(Before any hardcore fans of this blog get hugely excited, we should point out that Freeman is the name of one of the books due soon from Markosia, not the name of one of its creators...)
March will see the introduction of two new original Graphic Novels from publisher AAM/Markosia, following hot on the heels of recent successes From the Pages of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Harker, Serpent Wars and Kong: King of Skull Island.
The Dark, written and created by Chris Lynch with art by Rick Lundeen, is a super-hero sci-fi thriller that challenges the reader’s very perceptions of reality versus fiction. It's the story of Daniel Abbot, a brilliant young scientist on the fringes of the establishment and the creator of Memetech - a technology that encodes information and memories into a liquid form, allowing anyone to literally "drink" the encoded knowledge.
Terrified that his invention will be used for military purposes he decides to destroy his research, but not before he takes one last trip... with disastrous results.
Two years on and the genie is out of the bottle. Abbot, having perfected his own version of the technology, fights a one-man war against the spread of his own invention and the collapse of our information culture in the guise of ‘The Dark’.
“We've hidden lots of coded messages throughout the book,” explains Lynch, “Both in the dialogue and in the artwork. From the symbol on The Dark's chest to adverts in the background, everything is there for a reason. Hopefully people will get a kick out of trying to solve the mystery, or at least from looking back after they've read the book for the first time to find all the clues they missed.
"Either way, we wanted to create something with enough depth to bring people back to re-read the story time and again.”
Also shipping in the same month is Freeman of the Armed Services, written and drawn by industry veteran Huw-J. Freeman is a true archetypal British hero of old, a cross between James Bond, Doc Savage and Captain Britain without the spandex, from the artist perhaps best known for re-iventing Garth for the Mirror newspaper - to mixed reviews.
This new book is packed with action and adventure throughout as Freeman takes readers back to the good old days, where the spirit of adventure and good old-fashioned action reigned supreme. You join Captain Freeman in his search of a mysterious Viking treasure in the frozen north (a re-working of the Garth story published online by the Mirror) and battling an evil Chinese drug lord alongside Irish gangs in prohibitionist era New York, in a non-stop action-packed adventure akin to the old Saturday morning pulp shows.
“When I decided to take the successful Garth strip down from the Mirror website it was with both sadness and excitement,” explains Huw-J. "Re-branding the character as 'Freeman' was easy as I wanted the character to be 'a homage' to all the creators who went before me, so buckle up and enjoy the ride!”
• Here's the trailer for Chris Lynch's new cyberpunk/superhero comic The Dark, which is being published by Markosia (see news story on the downthetubes mobile blog). Written by Chris and with art by Rick Lundeen, it will be released later this month as an iTunes application and as an original graphic novel.
• There will be full reviews later, but just to say that having received review copies of Bryan Talbot's Grandeville (due in October) and Posy Simmonds' Tamara Drewe (out now in paperback) last Friday, I couldn't have wanted for better weekend reading material. Those eagerly awaiting Bryan's Nutwood-meets-Quention-Tarrantino romp will not be disappointed!• Comics artist and Concept Artist Lee Carter has been plugging Com.X superhero project in a video interview for CG Artist Daily. View the full interview here.
Responsible for the death of millions, the mysterious 'Tegel Project' threatens the very core of civilisation. Betrayed by MI5, the Fat Man finds himself caught between the blazing guns of would-be assassins and the blood-red lips of silent movie star Louise Brooks.
Unable to trust anyone and faced with a series of unpalatable choices, he careers madly along the arch of time on the seemingly impossible mission of keeping himself and his lover alive...
• London's Orbital Comics is to host an exhibition of portrait photographs by fab designer Steve Cook next month, featuring behind the scenes photographs of comics creators from the early days of Marvel UK to 2000AD and beyond. Witness Mark Millar driving a tank; Peter Milligan as Lawrence of Arabia and see what happened when Grant Morrison posed for a photograph at Land's End in Cornwall, during the Solar Eclipse of 1999. More info here on Facebook or check out the Orbital Comics web site
• Insomnia Publications has just revealed the foreword of the upcoming graphic novel Burke and Hare by Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering has been penned by comic supremo Alan Grant. Alan's enthused by the book, saying "there’s a moment in life that I savour: that delicious, perplexing instant when you realise that something you’ve ‘known’ for years is actually a crock of nonsense. Like discovering there’s no Santa Claus. Or realising your parents can’t read your mind when you think about sex. The Universe ripples like Predator shimmying through the jungle…and when it rights itself, reality has taken on a slightly different hue.
• Congratulations to former 2000AD editor and flat mate David Bishop, who has script, The Woman Who Screamed Butterflies, is through to the semi-finals of the 2009 Page International Screenwriting Awards. "That sounds more impressive than it is, since there are 25 semi-finalists in ten different categories, chosen from nearly 4400 entries in total," he says, modestly. "I'm in Short Film, a section I won two years ago for my animation project Danny's Toys." Finalist will be announced on 1st September, the winners a month later. Best of luck to him.
• A quick reminder that Antony Johnson's Skeleton Key, the third Alex Rider graphic novel, is out next month (7th September) in the UK. As with the previous books in the series, the 176 page adventure is ably illustrated by sisters Kanako and Yuzuru. "If events follow past form, readers in the US should be able to get hold of an edition a few months afterward," says Antony.
• Writer Cy Dethan has posted some pages from his current project, Harlan Falk, on his blog. "Most of the activity taking place below the waterline and several key things I'm not allowed to talk about yet. Scott James's work on this book has been phenomenal, and Jason Millet's colours are consistently amazing." In addition to the previews on Cy's site, you can check out the cover to Falk on Scott's blog here.
• Cinebooks, the UK publisher of English language editions of various bande dessines collections and more, has several titles out now which may be of interest to downthetubes readers, including Volume 2 of Orbital. (The first volume was published back in May).
In the story, human Caleb and an alien, Mezoke, are paired up and trained as special agents to keep the intergalactic peace.This is a controversial and historic alliance given their races’ longstanding enmity, and a lot of people are watching them. Their first mission is to keep war from breaking out between humans and Javlodes on the planet Senestam.
• And finally... Orang Utan Comics has teamed up with DriveThru Comics to offer all of their new titles in a digital format. The UK indie's new anthology, FTL #1 and the Alpha Gods OGN are now both available to download in PDF format from the popular digital comics site. Orang also report their next release on DriveThru will be FTL #2 which will be simultaneously available in print format via IndyPlanet and in digital format via DriveThru.
"This is a really exciting time for comic books and we intend to continue to explore new ways of delivering our comics to readers," says the company. "We will have many exciting announcements about new digital comics projects in the near future, including our first big step into the world of comics for mobile devices."
British indie publisher Markosia Enterprises have teamed up with Chris Lynch (Monkeys with Machineguns, Photonic Graffiti) and Rick Lundeen (100 Covers, Epoch) to publish The Dark -- a four-issue, cyberpunk-styled comic series.
With nods toward the novels of authors such as Neal Stephenson and William Gibson, and films such as The Matrix, The Dark is the story of Daniel Abbot, a brilliant young scientist on the fringes of the establishment and the creator of Memetech - a technology that encodes information and memories into a liquid form, allowing anyone to “drink” the information. Terrified that his invention will be used for military purposes he decides to destroy his research, but not before he takes one last trip... with disastrous results.
Two years on, and the Memetech genie is out of the bottle. Abbot, having perfected his own version of the technology, fights a one-man war against the spread of his own invention and the collapse of our information culture in the guise of “The Dark”. Aided by an artificial intelligence nicknamed Howard Hughes, Abbott creates “The Baffler” – a coat made of Memetech that gives his the edge over his enemies. Capable of injecting information directly into this brain and firing Memetech flechettes to hit others with bursts of pure information, The Baffler is both weapon and disguise in Daniel Abbot's war against his own creation.
When The Dark uncovers a plot to set off Memetech bombs across the whole of the city Dante, filling the air with liquid information and creating a new society of his enemy's devising, he's plunged into a desperate race against time. But, not everything is what is seems. Who is the new and mysterious enemy who seems to know The Dark's every move? How did the Memetech, thought destroyed, reappear? Why can't Daniel wake his wife and son? And why is everyone in Dante named after an English poet?
Markosia kindly sent us an advance copy of the first issue and we're pleased to report it's some of Chris Lynch's best work to date, complemented by some suitably moody art from Lundeen. The story is complex but well realized, with plenty to get you thinking and wondering just what will happen next.
"I've been a big fan of Chris Lynch for a while now," says publisher Harry Markos on securing the property for Markosia, "and asked him to pitch a couple of new projects that we could look at for the digital market, with a view to releasing it as a graphic novel later.
"He's come up trumps with The Dark. Coupled with Rick’s fantastically atmospheric art, Chris’s story takes you to a very believable but disturbing world, not unlike the one we are living in at the moment! I am confident that we have a hit in the making."
• The first issue of The Dark will be released in August of this year as a digital comic book, via iTunes, with three more issues in the pipeline. A graphic novel is planned for later in the year. There's a free 8-page preview at www.thedarkcomicbook.com
(Before any hardcore fans of this blog get hugely excited, we should point out that Freeman is the name of one of the books due soon from Markosia, not the name of one of its creators...)
Also shipping in the same month is Freeman of the Armed Services, written and drawn by industry veteran Huw-J. Freeman is a true archetypal British hero of old, a cross between James Bond, Doc Savage and Captain Britain without the spandex, from the artist perhaps best known for re-iventing Garth for the Mirror newspaper - to mixed reviews.
• Part Nine of Thomas Cochrane's ongoing time-travelling graphic novel The Fat Man, drawn by veteran illustrator and designer Alan Tanner (whose credits include covers for Time Out and the infamous Oz magazine), is now online at 
• London's 
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British indie publisher Markosia Enterprises have teamed up with Chris Lynch (Monkeys with Machineguns, Photonic Graffiti) and Rick Lundeen (100 Covers, Epoch) to publish The Dark -- a four-issue, cyberpunk-styled comic series. 
