Title: Mike Richardson on Rex Mundi
Karen - January 13, 2007 05:51 AM (GMT)
Posted on 9/21/06 at 06:24 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source
iesb.net
We Talk To Dark Horse Entertainment President Mike Richardson and ...
Exclusive: Mike Richardson and Arvid Nelson on Johnny Depp’s New Project Rex Mundi!
Written by Robert Sanchez
Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Imagine a 20th Century that still had religious inquisitions, a world where the medieval Catholic Church still controlled everything and everyone. Where people were still burned at the stake, no religious tolerance and a place where everyone feared for their lives. Welcome to the world of Rex Mundi.
The first time that I heard about Rex Mundi was while working on the set of Tim Sullivans’ Driftwood about a year ago. Famed Rock “N” Roll KISS photographer turned movie producer Barry Levine mentioned that they were working with Johnny Depp on a film. Sworn to secrecy and under threats of death I kept my mouth shut.
Well now that the LA Times has officially announced that Johnny Depp will star in the Dark Horse Comics film adaptation of Arvid Nelson’s Rex Mundi, we can talk about it.
We went on a mission, we wanted to talk to head honcho Mike Richardson, the President of Dark Horse Entertainment and the creator of Rex Mundi, Arvid Nelson. We wanted to give our readers an exclusive first look at what we can expect in the upcoming Rex Mundi feature. By the way, please check back tomorrow for part two of the Mike Richardson interview as he talks about Hellboy 2, My Name Is Bruce, The Mask, Tarzan, Tesla, the untitled John Landis project, 30 Days of Night and tons of other goodies that Dark Horse Entertainment is currently working on.
First up, is creator of Rex Mundi Arvid Nelson. He talks about the concept, birth and premise of the graphic novel. He is followed up by Executive Producer Mike Richardson who gives us production details including the announcement that this is a Dark Horse, Sunrise Entertainment, Infinitum Nihil production that is currently over at IEG and Warner Bros.
Interview with Arvid Nelson
IESB: I first heard about Rex Mundi about one year ago when Barry Levine mentioned this top secret project with Johnny Depp, how long have you been hoping to get this onto the big screen.
Arvid Nelson: Barry first approached me about four years ago it seemed like a long shot at the time but ever since then it just been kind of a cycle of emulation and additional despair and I guess I have kind of learned to take everything with a grain of salt but it feels really different this time. It’s been a really long haul.
IESB: How early on was Johnny Depp’s involvement, he’s been looking at it for about a year?
AN: Yeah, it been a bit longer than that, I am not exactly sure, to tell you the truth, I think he’s been involved, it’s been as much as two years ago, I guess things just grind really slowly. I think he just needed to get his schedule figured out to focus on it so…it’s been a while, these things take time.
IESB: Talk to us about Rex Mundi, when you came up with the concept and when it made its first comic book appearance.
AN: Yeah sure, you know, the first thing that I should tell you is that Rex Mundi, well I guess he could be a character in a comic in some ways, but actually it really isn’t. Rex Mundi means King of the World in Latin and it is a term that Christian sometimes use for Jesus. But there was also a heresy in the South of France, this is like in the 1200’s so we’re talking like Medieval times. These heretics to them Rex Mundi would have been something completely different. And so that double meaning is really important to the comic book Rex Mundi and it will become apparent as the book progresses. The book itself is basically a quest for the Holy Grail told in a murder mystery, you know, it’s set in an alternate history in 1933, but in this world Martin Luther has been assassinated, before the Protestant Reformation could take place so the Catholic Church is still extremely powerful, politically powerful, and there are also still Dukes and Barons and Kings and Queens. So basically it looks like your classic noir detective story except instead of being Los Angeles it’s set in Paris, and instead of you know, the cops and the feds, you have a holy inquisition and instead of the gangster and the robbers you have the sorcerers and occultists. That’s kind of what it is about, I had the idea and I actually took a trip to Paris right after college and I had never been to Europe before and I was sitting at the café and looking at a church across the street and it was really beautiful and the woman I was sitting with saw me looking at it and she said that the church had been built in the year 800 by the Normans, and that just blew me away because in America if something’s been around for a hundred years, everyone talks about how old and how ancient it is, but this church has been standing there for over a thousand years and that just blew me away. I sort of understood that Europeans have a totally different frame of reference for history than Americans do. I guess I just, my brain started thinking about a society or a world that looked very modern but was actually very medieval. That was kind of how it came about.
IESB: And the character that Johnny Depp will be portraying…
AN: Julien Saunière, he’s kind of a doctor, not kind of a doctor, he is a doctor, he has a lot of secrets and kind of a tortured past, his past is kind of , in some ways becomes related to the mystery. He is not as successful as he could be and so, because this world also happens to be, it’s kind of a brutal society, you know, it very anti-Semetic and it’s very superficial, so, Julien will do things, like, accept Jewish patients which is considered to be socially inappropriate and he will treat people for no money and that is against the regulations of the [Medical] guild that he works for and again medicine is controlled by the guild, by a medieval guild system that is still in effect and that how trade and commerce and the economy is handled. So he’s a little bit down and out and one night his friend who is a Catholic priest comes in and says, Julien you’ve got to help me, I was, the Arch Bishop asked me to look after this scroll and it’s been stolen, and I obviously can’t go to the Arch Bishop because the Holy Inquisition will find out and I will be in big trouble, and I need you to help me find it. And that’s kind of how the story starts.
IESB: In this universe that you have created, does the US exist?
AN: Honestly, a lot of this could be changed for the film adaptation. They have some pretty big plans for it. In my version of it, the South actually wins the Civil War so you have a sort of fractured and divided United States of America, or the United States of America doesn’t exist, so in the background this becomes part of the story of Rex Mundi. There is this global encompassing war that’s brewing in Europe and you don’t have a United States of America there to come in and save the day, that has happened in World War II and to a lesser extent World War I. The consequences of the war could be much, much worse.
IESB: This LA Times article quotes it as being somewhat Raiders of the Lost Ark, somewhat Indiana Jones like. Would you say that is accurate?
AN: I think that is totally accurate. I always envisioned the first half of it being more like a murder mystery, very dark and noir, the second half is exactly that. It more like a pulp adventure, it’s a lot more, it takes place in the countryside of the south of France, and yes, that’s exactly what I was going for, Indiana Jones or something like that.
IESB: Assuming as successful as the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been, I’m assuming that Dark Horse and the producers are hoping this will be a franchise?
AN: I have no idea, the way I wrote the comic, it could be written as a series of films, [or] it could be written as one on film, I think that’s kind of the way I think, it could be collapsible or expandable. They could do whatever they want with it, if they want make it one film and make another one they could, or if they want to make it a one off thing they could do that too. I guess we’ll see, I am pretty low on the totem pole, so I just put my faith in them and they will do whatever they think is best.
IESB: As of right now are you at liberty to say anything else regarding other potential cast members, a director, producers anything like that or is this too early in the stage?
AN: It’s too early, even if I did know a producer would probably have me swear an oath of silence, I honestly really don’t know what’s going on with that stuff but I am really excited.
IESB: Has there been any talk on the production side, 2007, 2008, what’s going on?
AN: That is a great question, I have no idea, I mean, as far as I know, that is still up in the air I am just excited to see what happens.
Interview with Mike Richardson
IESB: Congratulations on Rex Mundi.
Mike Richardson: This one has been in the works for a long time and I’m sort of surprised they announced it today, we have been keeping it under wraps, but I guess the deal is finally done so everybody is happy.
IESB: Barry Levine mentioned this to me a year ago but I was sworn to secrecy under punishment of death.
MR: We’ve all been sworn (laughing). But I guess the cat is out of the bag now.
IESB: This is Johnny Depp’s first graphic novel or comic book right?
MR: Well, I think so, I believe it probably is, I know he’s a fan of comics and he’s been a big fan of this project, the project itself was brought to me, pointed out to me, by Barry Levine, and he brought it in and as a result we started talking to Arvid, and Arvid brought it over. Johnny, by the way, expressed interest in this project as soon as he saw it. It was brought to him by Sam Sarkar.
IESB: And Sam is Johnny’s producing partner
MR: Yes, he’s his producing partner. Sam’s a great guy and he loved it too so we entered into this deal, there’s number of us, and of course I made a deal with Arvid to publish the comic also. So we’re publishing the new adventures. We have the writer for the film [Jim Uhls] which you saw in the Trades I am sure.
IESB: Any word of a studio? I know you have a great relationship with Paramount and Universal is this…
MR: No, we are negotiating with Warner Bros. and IEG, that’s where the project will be at.
IESB: How soon are we going to see movement regarding more cast, director and so on?
MR: Well, it’s like I said, it’s in the scripting stage right now and that will all happen later. This is such an important project right now because of Johnny’s interest in it, his interest alone makes it important.
IESB: So if all goes well, are we looking at something developing in 2007?
MR: That might be too quick, there is no definite date on when we would go into production or anything, again I think it all depends on the script and Johnny has to be satisfied with it, he’s taken a real personal interest in the project.
IESB: Who is the rest of the production team on this?
MR: The production team is Johnny’s company of course, Infinitum Nihil, and Sam Sarkar is producing, is one of the producers, Dark Horse Entertainment with myself and Alan Riche from Sunrise Entertainment and Barry [Levine] who brought the project in.
IESB: It’s going to be part of Dark Horse Entertainment, it’s not going to be a part of the indie label for you.
MR: This is Dark Horse Entertainment, the indie label is low budget films, the film we just finished My Name is Bruce that Bruce [Campbell] and I produced together and shot in southern Oregon, we just screened an assembly last night and people were rolling out of their chairs, it was a riot.
Don’t forget to read part two of our interview with Mike Richardson in where we talk about all things Dark Horse including Hellboy 2, 30 Days Of Night, My Name Is Bruce and much much more.
Read our detailed synopsis below and learn everything you need to know about the first three graphic novels of Rex Mundi.
Synopsis: Rex Mundi is set in Paris, 1933, but not the Paris of our world. For a number of reasons, foremost the assassination of Martin Luther in 1521, this Europe is still in the dark ages. A handful of aristocrats hold all the power, and the church maintains a permanent Inquisition with all the license of the Gestapo in Nazi Europe. Art deco and jazz nightclubs are all the rage, but the political environment is still medieval. Magic is real in the world of Rex Mundi, but it is far more subtle than in a standard sword-and-sorcery novel. The rites and rituals of spell-casting are steeped in the occult, based on Judeo-Christian mysticism and cabala.
Rex Mundi blends the genres of film noir and “Indiana Jones” style action-adventure. The protagonist, Julien Saunière, is a Master of the Guild of Physicians. He maintains a private practice in Paris and is content providing medical treatment to the poor in exchange for odd-jobs and services.
He is also the longtime friend of the priest of the Church of the Magdalene, Father Gérard Marin. Marin comes to Julien one night in urgent need of help. Marin is in charge of a secret library of books hidden in the crypts beneath La Madeleine. Some of the texts have been stolen, but Marin does not know how, or even why. The bars and locks on the cast-iron door guarding the secret repository have not been tampered with, and the strange, cloying scent of sandalwood lingers in the musty air beneath the church.
Marin provides Julien one lead: much to his shame, the priest has been having an affair with a prostitute, to whom he revealed the location of the texts. The next day, Julien finds the prostitute brutally murdered in her room. He questions the owner of the tenement in which she lived and gets the name of her pimp. The landlord also reveals that he saw a short man wearing a white suit walking away from the building on the night of the prostitute’s death. From these clues Julien will trace the crime to the highest echelons of the French aristocracy, to a secret society founded in Jerusalem during the First Crusade and somehow connected to the legend of the Holy Grail. There is such as a thing as the Holy Grail, Julien will discover, but it is not a cup -- it is a secret revolving around the origins of Christianity, a secret so devastating it threatens to plunge the world into a cataclysmic war.
Issue One ends with the murder of Father Marin the evening after he tells Julien of his predicament. Julien is driven to find out exactly why his friend was murdered, and he will not rest until he exposes those responsible.
Julien inhabits a very dark, dangerous world in which there are no good guys and bad guys, only people protecting their own interests. There are no charming, honest yet bumbling police detectives, as in a Sherlock Holmes mystery, only an Inquisition that poses just as much a threat to Julien as do the gangsters, occultists and secret society members guarding the secrets he is trying to uncover.
In Issue Two his investigation is further complicated by his involvement with Genevieve Tournon, a fellow physician and former lover. Genevieve is ferociously ambitious: she wants to become a High Guild Master and marry a gentleman, securing a title for herself and her descendents. She thus decided to leave Julien a long time ago. And indeed, Genevieve is well on her way to achieving her goals: through charm and skill she has secured an appointment as Personal Physician to the Duke of Lorraine and an extremely powerful politician, second only to the King himself.
Genevieve is forced to make a choice between her ambition and her feelings for Julien when Julien’s investigation leads him to directly to the Duke. Julien will discover Lorraine’s ancestors have challenged the Bourbon claim to the throne several times, but always failed to seize power. Lorraine is ready to make a new bid for power -- the House of Bourbon is weaker than it has ever been. Lorraine has been pressing for war and is winning support from influential politicians.
Just as Julien becomes aware of Lorraine’s designs, so too does Lorraine become aware of Julien. Lorraine asks Genevieve to spy on Julien, which she gladly does at first, but she is surprised and disappointed to find that she still has genuine feelings for him. She becomes a double agent, informing Julien and Lorraine of each other’s activities, all the while imploring Julien to give. The closer Julien gets to the truth behind the murder, the stronger her feelings for him become, and the more she begs him to discontinue his quest. But Julien will not be placated with anything less than the truth.
The conspiracy Julien stalks traces its origin to the Templars, an order of knights founded in Jerusalem in 1099. The Inquisition eradicated the Templars in 1307 on charges of heresy and devil worship. But the Templars, it seems, were not exterminated completely.
Political tensions in Europe are phenomenally high, and the complex network of alliances, pacts and treaties between the major powers are ready to ignite into a devastating conflagration. Grail conspiracy members in England, Prussia and France are aggravating this situation to promulgate a bloody, apocalyptic war, the goal being the establishment of a French colony in Jerusalem and a new world order.
When Julien discovers the truth about the Holy Grail, he becomes driven to stop Lorraine and his conspirators at any cost.
Rex Mundi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source
iesb.net
We Talk To Dark Horse Entertainment President Mike Richardson and ...
Exclusive: Mike Richardson and Arvid Nelson on Johnny Depp’s New Project Rex Mundi!
Written by Robert Sanchez
Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Imagine a 20th Century that still had religious inquisitions, a world where the medieval Catholic Church still controlled everything and everyone. Where people were still burned at the stake, no religious tolerance and a place where everyone feared for their lives. Welcome to the world of Rex Mundi.
The first time that I heard about Rex Mundi was while working on the set of Tim Sullivans’ Driftwood about a year ago. Famed Rock “N” Roll KISS photographer turned movie producer Barry Levine mentioned that they were working with Johnny Depp on a film. Sworn to secrecy and under threats of death I kept my mouth shut.
Well now that the LA Times has officially announced that Johnny Depp will star in the Dark Horse Comics film adaptation of Arvid Nelson’s Rex Mundi, we can talk about it.
We went on a mission, we wanted to talk to head honcho Mike Richardson, the President of Dark Horse Entertainment and the creator of Rex Mundi, Arvid Nelson. We wanted to give our readers an exclusive first look at what we can expect in the upcoming Rex Mundi feature. By the way, please check back tomorrow for part two of the Mike Richardson interview as he talks about Hellboy 2, My Name Is Bruce, The Mask, Tarzan, Tesla, the untitled John Landis project, 30 Days of Night and tons of other goodies that Dark Horse Entertainment is currently working on.
First up, is creator of Rex Mundi Arvid Nelson. He talks about the concept, birth and premise of the graphic novel. He is followed up by Executive Producer Mike Richardson who gives us production details including the announcement that this is a Dark Horse, Sunrise Entertainment, Infinitum Nihil production that is currently over at IEG and Warner Bros.
Interview with Arvid Nelson
IESB: I first heard about Rex Mundi about one year ago when Barry Levine mentioned this top secret project with Johnny Depp, how long have you been hoping to get this onto the big screen.
Arvid Nelson: Barry first approached me about four years ago it seemed like a long shot at the time but ever since then it just been kind of a cycle of emulation and additional despair and I guess I have kind of learned to take everything with a grain of salt but it feels really different this time. It’s been a really long haul.
IESB: How early on was Johnny Depp’s involvement, he’s been looking at it for about a year?
AN: Yeah, it been a bit longer than that, I am not exactly sure, to tell you the truth, I think he’s been involved, it’s been as much as two years ago, I guess things just grind really slowly. I think he just needed to get his schedule figured out to focus on it so…it’s been a while, these things take time.
IESB: Talk to us about Rex Mundi, when you came up with the concept and when it made its first comic book appearance.
AN: Yeah sure, you know, the first thing that I should tell you is that Rex Mundi, well I guess he could be a character in a comic in some ways, but actually it really isn’t. Rex Mundi means King of the World in Latin and it is a term that Christian sometimes use for Jesus. But there was also a heresy in the South of France, this is like in the 1200’s so we’re talking like Medieval times. These heretics to them Rex Mundi would have been something completely different. And so that double meaning is really important to the comic book Rex Mundi and it will become apparent as the book progresses. The book itself is basically a quest for the Holy Grail told in a murder mystery, you know, it’s set in an alternate history in 1933, but in this world Martin Luther has been assassinated, before the Protestant Reformation could take place so the Catholic Church is still extremely powerful, politically powerful, and there are also still Dukes and Barons and Kings and Queens. So basically it looks like your classic noir detective story except instead of being Los Angeles it’s set in Paris, and instead of you know, the cops and the feds, you have a holy inquisition and instead of the gangster and the robbers you have the sorcerers and occultists. That’s kind of what it is about, I had the idea and I actually took a trip to Paris right after college and I had never been to Europe before and I was sitting at the café and looking at a church across the street and it was really beautiful and the woman I was sitting with saw me looking at it and she said that the church had been built in the year 800 by the Normans, and that just blew me away because in America if something’s been around for a hundred years, everyone talks about how old and how ancient it is, but this church has been standing there for over a thousand years and that just blew me away. I sort of understood that Europeans have a totally different frame of reference for history than Americans do. I guess I just, my brain started thinking about a society or a world that looked very modern but was actually very medieval. That was kind of how it came about.
IESB: And the character that Johnny Depp will be portraying…
AN: Julien Saunière, he’s kind of a doctor, not kind of a doctor, he is a doctor, he has a lot of secrets and kind of a tortured past, his past is kind of , in some ways becomes related to the mystery. He is not as successful as he could be and so, because this world also happens to be, it’s kind of a brutal society, you know, it very anti-Semetic and it’s very superficial, so, Julien will do things, like, accept Jewish patients which is considered to be socially inappropriate and he will treat people for no money and that is against the regulations of the [Medical] guild that he works for and again medicine is controlled by the guild, by a medieval guild system that is still in effect and that how trade and commerce and the economy is handled. So he’s a little bit down and out and one night his friend who is a Catholic priest comes in and says, Julien you’ve got to help me, I was, the Arch Bishop asked me to look after this scroll and it’s been stolen, and I obviously can’t go to the Arch Bishop because the Holy Inquisition will find out and I will be in big trouble, and I need you to help me find it. And that’s kind of how the story starts.
IESB: In this universe that you have created, does the US exist?
AN: Honestly, a lot of this could be changed for the film adaptation. They have some pretty big plans for it. In my version of it, the South actually wins the Civil War so you have a sort of fractured and divided United States of America, or the United States of America doesn’t exist, so in the background this becomes part of the story of Rex Mundi. There is this global encompassing war that’s brewing in Europe and you don’t have a United States of America there to come in and save the day, that has happened in World War II and to a lesser extent World War I. The consequences of the war could be much, much worse.
IESB: This LA Times article quotes it as being somewhat Raiders of the Lost Ark, somewhat Indiana Jones like. Would you say that is accurate?
AN: I think that is totally accurate. I always envisioned the first half of it being more like a murder mystery, very dark and noir, the second half is exactly that. It more like a pulp adventure, it’s a lot more, it takes place in the countryside of the south of France, and yes, that’s exactly what I was going for, Indiana Jones or something like that.
IESB: Assuming as successful as the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been, I’m assuming that Dark Horse and the producers are hoping this will be a franchise?
AN: I have no idea, the way I wrote the comic, it could be written as a series of films, [or] it could be written as one on film, I think that’s kind of the way I think, it could be collapsible or expandable. They could do whatever they want with it, if they want make it one film and make another one they could, or if they want to make it a one off thing they could do that too. I guess we’ll see, I am pretty low on the totem pole, so I just put my faith in them and they will do whatever they think is best.
IESB: As of right now are you at liberty to say anything else regarding other potential cast members, a director, producers anything like that or is this too early in the stage?
AN: It’s too early, even if I did know a producer would probably have me swear an oath of silence, I honestly really don’t know what’s going on with that stuff but I am really excited.
IESB: Has there been any talk on the production side, 2007, 2008, what’s going on?
AN: That is a great question, I have no idea, I mean, as far as I know, that is still up in the air I am just excited to see what happens.
Interview with Mike Richardson
IESB: Congratulations on Rex Mundi.
Mike Richardson: This one has been in the works for a long time and I’m sort of surprised they announced it today, we have been keeping it under wraps, but I guess the deal is finally done so everybody is happy.
IESB: Barry Levine mentioned this to me a year ago but I was sworn to secrecy under punishment of death.
MR: We’ve all been sworn (laughing). But I guess the cat is out of the bag now.
IESB: This is Johnny Depp’s first graphic novel or comic book right?
MR: Well, I think so, I believe it probably is, I know he’s a fan of comics and he’s been a big fan of this project, the project itself was brought to me, pointed out to me, by Barry Levine, and he brought it in and as a result we started talking to Arvid, and Arvid brought it over. Johnny, by the way, expressed interest in this project as soon as he saw it. It was brought to him by Sam Sarkar.
IESB: And Sam is Johnny’s producing partner
MR: Yes, he’s his producing partner. Sam’s a great guy and he loved it too so we entered into this deal, there’s number of us, and of course I made a deal with Arvid to publish the comic also. So we’re publishing the new adventures. We have the writer for the film [Jim Uhls] which you saw in the Trades I am sure.
IESB: Any word of a studio? I know you have a great relationship with Paramount and Universal is this…
MR: No, we are negotiating with Warner Bros. and IEG, that’s where the project will be at.
IESB: How soon are we going to see movement regarding more cast, director and so on?
MR: Well, it’s like I said, it’s in the scripting stage right now and that will all happen later. This is such an important project right now because of Johnny’s interest in it, his interest alone makes it important.
IESB: So if all goes well, are we looking at something developing in 2007?
MR: That might be too quick, there is no definite date on when we would go into production or anything, again I think it all depends on the script and Johnny has to be satisfied with it, he’s taken a real personal interest in the project.
IESB: Who is the rest of the production team on this?
MR: The production team is Johnny’s company of course, Infinitum Nihil, and Sam Sarkar is producing, is one of the producers, Dark Horse Entertainment with myself and Alan Riche from Sunrise Entertainment and Barry [Levine] who brought the project in.
IESB: It’s going to be part of Dark Horse Entertainment, it’s not going to be a part of the indie label for you.
MR: This is Dark Horse Entertainment, the indie label is low budget films, the film we just finished My Name is Bruce that Bruce [Campbell] and I produced together and shot in southern Oregon, we just screened an assembly last night and people were rolling out of their chairs, it was a riot.
Don’t forget to read part two of our interview with Mike Richardson in where we talk about all things Dark Horse including Hellboy 2, 30 Days Of Night, My Name Is Bruce and much much more.
Read our detailed synopsis below and learn everything you need to know about the first three graphic novels of Rex Mundi.
Synopsis: Rex Mundi is set in Paris, 1933, but not the Paris of our world. For a number of reasons, foremost the assassination of Martin Luther in 1521, this Europe is still in the dark ages. A handful of aristocrats hold all the power, and the church maintains a permanent Inquisition with all the license of the Gestapo in Nazi Europe. Art deco and jazz nightclubs are all the rage, but the political environment is still medieval. Magic is real in the world of Rex Mundi, but it is far more subtle than in a standard sword-and-sorcery novel. The rites and rituals of spell-casting are steeped in the occult, based on Judeo-Christian mysticism and cabala.
Rex Mundi blends the genres of film noir and “Indiana Jones” style action-adventure. The protagonist, Julien Saunière, is a Master of the Guild of Physicians. He maintains a private practice in Paris and is content providing medical treatment to the poor in exchange for odd-jobs and services.
He is also the longtime friend of the priest of the Church of the Magdalene, Father Gérard Marin. Marin comes to Julien one night in urgent need of help. Marin is in charge of a secret library of books hidden in the crypts beneath La Madeleine. Some of the texts have been stolen, but Marin does not know how, or even why. The bars and locks on the cast-iron door guarding the secret repository have not been tampered with, and the strange, cloying scent of sandalwood lingers in the musty air beneath the church.
Marin provides Julien one lead: much to his shame, the priest has been having an affair with a prostitute, to whom he revealed the location of the texts. The next day, Julien finds the prostitute brutally murdered in her room. He questions the owner of the tenement in which she lived and gets the name of her pimp. The landlord also reveals that he saw a short man wearing a white suit walking away from the building on the night of the prostitute’s death. From these clues Julien will trace the crime to the highest echelons of the French aristocracy, to a secret society founded in Jerusalem during the First Crusade and somehow connected to the legend of the Holy Grail. There is such as a thing as the Holy Grail, Julien will discover, but it is not a cup -- it is a secret revolving around the origins of Christianity, a secret so devastating it threatens to plunge the world into a cataclysmic war.
Issue One ends with the murder of Father Marin the evening after he tells Julien of his predicament. Julien is driven to find out exactly why his friend was murdered, and he will not rest until he exposes those responsible.
Julien inhabits a very dark, dangerous world in which there are no good guys and bad guys, only people protecting their own interests. There are no charming, honest yet bumbling police detectives, as in a Sherlock Holmes mystery, only an Inquisition that poses just as much a threat to Julien as do the gangsters, occultists and secret society members guarding the secrets he is trying to uncover.
In Issue Two his investigation is further complicated by his involvement with Genevieve Tournon, a fellow physician and former lover. Genevieve is ferociously ambitious: she wants to become a High Guild Master and marry a gentleman, securing a title for herself and her descendents. She thus decided to leave Julien a long time ago. And indeed, Genevieve is well on her way to achieving her goals: through charm and skill she has secured an appointment as Personal Physician to the Duke of Lorraine and an extremely powerful politician, second only to the King himself.
Genevieve is forced to make a choice between her ambition and her feelings for Julien when Julien’s investigation leads him to directly to the Duke. Julien will discover Lorraine’s ancestors have challenged the Bourbon claim to the throne several times, but always failed to seize power. Lorraine is ready to make a new bid for power -- the House of Bourbon is weaker than it has ever been. Lorraine has been pressing for war and is winning support from influential politicians.
Just as Julien becomes aware of Lorraine’s designs, so too does Lorraine become aware of Julien. Lorraine asks Genevieve to spy on Julien, which she gladly does at first, but she is surprised and disappointed to find that she still has genuine feelings for him. She becomes a double agent, informing Julien and Lorraine of each other’s activities, all the while imploring Julien to give. The closer Julien gets to the truth behind the murder, the stronger her feelings for him become, and the more she begs him to discontinue his quest. But Julien will not be placated with anything less than the truth.
The conspiracy Julien stalks traces its origin to the Templars, an order of knights founded in Jerusalem in 1099. The Inquisition eradicated the Templars in 1307 on charges of heresy and devil worship. But the Templars, it seems, were not exterminated completely.
Political tensions in Europe are phenomenally high, and the complex network of alliances, pacts and treaties between the major powers are ready to ignite into a devastating conflagration. Grail conspiracy members in England, Prussia and France are aggravating this situation to promulgate a bloody, apocalyptic war, the goal being the establishment of a French colony in Jerusalem and a new world order.
When Julien discovers the truth about the Holy Grail, he becomes driven to stop Lorraine and his conspirators at any cost.
Rex Mundi