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Northern Irish myth inspires new comic project from Daniel de Sosa

By John Freeman on August 10, 2014 • ( 1 )

Oi! Tales of Bardic Fury is a fantasy slice-of-life comic from London-based comic creator Daniel de Sosa, set in ancient Ireland that follows Bryan the Bard, a fresh graduate from the Great Academy in Tara, as he undertakes a work placement in a town that’s never heard music before.

Following strong sales of issues One and Two at comic conventions across the UK, writer and artist Daniel de Sosa of Backwards Burd Comics has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the completion of Oi! Volume One. The comic contains the first five chapters of the tale of Iron Age Ireland’s greatest rock band.

Inspired by Celtic mythology, Irish folk music, and hard rock from the 1960s & 70s, de Sosa’s story forgoes the kings, warriors and epic quests of traditional fantasy to instead delve into the quaint and bizarre folk of villages that exist in this world. Focusing on a society controlled by mushroom chewing druids, where music was considered a form of magic, Oi! paints bards as the rock stars they were, shedding the derision afforded to them by years of table top RPGs.

Rewards offered to backers of the campaign include printed copies of the book, guitar plectrums, screen-printed band T-shirts, original page art and even the chance to be drawn into the comic as a permanent cast member in the village of Oi. The campaign ends 9th September.

“Oi! is for fans of fantasy fiction, Celtic mythology, old school role-playing games and rock music,” says Daniel.

And the story has garnered plenty of fans. Gosh! Comics Steven Walsh has described Oi! as the “best comic set in medieval Ireland that I’ve ever read.”

• You can read the first two chapters for free and learn more about the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1382679986/oi-tales-of-bardic-fury-volume-one-comic

• Backward Burd Comics is at
www.backwardsburd.com

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.