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Crowdfunding Spotlight: Gravestown by Roger Gibson and Vincent Danks

By John Freeman on October 1, 2021

Gravestown issue 1, is a new full colour horror fantasy series from writer Roger Gibson and artist Vincent Danks, creators of the critically-lauded Harker comic series from Time Bomb Comics.

This time out, Vincent and Roger are going their own way and seeking backing for this 31-page story themselves – the first of four full colour issues of Gravestown, which homages the 1970s magazine horror series from Marvel, bringing vampires, faeries, UFOS, ghosts and zombies together in one adventure.

“Gravestown features Emma, a sexy, sassy girl cast into an extra-dimensional society of out of control vampires,” Vincent, who cut his teeth in the comics industry drawing strips for Doctor Who Magazine, explains, “who are eager to violently take over the community, and then the world beyond. Emma has to fight for her life to survive and to save her friends.”

Gravestown – already nearly 50 per cent funded some 24 hours after launch – features Roger Gibson’s wry, humourous scripts paired with Vincent Danks’s stunning, hyper-real artwork, fully coloured by Andrew Richmond, telling a thrilling fantasy horror story of a normal girl lost in a world full of vampires, ghosts, UFOs, faeries and zombies, and unable to go home again. To save herself and her friends, she has to team up with the enigmatic Ravenhall and his gang of vampires, ghosts and faeries, in a last chance bid to save the world…

If the story sounds familiar, then you’re a real fan of Roger Gibson’s work, who paired up with artist Mark Wayne Barrett over 20 years ago to produce a pilot issue of the comic.

“This has been completely reworked, and is now out of continuity,” Vincent says, “but for the sake of completion we’re including a digital version of that issue with every copy of the new comic, plus a bonus digital copy of Raven #1, the rare Gibson and Danks anthology, which we’ll be republishing digitally in full with this new series.” Meaning, if this Kickstarter appeals, you’ll get your claws on a total of 80 pages of Gibson and Danks comic strip content.

This is a pre-order opportunity, as the series has already been fully written and drawn, and Roger and Vincent will be publishing the four issues bimonthly through Kickstarter, plus a ton of extras with every issue, including a slipcase for all four issues along with the fourth issue. They’re also offering free postage to UK backers and at cost shipping elsewhere, and extras such as a gorgeous A2 poster, bookplate pencil art from the series, and more.

If you’re a fan of Harker, then do check out this project, right here on Kickstarter…

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.