Deadly Irish History – The Vikings by John Farrelly. Cover design by Brendan O’Reilly

Coming soon from The O’Brien Press is the first book in a new series ‘Deadly Irish History‘, The Vikings. Due in March 2020, it’s being trailed as an entertaining introduction to the Vikings of Ireland.

The new book is written and illustrated by comic artist John Farrelly, a name some of you may recognise as a regular contributor to the Futurequake Press 2000AD-inspired anthology Zarjaz.

Born and raised in a village just outside Newry, Co. Down, after John dropped out of art college because all he wanted to do was write stories and draw pictures, he became a freelance caricature artist, operating as Captain Wonder Cartoons.

John’s Captain Wonder Cartoons Services

John claims he always did a full day’s work – he just spread it over the whole week.

Finally, “after a three-day siege, where no one was injured and all hostages were released”, The O’Brien Press let him write stories and draw pictures.

Want to know the punchline to a Viking stand-up comedian’s joke? Find out in Deadly! Irish History – The Vikings out on 2nd March 2020

John’s first book, Ireland’s Deadly History – The Vikings comes jam-packed with all kinds of interesting facts and stories about Viking life, illustrated with clever and highly entertaining cartoons, comic strips, pseudo documents as well as things to make and do, quizzes, puzzles and true and false questionnaires.

The world of the Vikings in Ireland is an endlessly fascinating one, so be like them and go out and explore…

Based in Dublin, The O’Brien Press The O’Brien Press is Ireland’s leading general publisher of both adult and children’s books. Their list covers a huge range, including biography, humour, photography, history, art, fiction, politics, cookery, sport, music, memoir, true crime and travel and they are constantly expanding into new and exciting areas.

• Deadly Irish History: The Vikings by John Farrelly is available from all good bookshops – buy it here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

• John’s Captain Wonder Cartoons is online at captainwonder.com | Facebook |

• The O’Brien Press is online at www.obrien.ie | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

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.

Categories: Books, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds

Tags: Deadly Irish History, downthetubes News, John Farrelly, The O’Brien Press, The Vikings