Blackfriars set to chill

By John Freeman on February 27, 2012

The year is 793 AD. Savage, heathen armies from the north invade Northumberland, for today is the day of the viking, but the night… The night belongs to something else.

Now available as a free PDF download, Blackfriars is a tale of Vampires versus Vikings written and drawn by Michael Crouch, the man behind Storm Comics – and drawn in the style of a serial from the classic British Scream! comic.

The first episode appeared in the 2010 edition of indie title Hallowscream, with further episodes appearing on Michael’s blog in weekly instalments.

With a cover by John Caliber, the comic also includes an image gallery at the back of the collection with artwork by Andrew Milne, David Blankley and Grant Perkins (with Mike Bunt and Owen Watts colouring).

• You can download Blackfriars from Clickwheel, Mediafire or view online at MyEBook. File size = 30MB.

• Michael Crouch’s website

• Michael Crouch’s blog

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.