As we go through life, we ponder many questions. Why are we here? Do I exist outside my mind? What is for lunch? One question that has riffled through my brain for many years is “Why don’t they do a rip-roaring retelling of Culhwch and Olwen?” Apparently Si Spurrier and Christopher Mitten have also pondered this question, as they will be adapting the tale in Rampant Swine,an upcoming series from Ignition Press.
In case you are not a scholar of Welsh/Arthurian mythology, Culhwch (pronounced sort of KIL-hook) and Olwen is one of the earliest extant Arthurian legends, but also a repository of now lost Welsh traditions. It was included in The Mabinogion, a 12-13th century collection of surviving Welsh tales – but if you’re my age you probably encountered it in The Lilac Fairy Book as “The Winning of Olwen.”
The story involves Culhwch, who was born in a pigpen but is in fact King Arthur’s cousin, and his quest to win the hand of Olwen, daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden Penkawr, who sets him a huge and well nigh impossible list of tasks that he must accomplish first. Along the way he enlists the vast assemblage of Arthur’s knights – who are also watered down versions of Welsh deities and legendary figures – to accomplish this dizzying array of quests, culminating in the hunt for the legendary boar, Twrch Trwyth.
If this sounds a little dry, the actual story is just bonkers. The few surviving Welsh myths that we have suggest an over the top world of elves, giants, talking trees, fierce warriors, diffident princesses, fabulous beasts, and whatever else you can throw in there. It’s just wild, wild stuff. They were, in fact, too wild for J. R. R. Tolkien, who disavowed any Celtic influence in Middle Earth:
“Needless to say they are not Celtic! Neither are the tales. I do know Celtic things (many in their original languages Irish and Welsh), and feel for them a certain distaste: largely for their fundamental unreason. They have bright colour, but are like a broken stained glass window reassembled without design. They are in fact ‘mad’ as your reader says—but I don’t believe I am.”
As we can see from the preview, Spurrier and Mitten, aided by letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, have taken this much traveled tale and recast it with the conflict between Christians and pagans in 10th century Britain. Between the vanished myths it hints at, and the foundation of Arthurian legend that we know today, there is endless fodder in Culhwch and Olwen.
In a Britain forged in blood, mud, magic, and monsters, the legendary King Arthur is a brutal warlord surrounded by his knights who are every bit as savage, strange, and legendary as the world they inhabit.
When the young knight Culhwch arrives at Arthur’s fortress pleading for help in completing 39 impossible tasks assigned him by the giant Ysbaddaden to win the hand of his beautiful daughter Olwen, he and Arthur’s warriors embark on an incredible quest of giant slaying, monstrous boar hunting, and magical treasure theft, as they battle their way through a dying age of myth.
But beneath the bloodshed and barbarism, something isn’t right. Because every great legend has a story beneath the story—and King Arthur was never meant to be this kind of hero.
“I’ve been itching to get my hands on King Arthur for years. He’s had it too easy for too long,” saidSpurrier. “Rampant Swineis mine and Chris Mitten’s hallucinogenic, gore-drenched, resolutely horny take on the oldest Arthurian myth there is:How Culhwch Won Olwen. Our intention throughout has been to impale every cliché, slaughter every assumption, piss on every lazy monkish trope and have an absolute fucking blast while doing so.Rampant Swineis a historical fantasy full of self-knowledge; a tale which is annoyed by the toxic virtue-signaling of its own official version, retelling itself in a more mischievous spirit. It wears its fictionhood like armor. It slithers between the epic and the intimate, the mundane and the miraculous, all drenched in the visionary beauty of Chris’s ethereal pen. For those who lovedThe Green KnightorThe Northman, those who thrill to the smart savagery ofConanorRed Sonja, those who delight in the interweaving dance of fact and myth, this book is relentlessly beautiful, charismatically violent, and utterly unique.”
“I’ve always loved Si’s work, his talent and how he crafts a story,” said artistMitten. “We worked together about fifteen years ago on a story forMyspace Dark Horse Presents,and it was such fun, so to get the chance to work with Si again all this time later, and on a story like this, a story that’s pretty much dead-center of both our wheelhouses, is a great feeling, really something special.”
“At Ignition, we strive to push the boundaries of what narrative comic book storytelling makes possible, and what Si and Chris are doing withRampant Swineis the pinnacle of that ethos,” said editorIan Shaughnessy. “Si takes material that many will find familiar and makes it something completely new—he’s rewriting the archive, transforming the traditional rules of what stories get told and who gets to tell them. Simultaneously, Chris is doing the best work of his already prolific career, bringing new life to this classic story with unexpected designs, thrilling action sequences, and stunning set pieces. I’m so excited for readers to experience what Si and Chris have beencooking!”
Rampant Swine#1 will be available on November 25, 2026, with colors byBrennan Wagner.This issue features two open-to-order covers from series artistMitten andJoëlle Jones.There is also a 1-in-10 retailer incentive by comics legendMike Mignola(Hellboy). Check it out below along with an exclusive preview of some pages!
