t was during the 18th century that the Ministry of Inquisition ruled over the lands of Venisalle, for in the world of The Marquis, faith and religion are the strict laws of life and death. It is into this world that the souls of Hell have escaped to sin, murder and be free by taking possession of the living. During this time, a man of the Inquisition finds himself blessed with the ability to see into the very souls of the damned and fight the devils within. But as the Marquis begins his holy crusade to send back the escapees of Hell, the battle between good and evil starts to blur into a struggle between faith and sanity.
The Marquis is my second creator owned project after "Baker Street"; the Sherlockian punk-mystery series I created with Gary Reed in the early 90’s. Originally seeing print in 1997 through a one-shot comic published by Caliber Press, “The Marquis: Les Preludes” was a preview issue to the upcoming Marquis series that got shelved for a few years before beginning anew in 2000 at ONI press with two series. "Danse Macabre" which told the origins of Vol de Galle as the Marquis, his fight against the devils and his own faith and madness, followed by "Intermezzo" which collected the shorter stories of The Marquis’ unholy crusade in “Hell’s Courtesan” and the one-shot, “A Sin of One”.

The Marquis is now being published through Dark Horse Comics, beginning with "The Marquis: Inferno" which collects the stories from both Danse Macabre and Intermezzo along with an expanded sketchbook section and full-color cover gallery. Since it's creation, The Marquis was always planned as a finite series, and now through Dark Horse the remaining storylines will be coming out as original graphic novels beginning with “The Marquis and The Midwife” in 2010 followed by the last 2 books that tell the complete story of the Marquis Vol de Galle.

In addition to the english language editions from Dark Horse, the French versions of the series have been collected into deluxe hardcover formats through Les Humanoïdes Associés along with Spanish editions through Norma Editorial.


For weekly updates on upcoming Marquis projects, please check out the
Marquis Inferno Blog!
 
“Beautiful, smart, and very disturbing— Guy Davis has created his own unique world, a personal vision of good and evil, and his finest work.”
— Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy
  

"Guy Davis is one of my favorite hidden treasures in comics. I love the simple, direct way he has of drawing. Everyone he applies his pen to breathes, and the hardness of life shows on their faces and in the slump of their shoulders. They’re real people. And that sense of reality imbues his stories with a frankness that is refreshing in today’s world of paper people and overblown steroid posers. Marquis is his most ambitious project yet. Do yourself a favor and get lost in it.”
— George Pratt, writer/artist of Batman:
Harvest Breed, artist of Enemy Ace


“Guy Davis is the most talented writer artist working in the field today and The Marquis is the master story teller at his best.”
— Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo


“…Told with a great narrative efficiency and a rigor that reminds you of the pathological rigor of the best Alex Toth, with its graphic strangeness and the excess of Topor or a Giger…”
— Jean Pierre Dionnet, writer/founder of
Metal Hurlant Magazine

  

“Unlike most comic pros who just give us stories, Guy Davis has created an entire world for the Marquis to inhabit, unique and utterly convincing in its surreality. He shows us a time that was never on a world that could be Earth, and though it’s a strange and alien place, every cobble stone, every button on every coat, every single detail is examined in both art and story. And if a more disturbing picture of Hell exists than what Guy gives his readers in the final issue of The Marquis I’m pretty sure I don’t want to see it.”
— John Arcudi, writer on B.P.R.D.,
Aliens, Superman


“The Marquis, by that ridiculously talented Davis person, quite frankly hit me right between the eyes like a killing hammer. Concept, character, and art, in one elegantly brutal package. The Marquis. It’s one of those remarkable anomalies this medium seems to spawn from nowhere every now and then. It’s quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen in comics…Ideas fly off the wall of Davis’ mind like flies on a corpse. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on anything by the title The Marquis. So good it hurts.”
— Michael Zulli, artist on Sandman,
Delicate Creatures, The Last Temptation

 
The Marquis is ™ and © 1997-2009 by Guy Davis, no text or artwork may be reproduced by any means, except for review purposes, without the express written permission of the copyright holder.