Take a Butcher’s at Slaughterman’s Creed

Markosia Enterprises have just announced their new graphic novel, Slaughterman’s Creed - a surreal London gangland thriller which combines the vicious intensity of British crime fiction with the structure and spirit of a Samurai revenge drama in a nightmarishly compelling urban fantasy.

The book re-unites writer Cy Dethan with artist Stephen Downey, the creators of the 2009 indie hit, Cancertown: An Inconvenient Tooth. Set in a world where an ethical knife-edge is all that separates hero from villain, the story combines a strong British crime aesthetic with mythological overtones and a distinctive noir edge.

“What you will find is a nasty, dark tale which cuts into the underbelly of gangland London," enthuses Laurence “The Punisher” Campbell in the album's foreword. "Think The Long Good Friday meets No Country For Old Men.

"... Cy Dethan pushes the boundaries. No, not pushes them - casually disregards them and walks right over them.”

Definitely not a book for the squeamish, as you'll gather from this free 12-page preview, the story centres on Sidney,   a professional killer working for Big Lenny Addison, a London ganglord specialising in human trafficking. He is almost completely uneducated except in his family’s trade at which he is an unparalleled expert.

When he's called upon to breach his code and bring a pregnant woman to slaughter, Sidney's world is changed forever. Betrayed by those he has served his whole life, the Slaughterman embarks on a bloody vendetta - determined to put Addison's entire monstrous empire to the blade.”

Described by writer Cy Dethan as “a story of the fall and rise of monsters”, the book is already carving a name a name for itself on the independent comic scene.
"My plan was to take my time and read Slaughterman’s Creed over a few days, but pretty much by page five I was in for the long haul and ended up reading the whole thing in a single sitting," says  Barry Nugent of The Geek Syndicate, while over at Sci-Fi Pulse, it gave reviewer Wayne Hall a case of the night terrors - although, strangely, he seems to have enjoyed them. "If Mr. Dethan keeps delivering this kind of novel perspective on the world, I’ll have trouble sleeping at night, says Wayne. "... But I was gripped from the first page, so please keep it up!"

Slaughterman’s Creed is published by Markosia Enterprises and will launch on 14th May  at the Bristol Comic and Small Press Expo, as part of the Markosia Madness event, which will include signing, sketching and facepainting.

A limited signed edition, costing £10 (RRP Price £12.99), is available to pre-order, which also includes entry into a draw to win a piece of original art by Stephen Downey and Vicky Stonebridge.

• Pre-order details can be found at Cy Dethan’s blog. The book can be ordered through the March edition of Diamond Previews in the usual way using order code MAR11 0811.

• Slaughterman’s Creed is also available digitally on the Sony Playstation Network with audio commentary by Cy Dethan, and will be available on Comixology and Graphic.ly, with other formats to follow.


Slaughterman's Creed - Credits
Writer: Cy Dethan
Pencils & colours chapters 1-2: Stephen Downey
Inks: Andy Brown
Colours: Vicky Stonebridge
Letters: Nic Wilkinson
Cover: Ryan Brown
Foreword: Laurence Campbell

• More info at: www.slaughtermanscreed.com