This is from the classic Les armées du Conquérant / Conquering Armies, by JP Dionnet and JC Gal.
Slight backstory-- publishing house Les Humanoïdes Associés (or "Humanoids") had been established just three years before (in 1974), by Mœbius, Dionnet, Philippe Druillet, and financial director Bernard Farkas. It went on to change the world in terms of BD and comics, I humbly submit.
Now here-- there was a great deal of novel experimentation in this series, which could sometimes feel a bit archaic, yet sometimes feel beweirdingly progressive. In any case, these books are collections of short-story works about a Roman army-type takeover of the known Mediterranean+ world, but one which kept running in to unusual, unexpected, or even unholy problems.
So it's the emperor (conqueror) who kept tripping over his own shoelaces, one might say. But enough ado, here's the story link:
In terms of pure comics-fandom, a big (maybe controversial) issue is the fact that these works were originally published in blazing, hot-detailed B&W, but recently got colorised like this. Now personally, I had a weird issue with the original B&W's kinda scorching my eyes (even as it highlighted the beautiful, detailed work by JC Gal).
Personally, I like these new colors. They seem tasteful and 'non-extreme.'
If you're curious, you can see below what the originals looked like:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Armees+du+Conquerant%22+black+white+comic&udm=2
Cool little story. Always a big fan of that style of artwork. I'll have to look into that series, had never heard of it.
I just read the entire bd. Fun read. The story of Arn, the final one in the book, was a great read. Felt like an ancient Greek myth. And the art was phenomenal at times.
Thx for the recommendation.
Interesting... I hadn't thought about them that way, but I think that suits the stories well, in which it doesn't really matter who the army represents, nor who the generals are.