Preview: A Return To A Classic — Barbe-Rouge Reinvented In ‘Redbeard’

by Richard Bruton

A modern reinvention of the classic Barbe-Rouge, Redbeard sees the pirate captain in a new role, privateer for the King of France. But there’s no escaping the past in this thriller on the high seas from Cinebook!

Barbe-Rouge was a classic Euro pirate comic created back in 1959 by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Hubinon that continued, with various writers and artists involved, until 2004.

It’s something that Euro comics does so well, the historical drama full of adventure – and it’s continued here in the 2020 continuation of Barbe-Rouge, the new adventures, a tale that stays true to the classic but gives it a modern spin to introduce Barbe-Rouge/Redbeard, his son Éric, and the crew of the Black Falcon to new readers.

It’s 1738 and we’re in the Caribbean. Redbeard’s trying to live the life of an ex-pirate, now in the service of the King of France as a privateer – but of course that’s just a pirate by another name in so many ways, just one backed by a country.

Anyway, this former terror of the Seven Seas is finding semi-retirement a little dull, as are his companions on board the Black Falcon, as France is currently at peace and the seas of war are becalmed.

But adventure, of course, awaits, as the town’s governor gives him a new mission, to catch the mystery French pirate who terrorises the Carolinas. There’s a new adventure for Redbeard, but the sins of the past and the many enemies that he made in his pirate years are lying in wait.