you've encountered.

To begin with, note the innovative format. Thieves & Kings combines traditional comic book panel-to-panel storytelling with pages of illustrated prose. It's a pretty cool combination, with the prose providing exposition and focus on the characters' inner thoughts, and the traditional comic book pages focusing on action, character interaction, and comic moments that require careful timing.

The characters are the real draw for me. This may be high adventure, but these characters are intimately human - no stock fantasy-types here. Rubel, the central character, thinks and talks like a kid. A real kid. One of the early highlights of the series is his extended argument with his companion imp, Varkias, over a completely trivial matter. You'll find yourself laughing often, remembering what it was like to argue when you were too young to make a clear point. And you'll remember what it was like to feel sorrow as a kid, as Rubel tries to make his way in the mysterious and occasionally dark world he lives in.

The fantasy world Mr. Oakley has created is just as innovative as the characters. It feels real - there's city life and commerce and politics going on in the background - but there are also imps, shadow ladies, and sentient woods. Of great note is the fact that all the elements of the fantastic are described with such care as to make them entirely plausible without stripping them of their magic and mystery (a dangerous pitfall for many a careless fantasy writer!). It's rare that a fantasy world can be imbued with such a high degree of verisimilitude, but there it is, right before your eyes.

My criticisms are minor. Some of the action scenes in this first collection are slightly difficult to follow (remedied in follow-up collections). And...well, that's about it. Mr. Oakley isn't the most polished artist in the world, but I don't consider that a negative point. He may not be slick, but you WILL believe in the world he draws and the characters that live in it. I guarantee it.

To sum: Thieves & Kings is a novel fantasy/adventure with a strong character focus and keen human insight. It's got terrific action, all kinds of comedy, and many a charming moment. Sometimes it swells with exuberance and joy, sometimes it's sad and bittersweet. It is, without a doubt, the best fantasy you'll read for a long time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A literary and engaging adventure story, March 8, 2004

By 

"abones80" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thieves & Kings Volume One, The Red Book (Paperback)

I picked up the first few issues of this series shortly after it came out. I was a big fan of the fantasy genre in all forms and I was looking for a decent comic along those lines after the demise of the excellent Starchild series by James Owen. Well, I saw the cover and picked it up and immediately after reading one issue I was hooked. This is the story of Rubel, a boy thief returning home after a stint at sea. He returns to find his former friends gone and he is left with basically nothing and no one. He soon becomes involved with a princess, a mysterious witch and an imp named Varkias. The plot spirals on from there, drawing on Arthurian myth, Lewis Carrol and many others. The characters are great and the art is just amazing. M'Oak's backgrounds are lavish in detail and had me staring. I also liked how he inserted sections of prose to flesh out the story. Great comic, not to be missed.