It's a hard life being a witcher. You're trained, undergo various arduous trials, and then you have to spend your life battling monsters. It probably gets a bit tiring after a while, so it's no wonder that Geralt of Rivia is thinking about settling down to a life of ease.
In The Witcher: Corvo Bianco, a new five-issue miniseries published by Dark Horse in collaboration with CD Projekt Red, Geralt's happy ending doesn't go quite according to plan... In fact, he's about to find himself pulled into a fantasy western adventure that could be his most difficult battle yet.
The Witcher: Corvo Bianco #1 is penned by Bartosz Sztybor - who is also the writer of the current Witcher arc, 'Wild Animals' - and drawn by Corrado Mastantuono, a legend of Italian comics. The series is colored by Matteo Vattani and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
We've got a first look at the cover variants for the debut issue in the galleries below. Here's Corrado Mastantuono's own cover for #1, followed by Jorge Molina's variant.
"For all who know Geralt, Corvo Bianco is his endgame," said writer Bartosz Sztybor in a statement about the new comic. "The end of his journey, one and only place where he can retire - taking a break from killing monsters and trying to figure out how to make his own wine. As a fan of pop-culture and postmodern genre mixing, that setup above sounded like a perfect premise for a western. A western in The Witcher world - that's something that was never done before! So I quickly got excited and thought about getting on board someone who really knows what western is. Corrado Mastantuono is a comic book legend, one of the biggest names of all time, a person that created the most important titles in European comics, including a real western classic - Tex. With him mixing fantasy and western was never easier and more beautiful. Geralt roaming the Continent with a wild bunch of mages, Elves and Dwarves is my homage to Andrzej Sapkowski, Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone. Just imagine, Yennefer having a duel with another mage and Geralt attacking a stagecoach. Corvo Bianco was his dream, but he needs to fight for it!"
Here's Neyef's variant cover for the issue, followed by Tonci Zonjic's.
The official synopsis from Dark Horse reads:
"For a witcher, the simple life can be hard to come by, and even harder to pass up. When Geralt acquires a taste for a slower pace - good wine, and good company - the routines of a witcher are easily eclipsed. With Yennefer at his side, one might hope that Geralt will truly get to enjoy a taste of the good life. But the stains of history are deep, and with blood and wine, every drop attracts those who want more."
The Witcher: Corvo Bianco #1 is published by Dark Horse Comics on May 8.
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