Crowdfunding Spotlight: Beyond Milford Green

By John Freeman on February 5, 2019

Beyond Milford Green Cover A

Samuel George London has just launched his Kickstarter for the sequel to his hugely-popular Milford Green graphic novel – and the Beyond Milford Green campaign looks on course to be as successful as the first, with over £2000 of the £4000 raised.

After the events of Milford Green, Victorian villagers Alfie and Mary find themselves in a spaceship heading to the United Galactic Alliance, where the president of the UGA asks them to go on a peace negotiation mission with the evil Cinux, which will decide the fate of the galaxy.

Will there be peace… or war?

Samuel pitches the Milford Green saga – which gained almost double its relatively modest £3000 target for Book One – as a Victorian space opera that will appeal to fans of Valerian or Star Trek. The story centres around socially awkward Victorian inventor Alfie Fairfield, who sees some kind of flying vehicle shoot across the sky and crash land in a field near the sleepy village of Milford Green. Being a curious fellow, interested in any type of machinery, he investigates – to find out that we are not alone in this universe.

“Beyond Milford Green immediately follows on from Milford Green, with Alfie and his next door neighbour, Mary,” Samuel explains. “It takes our Victorian villagers into space, which leads them to meet new characters.

“You could describe Milford Green as Victorians versus Aliens, but in Beyond Milford Green, it’s more Victorians working with Aliens,” he told downthetubes contributor Richard Sheaf recently.

Comics editor Nicole D’Andria

“Mikael Hankonen is returning as our artist, and we have also added an editor to TEAM MG – Nicole D’Andria, the Marketing Director and Submissions Editor at Action Lab Comics, ” he continues. “She edits numerous comics for Action Lab, from Dog of Wonder to Zombie Tramp, and also adapts Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir to comics – and co-writes DollFace.”

Outside of Action Lab, Nicole also writes comic book related articles for Comic Frontline, works as a freelance editor and is currently writing the second issue of her successful Kickstarter comic, Road Trip to Hell.

“It was an absolute pleasure to work with Nicole, to take the Milford Green series to the next level,” says Samuel. “She was exceedingly professional and constructive in editing the script for Beyond Milford Green.”

“Beyond Milford Green was a fun book to edit thanks to it being a great sci-fi story,” says Nicole. “The characters are interesting and there are several introduced in this volume that I think readers will enjoy.

“So, if you’re looking for some space adventure in your comics, Beyond Milford Green is the place to get it.”

While Milford Green was just 40 pages long, Beyond is more ambitious, running to 60 pages, and it took three months to write, working with Nicole.

“Before beginning a script, I always try to have an outline using an eight-point story arc, which prevents as many stumbling blocks during the process as possible,” he explains.

Away from the Milford Green project, as if he wasn’t busy enough, Samuel recently launched his weekly Comics For The Apocalypse podcast on iTunes, interviewing interesting guests about what comics they’d take into the apocalypse.

“It’s basically Desert Island Discs – but for comics,” he says, acknowledging the concept is in part inspired by a podcast from Superbob actor Brett Goldstein called Films To Be Buried With. “It’s a great podcast, and I thought at the start of the year wouldn’t that be cool to have for comics, and I took upon myself to create it.”

• The Beyond Milford Green Kickstarter runs through February and you can back it here

• You can find Samuel George London online at samuelgeorgelondon.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @SamuelGLondon | Comics for the Apocalypse Podcast (iTunes link)

• You can check out more of Mikael Hankonen’s work on his DeviantArt page or follow him on Twitter @yearinhereafter

• Editor Nicole D’Andria is online at www.comicmaven.com | Follow her on Twitter @Comic_Maven

• Read Richard Sheaf’s interview with Samuel George London on his Boys Adventure Comics blog

With thanks to Richard Sheaf

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.