Monte Cristo

The classic tale of love, revenge and redemption — reimagined and transposed by Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner to post-9/11 America and today's globalized world.

With masterly artwork by Mario Alberti, the first two volumes of Jordan's new graphic novel trilogy are now available in French. (Hardcover, color, 70 pages each.)

Complete graphic novel in 3 volumes.

Book 2: The Island

After 15 years cut off from the world in a secret military prison, Sam Castillo returns as enigmatic billionaire Victor Sirin, determined to take revenge against the three powerful men who destroyed his life. Manipulating people like chess pieces to punish the guilty and reward the virtuous, Victor awakens the suspicions of millennial FBI agent Danica Jorjevic. He deftly evades her inquiries, even as her underdog determination earns his respect. Both are driven by a desire for justice. If Victor's vengeance will cause collateral damage to the innocent, what makes him different from the men he hates?

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Book 1: The Prisoner

Sam Castillo embodies the blue-collar American dream — promoted to contractor, engaged to his sweetheart Abby at age 24 — until three enemies conspire to frame him as a terrorist. Rendered to a black-site prison an ocean away, Sam befriends a brilliant, multi-lingual fellow detainee who educates him in the ways of the world... and bestows on him the key to a secret fortune. After 15 years of imprisonment, Sam's daring escape puts him in the position to, at last, take a terrible revenge.

Glenat (French) Amazon (French) Live Preview

Monte Cristo is currently only available to buy in French. If you'd like to be notified when the English edition is released, subscribe to Jordan's mailing list here:

Preview

"With their Monte Cristo, Mario Alberti and Jordan Mechner have very intelligently placed the subject in an extremely current context, unexpected, clever, even astonishing, which works while preserving the main lines of Dumas' novel. Fine mastery... We delight in the anticipated revenge that will unfold in three albums. We trust Sam to be a formidable Monte Cristo."

— Ligne Claire

"We quickly understand the political context of the tale, which hooks us... Alexandre Dumas' story has been adapted many times, but Jordan Mechner's script is effective and well-written. We can't help feeling compassion for Sam, who loses everything and spends long years in prison hell, and whose revenge we eagerly await. Visually, the whole is immersive and the atmosphere is successful... We can't wait to see Sam return in the sequel."

— La Geek Room

"[Mechner] makes a remarkable debut as a French comics scenarist with this more than promising "Monte Cristo"... [Mario Alberti's] realistic and vigorous artwork, uncluttered by useless details, is lively; his characters move easily and expressively in well-crafted settings. In short, here is a talented author who knows how to combine efficiency and quality."

— BDZoom.com

"Jordan Mechner skillfully modernizes The Count of Monte Cristo... The political stakes anchor the scenario in the geopolitical dynamics of the early 2000s and demonstrate that things haven't changed much since the mid-19th century. A good adventure novel that has everything to please fans of Largo Winch and Hedge Funds... and maybe even fans of Alexandre Dumas."

— BDGest.com

In Jordan's Words: A Modern Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas has been one of my favorite authors since childhood. His work was a formative influence for me in creating Prince of Persia, The Last Express, and Templar. But I'd never dared to think of adapting a Dumas story directly until, rereading the original Count of Monte Cristo on a train crossing Europe, it struck me how perfectly its plot and themes fit post-9/11 America.

Dumas is a master at weaving unforgettable fictional characters into real historical events. Although his original Monte Cristo takes place in the Napoleonic era, its premise of injustice — that someone might be abducted and kept in indefinite detention without a trial by powerful people twisting the law to serve their own interests — resonated with me as frighteningly plausible in our own 21st century.

The extraordinary Italian illustrator Mario Alberti was the perfect creative partner to bring the modern world of Monte Cristo to life. Mario's artwork is alive: dynamic, loose, and striking, grounded in scrupulous research. French publisher ComixBuro launched our collaboration in Montpellier, France, an ocean away from the New York and Connecticut towns where protagonist Sam Castillo and I grew up. Now the first two books of our trilogy are here. I can’t wait for readers to discover the world of Sam Castillo and Victor Sirin.

"Mario Alberti's work is remarkable in every way... Resolutely modern...

Jordan Mechner appropriates this masterpiece by Alexandre Dumas to create an intelligent and daring adaptation.

Transposing the story to post-9/11 America, a traumatic event that has permanently shaken our Western societies, [Mechner] uses the novel's motifs to weave a romantic, captivating and truly original scenario anchored in history, as Dumas loved to do.

The combined talents of the virtuoso Mario Alberti and the talented colorist Claudia Palescandolo make the story so captivating that one almost forgets the original. The first volume of a promising and exciting trilogy, "The Prisoner" launches a tremendous adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo."

— Les Sentiers de l'Imaginaire