Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (3 June 1910 – 24 August 2003),[1] also known as Mubarak bin Landan (Arabic: مُبَارَك بِن لَنْدَن, the blessed one of London)[2][3] was a British military officer, explorer, and writer.

[1] He was the son of Wilfred Gilbert Thesiger, who was British consul-general in Ethiopia from 1909 to 1919, and his wife Kathleen Mary Vigors.

He later recalled how impressed he had been on the day in 1916, when following the overthrow of the Emperor Lij Iyasu, the army of Ras Tafari "armed with swords and spears, some of them carrying rifles, but all of them with shields", followed by bands of wild tribesmen on horses, hurried past the British Legation on their way to give battle to Negus Mikael, the father of Lij Iyasu: That day made a profound impression on me, implanting a craving for barbaric splendour, for savagery and colour, from which derived a lasting respect for tradition and a readiness to accept a variety of long-established cultures and customs.

I grew to feel an increasing resentment towards Western innovations in other lands and a distaste for the dull monotony of our modern world.

[5][6] In 1930 Thesiger returned to Africa, having received a personal invitation from Emperor Haile Selassie to attend his coronation, and joined the Order of the Star of Ethiopia.

[6] At the outbreak of war, Thesiger joined the Sudan Defence Force, helping to organise the Abyssinian resistance to the occupying Italians.

This led to two crossings of the great Arabian desert, the Rub' al Khali or Empty Quarter, and travels in inner Oman.

He rode camels in the company of Bedu guides through remote areas that were potentially dangerous on account of tribal tensions and the opposition of local rulers to the presence of foreigners.

[10] Thesiger's first large desert crossing began in October 1946 when, with his Bedouin companions, he left Salalah in the Dhofar province of Oman and travelled to the Mughshin Oasis.

However, the need to finance his expeditions led the explorer to accept funding from the oil company in exchange for providing information garnered from his travels.

This comic book series is partially set amidst the Second World War's East African campaign.