Broz: Death to the Empire! Freedom to the Five Kingdoms!
Broz is the story of a half-human, half-Elf freedom fighter leading the peoples of the five Kingdoms.
BROZ was planned as a long-running fantasy saga I wrote for France, illustrated by Adrian Smith and created by us both. Written in April 2004, two volumes were published in 2004, 2005 and a third volume was completed in 2006, but never published. Work had just begun on a fourth volume when the series was cancelled.
Originally entitled Warlords, Broz is the story of a half-human, half-Elf freedom fighter leading the peoples of the five Kingdoms – Elders, Florans, Fungoids, Elementals and Humans – against a corrupt and sinister Empire.
He is aided in his fight by a refugee fleeing the war, the beautiful thief, half-human, half-Floran Roza. She steals the matchlock of the legendary alchemist Metalzalin whose magic bullets alone can destroy the Empire. But there are only five bullets left so they must choose their targets with great care.
The matchlock is a mediaeval hand cannon and it literally requires a match between two people. A male and female must use it in turn for the gun to work. Broz and Roza. Broz sees Roza as a half-breed, common thief, whereas, he is the distinguished leader of the resistance, so he alone has a right to the weapon. ‘You have to give it to me. You’re going to use the gun for crime. I want to use it to clear the world of demons.’ He locks her up, but in the end is forced to share the weapon, so the matchlock becomes their soul-lock.
Their similarity of names was deliberate – suggestive of their magical fusion – and conveyed in the proposed title of the fourth volume: The Chemical Wedding, a term used in alchemy.
There is a dark comedy and rivalry between Broz and Roza which was enormous fun to write!
Here’s an excerpt from my script to give you the idea. Broz has behaved badly, locking her up, and Roza demands an apology from him.
1.Roza looks coldly at Broz who grudgingly agrees
BROZ: WE.
ROZA: THANK YOU. NOW… I SEEM TO REMEMBER SOMETHING ABOUT AN APOLOGY… ?
BROZ: VERY WELL. I'LL KISS YOUR FEET.
2. Broz kneels down and starts to remove her boot. She looks down at him triumphantly.
ROZA: YES. THAT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE AFTER YOUR DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR.
3. A lascivious leer on his face, Broz slowly and seductively finishes taking off her boot. She looks a bit uncertain about this. This wasn't part of the plan!
4. He starts to give Roza a Fergie-style toe job! Roza looking a bit shaken by this!! It's really doing things for her.
5. Roza looks flustered as he continues. The beautiful Nectar approaches.
ROZA: NO! STOP! YOU'RE NOT MEANT TO ENJOY IT!
6. Nectar finds them in this compromising position!!
NECTAR: AM I INTERRUPTING ANYTHING?
7. Nectar speaks coldly to Broz who becomes a Resistance leader again.
NECTAR: CAN I JUST INFORM YOU THERE ARE MORE IMPERIAL REINFORCEMENTS AHEAD? OUR FORCES WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM THEIR LEADER!
BROZ: I'LL SPEAK TO THEM .
8. Nectar looks coldly across at a flustered Roza as Broz goes off.
In a later scene, their adversarial relationship continues. So let’s join Broz and Roza after the latter has used a magic bullet to transform Stelf demons into beautiful, erotic faeries.
3. Roza blows on the end of the gun. She's pleased with herself.
ROZA: IF I SAY SO MYSELF… NOT BAD SHOOTING, GIRL!
4. Broz slyly and firmly takes the gun off her.
BROZ:YES. WELL DONE. MY TURN.
ROZA: HEY! … HEY
5. Broz scowls at a cold Roza.
BROZ: WE'RE IN A “CHEMICAL WEDDING" TOGETHER. REMEMBER?
ROZA: REALLY? I NEVER SAID "I DO".
6. They continue to scowl at each other
ROZA: DON'T GET ANY IDEAS ABOUT UNITING IN OTHER WAYS.
WE MIGHT SHARE A GUN, BUT THAT'S ALL.
BROZ: DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF. I'M WELL PROVIDED FOR.
ROZA: OH, YES. I WAS FORGETTING ALL THE GIRLS YOU'VE BEEN ENGAGED TO WHO CALL YOU "LORD OF THE RINGS"
Both Adrian and I were interested in alchemy and it underpins the series, along with mediaeval battles and modern wars of resistance. Hence Broz was inspired by the original name for Tito. Broz was a successful freedom fighter against the Nazis even if he later fell from grace.
But I recall the title Broz was also inspired by Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens. As a kid, I loved Boz because it had no plots, which I had no idea how to construct. Not to mention the brilliant art by Cruickshank. In a similar way, I liked Sha as a title because it reminded me of She by Rider Haggard, which I also absolutely adored.
Adrian Smith, as you may know, is a top UK fantasy artist, very much associated with his brilliant art for Games Workshop. But in Broz, he also wanted to explore the world of faerie with a nod towards Lord of the Rings.
You don’t need me to tell you that his art on Broz, featured here, is absolutely beautiful.
And there was so much more I was looking forward to exploring. For example Roza is half-Floran, so later, as part of her seasonal cycle, she starts growing briars and thorns and red roses sprout in her hair. Her arms are covered in brambles like Marshal Law’s barbed wire. A great opportunity for ungallant comments from Broz with suitable ripostes from Roza as the male-female dynamic is explored in this fantasy guise.
And then there’s the troubadour Blago, who appears in the first two volumes. I’ve researched troubadours for many years and originally wanted to do a series on a troubadour with the late John Hicklenton. Here was a rare chance to take the piss out of the censorship of writers. For instance, the guards ask Blago to sing. ‘But nothing political, religious, sexy or otherwise likely to cause offence.’
The reasons why the series was discontinued could be endlessly debated, pointing to any number of possible explanations which may or may not be valid. Some fans, for instance, thought it should have been closer to Adrian’s work on Games Workshop, which is well known and loved in France. I would disagree, not least because yes, readers look for something familiar but… they still want something new and original, rather than a retread of another success. Other fans might feel the faerie quality was too gentle for a rugged, largely male comic market, but there were plenty of demons, known as The Schlyme, and other horrors. Not to mention the amusing Jason Statham-lookalike, hammer-wielding, psycho-twins Rekko and Ekko, who appear in Book Two. They are bounty hunters in pursuit of Broz and look like they’ve escaped from the pages of early classic 2000AD.
And I had wondered if some readers might have preferred a lone, moody male hero, rather than being ‘encumbered’ with an ‘annoying’ female companion who gives as good as she gets. And who might even, eventually, cheekily take over the title of the series so it becomes BRoza! Roza is far from being ‘the girl in the fridge’. One further criticism I do recall was ‘more backgrounds!’, which I really don’t buy into.
Yes, some of these criticisms may be valid for some readers, but they are a questionable explanation for the overall audience. The real reason is the French market is very, very tough, and it’s that simple, no more, no less. So none of us involved in the Broz project – Adrian, myself, our publisher Jacques Collin, with the enthusiastic support of Requiem artist Olivier Ledroit – could have done more to make it a success. In France, releasing an expensive album series into BD comic shops is like releasing a movie where everything has to click on its opening weekend. If it doesn’t, it’s dead. Had Broz appeared in a UK publication or as a UK graphic novel, given that Adrian and I are so much better known in Britain, I’m sure it would have succeeded.
Today, there is a lot of value in the work that I believe might still make it desirable for the English language market, presented as a three-volume (plus sketches and script outline) omnibus – with the approval of all concerned, of course.
It may not satisfy all readers, but at this time of writing, because Adrian and I have moved on and are busy on other projects, we have no plans to return to the series. However, in the words of Sean Connery, ‘Never say never again.’
I still want Broz to be remembered as the classic I always felt it to be. I’m sure these pages will be of considerable interest to comic fans, because fully painted artwork of this quality is so rare today. I’ll show you more pages from each of the volumes over the coming weeks.
I’ll also show you some of Adrian’s original sketches, my guide to who is who in the world, and my dog-eared and heavily annotated original storyline!
And in certain places I’ll provide the script beneath the art so you can see what is going on – although this amusing scene in Book One where the servant girl gives her ageing mistress a face-lift requires no words!
So I hope you enjoy these scenes from Broz. Or should I say… BRoza!