Lewis Trondheim is no small name in the world of comics. In 2006 he won the Grand Prix de la ville d’Angoulême, a life time achievement award, and arguably the most prestigious award in the field. He has written or drawn more than a hundred titles in lots of genres, including The Fly, Kaput and Zösky, Little Nothings and his breakthrough series Dungeon, created with Joann Sfar. He’s also one of the founding members of the publishing house L’Association – famous for publishing Marjane Satrapi.
In 2004 Trondheim announced that he would more or less retire, to prevent his work becoming rote. It is during this ‘retirement’ that Ralph Azham was born: an epic fantasy series about a reluctant hero in the form of a duck. The first volume appeared in French in 2010, the twelfth and final volume in 2019. They were all first published in Spirou magazine, and bundled later by Editions Dupuis.
Joe Johnson translated the series into English, and Super Genius & Papercutz published everything in 4 parts: Black Are the Stars & The Land of the Blue Demons in 2022, and You Can’t Stop a River & The Dying Flame in 2023.
Ralph Azham is a sprawling story that keeps on doing unexpected things without feeling contrived. I’d say it is a must read for any lover of fantasy comic books. There’s action, magic, humor and adventure, and throughout the series Trondheim also introduces a bit of political ethics – but nothing too serious or heavy-handed: the focus is squarely on creative entertainment.
Set in a medieval anthropomorphic world, Ralph Azham grew up as the village pariah, often getting into trouble due to innate extra senses. The story starts when his village is threatened by a vicious horde. Ralph must leave his village to unlock the secrets of his childhood. His journey will take him far and wide.
Throughout the 12 volumes, Trondheim takes the reader in unexpected directions. You never know when the story will turn, nor where it will turn too. It is a wild ride, yet all feels smooth and logical. This is no mean feat, and there seems to be some similarity to how the character Ralph Azham approaches things, and the way Trondheim plots. I’m not sure how thought out the full story was beforehand, but to me Trondheim seems to improvise his storytelling – and masterfully so – just like Azham seems to follow his gut.
And just like it often seems all a joke to Azham, the story is not too serious – even though it deals with serious stuff. Paradoxically, Azham mostly manages to do the ethical thing, without being sanctimonious. Similarly, Trondheim’s story touches upon themes of power and moral calculus, all while avoiding pontificating or ideological smug. Ralph nor Lewis put forward grand theories or ethical arrogance or thou-shalt-pomp, there’s just praxis. When Ralph exclaims “I feel like I don’t control anything” in the final volume, even though he has risen to power, Trondheim shows him to be a version of some textbook postmodern anti-hero – even though Azham feels very much its own thing throughout.
In the final pages the character succumbs to disappointment and cynicism, yet choses to break free nonetheless.
This is high quality writing, playful and thoughtful at the same time.
Trondheim’s drawing gets the job done, similarly playful, without drawing too much attention to itself.
If I may put forward one remark, it is at Super Genius’ decision to publish the series in the A5 format. I think the original, larger pages would have been a wee bit better. But as the drawing is not the main attraction here – the story is – I can understand economic factors weighed more than anything else.
It’s of note that Why would you lie to someone you love?, the very first of the original twelve volumes, was published in 2012 in English as well, by Fantagraphics, in a different translation by Kim Thompson. They did not continue the series. If you need a bit more background and information on the plot of Ralph Azham, check out Rob Clouch’s take on that edition.
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Weighing a pig doesn't fatten it. 
I am reading this right now, Bart. I’ve read the first two chapters of the first Part, and loved them. I own the rest of the series too except for Part 4, which should arrive very soon. I’ll post a review within the next few weeks but I am sure it will be a positive one.
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Glad you like it. I think it gets even better the farther you go.
I´m thinking about getting Dungeon, but 30 volumes seems a bit much.
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I would recommend the first 4 volumes of Dungeon zenith. Which are also published in collected volumes. These 4 are written and drawn by Trondheim directly. I’ll talk about Dungeon in my Ralph review.
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Great, looking forward!
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This looks and sounds fascinating, and if I wasn’t already overcommitted I’d love to consider this series, Bart. Interestingly, on Am*z*n UK the French hardbacks are collectively a significant notch below the English-language editions.
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If your French is good enough, just grab ´m, they´re a fast read. Ideal for in between all those commitments 😉
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