Joachim Darke Again

The next taster section of Joachim Darke is already up on this blogsite and it has created a bit of a stir. I've had people contacting me saying how good it is and Adrian is receiving comments around work saying that they want to see more. Some people have been kind enought to compare some of the artwork to a better sort of Adam Eterno who used to appear in Lion and others have compared it to the old black and white Creepy and Eerie which David says is a great compliment. It's good for me too as scripter because a lot of the old Warren magazines were my favourites and as I'm sitting here writing this I have all the Dark Horse archives on the shelf in front of me. Have a look and see what you think. I've talked to David and he has more but we'll not be putting them up for another week as Adrian and I are both away from our machines. However, keep watching as there may be something there. We're also almost certainly going to the Comics Convention in Derry, so if you're there we'll maybe see you. We're talking about puttinga couple more up before we make the conference but we'll see. It would be nice to get Doc Lazarus up and let you see that as well. But time isn't on our side - the convention is only a couple of weeks away. But I hope that you continue to enjoy Joachim Darke - I've even had an e-mail from somebody in Darke County, Ohio asking about it - now isn't that spooky? I'll try to keep you informed as to how things are going in about a week's time. Keep reading!

As promised more pages from Joachim Darke...

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!

Joachim Darke pages

As promised pages 7 - 10 of our Joachim Darke story "The Spaniard's Bell" with art by David Dale. Pages 11 - 15 to follow shortly...

Joachim Darke

Hope everybody had a very Happy Easter. I've been trying to get a few days to myself with the family but I'm still working on the new book for New Page which is due with the publishers next month - it looks like I'll make the deadline. We've also been trying to get together something on Joachim Darke - the 17th century witch finder/devil hunter that David, Adrian and myself have been working on. The pages are ready and lettered but we've had a slight technical hitch in putting them up which will resolve itself and we'll try again at the weekend and hopefully have something up for you to look at soon. I've seen the pages and it's worth waiting on. Once again many thanks to everybody who contacted me on the Space 1949 strip - a few of you have made positive references to Jeff Hawke, which used to be one of my favourite newspaper strips. I used to get the Daily Express every day just for the strip. So I would be surprised if that didn't have some influence on me as I was growing up. Adrian is rather flattered that somebody described him as the new Sidney Jordan! Some of my American contacts described as "being very European" in tone and I suppose that's true - I don't know whether that's a compliment or not - but others have said that's it's different from a lot of the stuff that's circulating in Europe at the moment so I'm hoping that's good. It has even enthused me enough to draw up a preliminary Hal McLean strip - I've always though I might give him his own strip - set in 1953 and on one of the Jupiter moons. I've sent it to Adrian, who's in London at the moment to see what he thinks but it won't be done very soon. But we're thinking about it. But keep your eyes peeled for Joachim Darke - 1660 has never been the same since he appeared!

Jeff Hawke

It would appear that our Space 1949 has ceated a lot of interest. I've been getting a number of e-mails all containing interest and positive feedback and I gather through talking to him today, so has Adrian. We're trying to get the next set of strips up - which will be David Dale's excellent "Joachim Darke", the 17th century witch-finder - but it's a bit difficult finding the time at the moment. We have some lettering and text to put in and as we're all working elsewhere, we're striggling to find the time. So please bear with us - it'll be worth the wait. Some of you have said that the 1949 strip has the "feel" of Jeff Hawke, the strip by Sydney Jordan which appeared in the Daily Express newspaper during the 1960s. Although it was not intentional I can understand why. Jeff Hawke was - and continues to be - one of my favourite strips from that period. I enjoyed the characterisation, which was written by Willie Patterson, the humour and the style, not to mention the great artwork. I have conveyed to Adrian that somebody said that his artwrok looked like Sydney Jordan's which he has taken as a great complement as he enjoys Jeff Hawke too. But if the strip has that sort of feel then I'm well satisfied. Adrian and I were talking about putting further pages up as he, like me, is under pressure to develop the story. And we'll do it - we just need to find a willing publisher which is not easy in these recessionary times. But we'll get there - especially as all the reaction so far has been pisitive. And speaking of comic strips - I believe that an old story of mine may be out in Italian very soon. This was something m yself and David Lloyd did many years ago and which has been sold to NPS in Italy. They're doing a low print run but you may be able to see some more of the work in Portuguese as we're negotiating with a firm in Rio de Janeiro as a possible outlet. However, Adrian and myself want to keep 1949 in English for the present. So we'll keep you informed about how this is going. Hopefully somebody will look at it as a graphic novel very soon and if not we'll look at the possibility of printing a low print-run ourselves. The interest is there and our audience is out there. Let's go for it!

TTA and Australia

Thanks to a number of you who have dropped us a line saying that you enjoyed the comic pages that we've put up. We're still trying to find ways to get the comics out there - we believe they're a little bit different from anything that's around at the moment - and we'll keep you posted. And thanks for the complementary things that you've said. We're also hoping to get more artwork - Joachim Darke - lettered and up soon, so you'll be able to read our take on Restoration England. Now some of you have asked what a couple of references in the Space 1949 strip meant and I suppose we've been working on the ideas for so long that we tend to take them for granted. For a start what's the TTA who own the ship that McLean and the others find. This stands for the Terran Trading Authority which is a regulatory body set up in 1925 to control both business and mining interests principally on the Moon but also on the small scientific colonies on Mars and mines in the asteroid belt. It was initially established by Britain and Germany who remain the principal controlling agents in the organisation - King Henry IX of England and the German Kaiser Willhelm V are still the two major shareholders in the TTA - and it is closely connected to the governments of both countries. This makes it a quasi political organisation and although it is principally concerned with trade it has links to the RSC and the Luftwaffe Aeronautik . However since 1946 the balance of power in the TTA has almost imperceptably shifted with the massive strides made by the Russian Simyorska Programme of near-space exploration and the increase in funding of American lunar bases by the CSA President Barry Goldwater in the mid-1940s. 1949 might be a pivotal point for new and emerging space powers. You have also asked about the Australians who are mentioned in the strip. Since the early 1920s, the main threat to world peace has been posed by the PSRA . In 1922, the Australian army seized the running of the country from a pro-British coalition which had governed it since the early 1900s. They installed General Abel Whitlam as President and although the country is nominally run by the People's Democratic Council it is controlled by a mainly army junta. Finances are provided by the still active goldfields ast Ballarat, and it is thought that the country is largely self-sufficient. In 1932, the Whitlam Government signed a treaty with representatives of the Grand Shogun, supreme ruler of the mysterious country of Japan - the Treaty of the Pacific Rim - much to the alarm of both Europe and America. This gave Australia access to the much rumoured "Ninja technology" which is able to shielf machinery and craft from detection through radar and sonar and can reflect light, rendering the subject invisible. They have therefore been able to launch undetected orbital platforms as part of the Australian Space Programme based at Woomera in the South Australian Desert. In 1947, General Whitlam stood down and was replaced as President by General Thomas Dundee who has pursued a more aggressive policy towards the West. He has also increased spending on the space programme launching shielded weapons platforms and space bases from sites in occupied New Zealand. There are also thought to be genetic experiments being conducted in the penal camps of the McQuarrie River Country used to house aborigines, rebels and criminals under the eye of General Charles Minogue, Head of the Interior Directorate. Subjects are being genetically modified, it is believed, to undertake long-haul space flights to Jupiter and beyond. Similar experiments are also believed to be carried on by the TTA in the German Congo in Africa The main face of Australia known in the West is that of Major Rufus Fox, Australian Foreign Secretary, a slick career diplimat who is also believed to be head of A.I.D. - The Australian Intelligence Directorate, the Secret Service - based at Studley Park in Camden, Sidney. Sir Gilbert Rawlings who appears in the panels we've put up is vastly opposed to what he sees as creeping Australian influence across the world and perhaps sees the development of the American space programme, first under President Goldwater and then under his successor President Oliver North, as a counter to it. Sorry if that sounds like a lecture but you did ask and I wanted to show something of the thought we've given to the political set-up of our alternative universe in 1949. We want to keep the sci-fi element - and there are aliens - but we wanted to keep it believable as well. Please let us know what you think of it and if there's any questions you'd like answered. Keep your eyes peeled as there might be more artwork. Next I think, we're off to England in the 1660s. See you there!