https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-21479-BD-Royaume.html

META: If there’s a particular genius in this series, it might just be that it turns the ‘damsel in distress’ role (“Anne”) in to the true hero of this series, whilst the ‘heroic protagonist’ (“François”) is generally the main character most in need of help. (it’s a fertile premise, anyway!)

Backstory: Anne, the King’s favorite maid, had been kept up at night by owls hooting away, so the King graciously allowed her to sleep in his bed for the time being (no hanky-panky). And yes, it was a little kingdom with a little castle. Unfortunately, the castle’s gossipy talking birds noticed, tattled to the Queen, and Anne was forced to leave, altho the King had the inspired idea for her to move in to a nearby house in the square and turn it in to a tavern.

Got that all? Right then, here we go:

(right-click as needed)

The Kingdom manages to be both hilarious and compelling in terms of plot, with lots of original little touches. I don’t know if this genre has a name (“light, medieval fantasy-farce, with soap opera-ish moments”?), but it’s rarely been better than in this series. I guess my biggest gripe is that it can sometimes teeter upon being distractingly dopey or hammy, with characters being little more than comedic props, but it always finds a way to right the ship and get back on track, usually due to quick pacing and masterful story-telling. Amidst all this, writer-artist Benoît Feroumont consistently demonstrates a deft touch in holding a mirror up to human nature, sometimes savagely so.

There are 10 books in total, mostly with self-contained stories. The English translations are published digitally by Europe Comics, available here.

Image backup here, which can be accessed via Archive.PH if needed:
https://imgur.com/gallery/sequence-from-immensely-likeable-entertaining-kingdom-series-5-pages-mkKmFbE