The king is mad, the court unstable, and peace with England is fragile at best. At the turn of the fifteenth century, in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War, a desperate France needed heroes.

It got something else.

Recently arrived, Gektar and his enslaved manservant, Heinrich, must navigate their way through the disloyal nobles, ambitious courtiers, and countless anachronisms that make up the court of King Charles the Mad. The kingdom is a web of intrigue and insanity, but does its only hope rest in a cheerfully unaware German and his meek and depressed companion?

Fortune's Fools is a serial webcomic in the court of King Charles the Mad during the One Hundred Years' War. The creation of Mel Olm (Script and Art) and MJ Almon (Script and Story), it went live at fortunesfools.comicgenesis.com on April 1st, 2006.

The webcomic is updated bi-weekly, normally on Tuesdays (give or take). May at times contain scenes with adult language and situations.

It is presently in midst of the second chapter of its first story arc, starting here. Gektar, newly appointed Captain of the King's Guard, and his servant Heinrich have been only a few weeks at the court of King Charles after a long journey through much of western and central Europe. All seems quiet in Paris, but a plot is brewing beneath their noses that threatens the peace and stability of the entire kingdom.

Fortune's Fools is more like an Astérix et Obélix than it is a BBC documentary. Having said this, the creators did (and continue to do) quite a bit of research and compiled a significant amount of information before completely ignoring it.

The artist sums up nicely our view on character dress / fashion of the time period:

"I KNEW right off the bat that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that I would be adhering to the fashion consensus of that time period."

So while there are historically accurate elements (the king was indeed a tad insane), please do not feel that this is a substitute for researching for your class on French medieval history. Fortune's Fools, as a historical source, is only slightly more acceptable in an academic setting than wikipedia.

Mel Olm is the artistic talent behind Fortune's Fools. She is a recently graduated animation student in Canada and appears to work 26 hours a day and subsist on the dreams of the young, hopeful and naive rather than give in to sleep.