Templar

Martin is one of a handful of Templar Knights to escape when the king of France and the pope conspire to destroy the noble order. The pope and king aim to frame the Templars for heresy, execute all of them, and make off with their legendary treasure. That's the plan, anyway, but Martin and several other surviving knights mount a counter-campaign to regain the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. With gorgeous illustrations by LeUyen Pham and Alexander Puvilland and lush coloring from Hilary Sycamore, this 480-page, full-color, hardcover graphic novel is itself a treasure.

Acclaimed author, screenwriter, and video game designer Jordan Mechner began his career by creating the blockbuster games Karateka and Prince of Persia. His documentary Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story won the 2003 IDA Award for Best Short Documentary. Templar is the sequel to his graphic novel Solomon's Thieves, also published by First Second. Mechner was born in New York and attended Yale University. LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland have not only illustrated Templar, but also Prince of Persia, the graphic novel, with Jordan Mechner and A.B. Sina. Alex works for DreamWorks Animation as a visual development artist, and LeUyen is the illustrator of over forty books for children, including the Freckleface Strawberry series by Julianne Moore, the Alvin Ho Series by Lenore Look, and her own All the Things I Love About You.