New London-based independent comic publisher Wild River Comics has launched its first Kickstarter campaign for their debut urban fantasy title, Daughters of Albion. It looks pretty incredible, and it should come as no surprise to learn that it’s already fully funded – but of course, there’s still time to back it.
Based in Shoreditch, Wild River Comics has established itself as a presence at British comic cons over the last six months, their stated mission to tell intriguing stories across a variety of genres, all set within the shared Albion-verse.
Daughters of Albion #1, co-created by Denis Phan and Trevor Jayakody, introduces readers to an alternate London where magic and technology co-exist, and has already secured over £5000 in crowdfunding.
London is divided. People in power are puppeteered by secret organisations, whilst London Central Police scare the streets into submission with their brutal technology. Amidst this unrest lives Hashani Perera, a tinkerer and tech-head plagued by strange dreams that have been dragging her beneath the surface of the Thames each night since she was a little girl…
But when an ancient artefact, a series of chance encounters, and a ritualistic murder push her into the path of London’s most dangerous secrets, Hashani starts to realise that to uncover the truth about her city, she’ll have to discover the truth about herself. Old myths collide and secrets tick steadily toward chaos as Hashani plummets further into a London where nothing is as it seems…
The book, edited by Martin Eden, features art by Matt Timson, coloured by Marco Lesko, lettered by Jim Campbell, and the Kickstarter offers the comic, cover variants by Junggeon Yoon, Piotr Kowalski and Pye Parr, and more, including some early-bird incentives for initial backers.
“This is an exciting time for Wild River Comics, and we’re glad to finally share some of what we’ve been working on,” says co-creator, writer and head of Wild River Comics, Denis Phan.
“Our plans for Wild River are quite ambitious,” adds Trevor Jayakody, “which is why I’m so proud to be launching this new range. The whole team are giving it their all, and we’re busily working away on other titles.”
Readers can support Wild River at the most basic levels to receive a digital or print copy of Daughters of Albion #1, right through to special super-fan packages and the opportunity to be drawn into a future issue of the series.
• For more information about Daughters of Albion #1 or to support the Kickstarter campaign, fans can visit Wild River Comics here or head over to the campaign page here
Meet the Team…
At the age of 11, writer Denis Phan drew pictures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, photocopied them, and sold the photocopies to his school friends for £1 each. 30 years and 20 jobs later, he realised it never got better than that and decided to go back to his first love.
Daughters of Albion is just the start of Wild River’s new adventure!
Writer Trevor Jayakody is a huge fan of comics, his particular favourites including Mike Carey’s Lucifer series and Preacher by Garth Ennis).
He also loves high concept sci-fi books; he really enjoyed the Planetfall series by Emma Newman and is currently working his way through Iain M. Banks’ Culture series.
Artist Matt Timson is an illustrator and comic book artist who has been drawing comics since 2008. Matt’s credits include Impaler and The Darkness, for Top Cow, The Lovecraft Anthology vol 2 for Selfmade Hero and Self Storage for 451 Media.
Comic-wise, he has a weakness for time travel stories, and his current favourite read is Time Before Time. The first comics he ever read were an issue of The Avengers, a Tom and Jerry comic and Untold Legend of The Batman #3.
Hailing from Brazil, Marco Lesko has coloured hundreds of comics, including The Twilight Zone, Rat Queens, Doctor Who, Assassin’s Creed, Red Sonja, Warhammer 40K, Blade Runner, and many, many more.
Jim Campbell is a Ringo, Tripwire, and twice-Eisner-nominated letterer whose work can regularly be found in 2000AD, and in titles from Aftershock, BOOM!, Dark Horse, Image, Oni, Titan Comics and Vault.
Daughters of Albion editor Martin Eden has been reading comics since he was seven, starting with the UK humour comics and soon heading on over to Marvel/DC, and then eventually to all sorts of indie comics, especially Love and Rockets. He was an Editor for Titan Comics for over 20 years, but is probably best known to many downthetubes readers for his creator owned comics – The O Men, Spandex and Zeros.
“As soon as I met the team and heard what they had planned, I wanted to be a part of it,” he says. “Daughters of Albion is just the beginning, and I look forward to introducing readers to this new world we’re creating.”
• For more information about Daughters of Albion #1 or to support the Kickstarter campaign, fans can visit Wild River Comics here or head over to the campaign page here
• Follow Wild River Comics on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, where you’ll receive regular news updates, have your say on exclusive polls and have the opportunity to let them know what you’d like to see next
• Engage with the wider Wild River Community by dropping in on the Wild River Comics Discussion Club
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: British Comics, Comics, Crowd Funding Projects, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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