The Spaniard's Bell

Well, as we promised the new Joachim Darke pages are now up on the blog. Apologies for the delay in doing so but we had a few techn ical difficulties - however, the pages are up now. This is a strip which I did with David Dale whose artwork this is with Adrian lettering. It has already drawn a number of faourable comments - for which many thanks - but we'd also like your views on it. Some people have been kind enough to say that the Darke strip reminds them of the old Warren Creepy and Eerie comics of the 1960s/early 70s and I think in some respects it does. But what do you think? David and I have been working a bit on Darke's backstory and there's hints of it in the strip. The stroies are set aroun 1660 which was a momentous time in English history as it marked the return of the English Monarchy under King Charles II after ten years of Parliamentary rule. The return of the king was not popular in many quarters and many were opposed to it - one of those is Darke himself. The times are still very unsettled. Darke as you may have guessed is a Puritan who was born in Cornwall but was forced to flee after the murder of a local Anglican Squire and a local witch-hunter who is responsible for the death of Darke's wife as a sorceress. Darke has been the captain of a pirate craft and a slave on an Arab galley. He has travelled in the East and in parts of Africa as well as in Eastern Europe where he has witnessed many strange things. Having become involved in the politics of the time, he is on his way to Scotland to deliver the daughter of a local Presbyterian leader and solicit his help in raising an army against Charles. On the way there the ship is driven onto the Irish coast by a storm and founders. The child is drowned but Darke survives. This disaster brings him to the Abbey of Carrig Dhu on the Irish coast where the story of the Spaniard's Bell begins. His is not the first ship to have perished close by - a ship from the great Spanish Armada of 1588 has also been wrecked. There is of course something horrible in Carrig Dhu which involves the bodies of drowned Spanish sailors. That's the basis of the current tale and we'll try to publish some more very soon when we get them together. In the meantime there's also the time-travelling Doc Lazarus from 1912 - see how good we are to you? - for you to take a look at . We'll be posting some of those as well very soon. For those of you who are going to the 2D Comic Convention in Derry, Northern Ireland, we may see you there on the 3rd June. And there may be more pages of Space 1949 coming up - we're spoiling you I know but you're worth it. Keep an eye out for new ideas arriving very soon. We haven't even begun to think about The Wraith of Team Patriarch. It's all coming!