British comic creator Martin Simpson has just launched his Kickstarter for his latest project Rasp: Book One, an amazing looking and intriguing adventure, featuring a unique detective – and it’s clearly captured the imaginations of his fans.
Detective Agent Fritz Rasp works for ‘The Agency’, a ruthless, all-powerful institution that enforces order and discipline across a vast totalitarian metropolis of slaves. He is considered the perfect agent – until the day his dark and puritanical worldview is challenged by a seemingly everyday investigation that quickly spirals out of his control and comprehension.
Now forced to question everything he believes in, something unexpected will awaken within Agent Rasp… An imagination!
So begins the self-discovery of this once ‘soulless’ detective, as he attempts to solve the greatest mystery of his life and escape from the prison he has been unwittingly born into.
Martin Simpson is a freelance illustrator and comics creator based in Yorkshire, whose work has a distinctive, striking style and a unique flair. He has illustrated for the likes of Apple, Image Comics, Scholastic, Templar Publishing, The Chicken House Publishing and Puffin Books.
His comics work has included a one-man self-published anthology Misc, and The Needleman, published by Soaring Penguin Press, as well as covers and pin-ups for a variety of comics projects and publishers.
In 2020, Martin began to collaborate with a team of six UK based comics artists to help create and contribute towards the much lauded SKRAWL Comix Magazine, and 2023 saw the publication of his first incredible full length graphic novel, NORD, also published by Soaring Penguin Press, which earned him a ‘Broken Frontier Awards’ nomination for Best Artist.
Rasp: Book One, an all-new 52-page graphic novel, looks absolutely stunning, and Martin says that if you’re a big fan of things like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Sherlock Holmes, Bladerunner, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, George Orwell’s 1984 or V For Vendetta, there’s a good chance you’re going to like Rasp, too. And we’re definitely not going to argue!
• You can find out more about and support Rasp: Book One here on Kickstarter, and read the first six pages of the story here on Martin’s official website
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Comics, Creating Comics, Crowd Funding Projects, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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