Al Davison signs aboard for Blood and Light

By John Freeman on April 11, 2011

Renegade Entertainment has announced Al (The Spiral Cage, Doctor Who) Davison will draw Blood and Light, a new project from the publisher run by Alan Grant, Alexander Finbow and Doug Bradley.

“Blood and Light is a story I’m very passionate about, and to see its world and characters come to life is fantastic,” says Alexander Finbow. “After a long search for the right artist, we decided on the extremely talented Al Davison to bring this story to the page.

“Al was finishing up a one shot issue of the Unwritten for Vertigo when we signed him up, so he was able to get stuck straight into Blood Light. His character designs are beautiful works of art in themselves and I am really thrilled to collaborate on the graphic novel adaptation with him.”

Blood and Light centres on Lawrence Bowman, a captain in Oliver Cromwell’s army during the English civil war. The story picks up as Cromwell’s forces begin their bloody campaign in Ireland against the Royalist and catholic forces with the siege of Drogheda. Bowman leads his men to successfully capture the city but his allegiances and loyalties are thrown into doubt by Cromwell’s orders to show no mercy to any within the walls.

Realising that his trusted captain is troubled, Cromwell chooses him to lead the investigation into some brutal murders that have brought terror to the Irish countryside. Bowman finds himself thrust into a race against time to uncover the murderer before he strikes again.

Renegade’s projects featuring other British creators include Channel Evil by Alan Grant and Shane Oakley, and Sand, featuring art originally by the late, great John Hicklenton.

• Check out Renegade Entertainment at www.renegadeartsentertainment.com

• Al’s official site is The Astral Gypsy

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.