The Man in the Iron Mask

Plot

Retells, in comic book format, Alexandre Dumas' tale of political intrigue, romance, and adventure in seventeenth-century France.

"The Man in the Iron Mask" was actually an episode of a multi-volume novel by French author Alexandre Dumas. It begins with the popular story of the accession of a young D'Artagnan to the King's Musketeers and ends decades later with the feats of the aging four Musketeers and their children. "The Man in the Iron Mask" has been adapted in past to the screen and comic book format as a discrete story, usually with a happier ending than was provided by Dumas. Author Roy Thomas and illustrator Hugo Petrus boldy take on the task of compressing Dumas' original story into graphic novel format for Marvel Comics.

Thomas begins this novel with a quick prologue that establishes the identities of D'Artagnan and his three Musketeer companions. The story proper begins with the introduction of the now priestly Aramis to a unique prisoner in the bowels of the dreaded Bastille Royal Prison. The prisoner, a young man, bears a striking resemblance to the sitting King of France, and has a fascinating explanation for the resemblance. Out of this encounter is born a plot, hatched by Aramis, that will have far-reaching implications for the four Musketeers, their friends and family, and the Kingdom of France.