The origins of coffee and its use can be traced as far back as the 15th century. No direct evidence of its consumption or where it was first cultivated has been found prior to then. Its use spread quickly throughout the world; spreading to Persia in the 16th century, then to Italy shortly after. Eventually the Europeans were introduced to the coffee bean and in the 17th century, India and the East Indies followed suit. The coffee house became a hub for popular discourse in Western Europe by the late 17th century, primarily in England and Germany. By the late 1800’s coffee was being imbibed around the world and continues relentlessly to this day. Sufi monks would use coffee as an aid to concentration during prayers; it would also at various times be used as an appetite suppressant or as a stimulant and was banned in Ethiopia in the 18th century. It soon became the most popular beverage in the entire world. Would Agnes be lucky enough to find a coffee house in the world of 20,000 years ago? I reply a hearty yes to that! This world that we live on has been made and re-made a countless number of times during it’s billions of years revolving around the sun. Fossilized gears and machine screws have been found buried in rocks from millennia ago, whereas something like that shouldn’t have been at all possible…at least to man’s limited knowledge. So, were the merits of the coffee bean appreciated by the people populating the timeline of my little fictional world that I’ve created? See the comic above and suspend your disbelief!
Sonya Crimson has the honour and pleasure of appearing in this Birger the Barbarian strip by Swedish cartoonist Ake Rosenius. The full strip will be published in the August issue of Fenix magazine, but in the meantime here’s Sonya and Birger together for the first time.
Let Ake know what you think of his wonderfully drawn version of Sonya by clicking on the comment link below and spreading the love!
Oh that sword is not well placed.
Sonya looks good though, and congradulations Jim, on the widening sphere of influince!
Thanks, balthazar! It made me very happy to see. It’s difficult to explain how something like this makes an artist feel. I guess you could say it’s a form of validation; knowing that people are reading and enjoying characters that you create and that they would share them in such a way. Especially someone of Ake’s caliber. It’s a good feeling!
I see what Balthazar means; if that’s not a “sword of dancing” there’s no reason I can see for it to be floating like that.
No reason you can SEE… 😉
Which is probably quite fortunate.