''Charlemagne'' is an American extinct comic book series, published by

Defiant Comics Defiant Comics was a comic book publishing imprint of Enlightened Entertainment Partners, LP. Defiant was established in 1993 by former Marvel Comics and Valiant Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Publication history Defiant was founded in th ...

from February

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

until July 1994. The series lasted for 5 issues before Defiant ceased publication. A free teaser issue, #0, was published inside ''

Hero Illustrated ''Hero Illustrated'' was a comic book-themed magazine published in the early to mid-1990s in the United States. Columnists included Andy Mangels, and Frank Kurtz was at one time a managing editor. The journal won the 1995 Eisner Award for Best Co ...

'' #9, and not available separately.

Series overview

''Charlemagne'' revolves around Charles Smith. When the series begins in 1973, Charles is a 12-year-old boy who runs away from home after his brother Pete is reported missing in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

(1955-1975). Charles manages to get to Vietnam, and spends months trying to locate Pete. His search takes him to a small village, where Charles sees his brother being attacked by a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. Pete is killed by a bomb, and Charles is also badly injured, his legs blown off in a second explosion. Flown back to an America, Charles spends several months in a coma, where he dreams of ways to save his brother. When Charles finally wakes up, it is 1993, and Charles has somehow regrown his legs. He now has super-strength and the ability to leap great distances. He leaves the hospital and sets off again in search of his brother. Charles confronts countless super-powered beings over the course of his adventures. While in New York, he is saved from attacking malcontents by 'Michael', a being who can perceive and remove mystical antagonists from the minds of others. Michael is the star of another Defiant comic series, ''

Dark Dominion ''Dark Dominion'' is an American comic book series that was published monthly by Defiant Comics from October of 1993 until July of 1994. It spanned a total of 10 issues until Defiant ceased publication. There was one #0 issue published as a tra ...

''. Later, Charles is attacked by a large, muscle-bound pink humanoid who delights in influencing others into suicidal depression. Charles saves Michael, whom he now considers a friend, from this entity. It turns his powers on him. Charles is able to resist this by grabbing his brother's dog tags, which he now wears. The plain reminder of better times allows him to mentally resist the monster then defeat it physically. In the next issue, Michael fights with War Dancer, the star of another Defiant series.''Charlemagne'' #4 (June 1994) The series ends with Charles revisiting his family 20 years after he had left home.

References

External links

Charlemagne overview at Jim Shooter website
1994 comics debuts 1994 comics endings Comics characters introduced in 1994 Comics set in the 1970s Fiction set in 1973 Comics set during the Vietnam War {{comics-stub