The Book of Ballads and Sagas

What if the old ballads your grandmother hummed — “The Demon Lover,” “Thomas the Rhymer,” “The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry” — were reborn as comics, illustrated by one of the greatest fantasy artists alive? That’s the question Charles Vess asked himself when he launched The Book of Ballads and Sagas through his own Green Man Press in 1995. The answer turned out to be one of the most delightful, idiosyncratic comics series of the 1990s.

An All-Star Cast of Writers

Vess approached some of the finest fantasy writers of the era to adapt traditional Scottish and English folk ballads into comic scripts. Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith (Bone), Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, and Sharyn McCrumb all contributed, each bringing their own voice to centuries-old songs about love, death, betrayal, and magic. Vess then illustrated each ballad in his signature pen-and-ink style — intricate, atmospheric, and deeply rooted in the Celtic and Nordic landscape that inspired the original songs.

Publication History

The series originally ran for four issues as a biannual self-published comic, collected in 1997 as Ballads and later as a hardcover from Tor Books in 2004. In 2017, Titan Comics published The Book of Ballads: The Original Art Edition, presenting Vess’s black-and-white original art in an oversized format that reveals every delicate line and crosshatch. The Library of Congress now holds Vess’s original art in its permanent collection.

Folk Meets Comics

What makes The Book of Ballads and Sagas so special is its cross-genre appeal — folk music enthusiasts who had never touched a comic book subscribed through Sing Out magazine alongside comic collectors who discovered a love for traditional music. It’s the sort of project that could only exist as a labor of love, and its warmth and handmade quality shine through every page.

The ballads themselves range from tragic (“The Two Corbies,” a Scottish variant of “The Three Ravens”) to eerie (“The Elfin Knight”) to swashbuckling. Each one is introduced with a brief note on its origins, making the collection as educational as it is beautiful.

Perfect for fans of Stardust, Jeff Smith’s Bone, folk music, and the illustrated ballad tradition of Arthur Rackham and Walter Crane.