Zetari by John M. Burns

'Zetari' by John M. Burns

According to his interview in George Khoury's 2004 overview of British comics artists,True Brit, John M. Burns (b. 1938) first began illustrating comics in 1954. Over his 50+ year career, he provided illustrations for an impressive gamut of titles from UK publications such as 2000 AD, Look-In, Eagle, Diana, and Marvel UK. 

Burns also illustrated a number of comic strips for UK newspapers, including the cheesecake strip Jane and the private-eye strip The Seekers.

From 1984 to 1988, Burns teamed up with the Dutch writer Martin Lodewijk to produce 'Zetari', a fantasy comic featuring a female lead. Zetari was serialized in Panorama magazine, the Italian magazine L'Eternauta, and the Spanish magazine Zona 84.

This 96-page, 2018 German-language graphic novel (or 'integral'), from publisher ERKO, compiles all the Zetari comics in a very nice hardcover edition. 

Not being fluent in German, I can't comment on the writing of this graphic novel, but the excellence of Burns's artwork is quite evident. The cheesecake elements lend the book an undertone of humor that balances the occasional bouts of bloody swordplay.

'Zetari' has not, to the best of my knowledge, been published in the U.S. Hopefully someone like Titan Books, IDW, Dark Horse, Image, or Avatar will recognize Zetari as a gem of 1980s comics and graphic art, and arrange to issue a U.S. version.