"The Children's Crusade" is the over-arching title of a seven-issue
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Music
Albums
* ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue
* ''Crossover'', an album by ...
and
limited series
In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...
, and specifically the two bookends thereof. It was published in
1993
The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as:
* International Year for the World's Indigenous People
The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
and
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
by
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
as a part of the
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
.
The two bookends which open and close the crossover were written by
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
and
Alisa Kwitney
Alisa Kwitney (born 1964) is an American writer of comedic romance novels and graphic novels.
Biography
Kwitney grew up in New York City, on Manhattan's Upper West Side,Books of Magic'' series). These were written by those titles' then-authors: Dick Foreman,
Jamie Delano
Jamie Delano ( ; born 1954) is an English comic book writer. He was part of the first post-Alan Moore "British Invasion" of writers which started to feature in American comics in the 1980s. He is best known as the first writer of the comic book ...
Rachel Pollack
Rachel Grace Pollack (August 17, 1945 – April 6, 2023) was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot.
Early life and education
Pollack was born on August 17, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York to a Jew ...
and John Ney Rieber, respectively.
This storyline marked the first attempt by the then-brand-new Vertigo comic line to do a
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Music
Albums
* ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue
* ''Crossover'', an album by ...
within its titles. Its relative lack of success, and the subsequent retooling of the Vertigo imprint to feature comics that do not tend to share a universe, make it unlikely to be repeated in such a manner. Subsequently, therefore, while individual characters (in particular
John Constantine
John Constantine (), also known as Hellblazer, is an antihero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben, and first appeared in ''Swamp Thing'' #37 (June 1985). I ...
) occasionally guest-star in other titles, such a wide-ranging crossover has not been attempted.
Titles
In addition to the two ''Children's Crusade'' issues, the crossover ran through five newly created/resurrected ''Annual''s. In reading order the event runs as follows: ''Children's Crusade'' #1, '' Black Orchid Annual'' #1, '' Animal Man Annual'' #1, '' Swamp Thing Annual'' #7, '' Doom Patrol Annual'' #2, '' Arcana Annual'' #1, and ''Children's Crusade'' #2.
Collected edition
In 2015,
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
published the entire title in one collected edition ''Free Country: A Tale of the Children's Crusade'', which includes the two issue miniseries, as well as a "brand-new middle chapter" written by ''Dead Boy Detectives'' writer
Toby Litt
Toby Litt (born 1968) is an English writer and academic based at the University of Southampton.
Life
Litt was born in Ampthill, England, in 1968. He was educated at Bedford Modern School, read English at Worcester College, Oxford and studied C ...
and drawn by artist Peter Gross in place of the annuals of the original crossover.
Characters
Alongside Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland, the "
Dead Boy Detectives
The Dead Boy Detectives are a fictional supernatural detective duo who have appeared in comic books published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. They were created by writer Neil Gaiman and artists Matt Wagner and Malcolm Jones III in '' The Sandman ...
", it focused on the children who played major roles in these books: Suzy, Maxine Baker,
Tefé
Tefé, known in early accounts as Teffé, is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas, northern Brazil.
History
As early as 1620 the Portuguese Carmelites could already boast of converts amo ...
Timothy Hunter
Timothy Hunter is a fictional character, a comic book sorcerer published by DC Comics. He first appeared in '' The Books of Magic'' #1 (January 1990), and was created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton.
Publication history
Tim Hunter was created b ...
respectively.
Advertising
The crossover was advertised in the trade press, amongst them the fledgling '' Hero Illustrated''. The advert featured a specially written five-panel strip in which Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine read the
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
press release
A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...
advertising the "big crossover in October and November
993
Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian (also known as the Sword of Essen) as ...
in some of the Vertigo Annuals".''Hero Illustrated'' Vol. 1, Number 5, November 1993, p. 2
The crossover's tagline was "The Children's Crusade, ''it's no Fairy Tale''" and the author of the comic-strip-advert (likely
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
, about whom it says "whoever he is") writes archly, through the character of Charles Rowland:
:"It says here that the Vertigo Universe will never be the same again.
:Of course, it was never the same before".
Plot summaries
The story starts with the ghosts of two boys, Edwin and Charles (seen previously in issue #25 of '' The Sandman'' and later in '' The Dead Boy Detectives''), who have set up shop as detectives for hire, with nothing but the knowledge of the great mystery novels and films. The two boys are approached by a young girl that finds their ad and enlists them to locate her brother who, along with several other children, disappeared from the small English hamlet they all live in, called Flaxdown.
It turns out that all the children of the village as well as all other children who have ever disappeared (in " The Children's Crusade" & "
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.
The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest refer ...
") were taken to a place called "Free Country". Free Country is a place where children never grow old and are free from the abuse and tyranny of adults (child abuse is a recurring theme). Free Country is run by a council of various children who have existed there hundreds of years. The council is attempting to bring over all the children in the world, but Free Country is having trouble supporting them all. To help bolster Free Country's power they bring over five innately powerful children. As long as the children stay in Free Country they provide the place with power.
The comics include many references to the works of
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...
Timothy Hunter
Timothy Hunter is a fictional character, a comic book sorcerer published by DC Comics. He first appeared in '' The Books of Magic'' #1 (January 1990), and was created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton.
Publication history
Tim Hunter was created b ...
from
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
's ''
The Books of Magic
''The Books of Magic'' is the title of a four-issue English-language comic book Limited series (comics), miniseries written by Neil Gaiman, published by DC Comics, and later an ongoing series under the imprint Vertigo Comics, Vertigo. Since its or ...
'' miniseries. The story concentrated mostly on a young dancer called Marya, who leaves behind Free Country and an overly attentive admirer named Daniel to recruit Timothy Hunter to their cause. Tim is destined to be the greatest magician of his age, and his support would greatly strengthen Free Country, but before she can find him, the young magician is kidnapped "respectfully" by a falconer named Tamlin.
Tamlin is apparently working on behalf of an unnamed Queen implied to be Titania, but when he takes Tim to a dying corner of Faerie he admits that he has his own agenda: Faerie is dying, and the falconer thinks that Tim may be able to save it. He gives Tim a gift of a magical stone, and leaves him to find his own way back to the real world. When he does, Tim meets with Marya and agrees to go to Free Country to see if he can help there. Marya doesn't return with him, deciding to stay in the real world and fulfil her dream of becoming a dancer.
The ''Arcana Annual'' also acted as a prelude to a monthly ''The Books of Magic'' comic, which continued the stories of Tim and Tamlin, and Marya and Daniel.
''Arcana: The Books of Magic Annual #1'' was included in the collected edition of ''
The Books of Faerie
''The Books of Faerie'' is a series of three miniseries spun off from Vertigo Comics' series ''The Books of Magic'' written by Bronwyn Carlton (two series) and John Ney Rieber (one series). It featured characters used predominantly in the parent ...
''.
Prose adaptation
In 2003, a prose adaptation of the crossover was released as part of the ''Books of Magic'' prose novels series. ''The Books of Magic: The Children's Crusade'' was written by Carla Jablonski.