Launching at Thought Bubble later this year, The Gloriously Untrue Adventures of Sapphira is a dreamy, weird but wonderful comic adventure by author and artist Sapphira Olson, currently seeking support on Kickstarter.
The limited edition first issue offers both adventure and romance with a surreal twist, as a fictional version of Sapphira herself heads out into space to find her lost cat, Félicette, on the Anderson Moon Base – although all but Samantha, the base’s captain, have mysteriously died.
Pitched as “the untrue adventures everyone wants to read”, this crazy but enjoyable first story is written and drawn by Sapphira, lettered by Richard Starkings. We’ve had an advance sneak peek at the first issue, and it’s a crazy, ethereal adventure that’s a fun read, to boot.
Sapphira Olson is an author, artist and poet. Nominated for The Galaxy Book Award, Sapphira, who lives in Cornwall, has written several science fiction novels: her latest, The Woman In The Ship, is published next month by Lethe Press.
The Gloriously Untrue Adventures of Sapphira brings her two loves, writing and drawing, together into what she consider “one of the best mediums for telling stories”. Comics!
“Based on a fictional version of myself, this is where I get to blend everything great about comics into stories of adventure and romance with a surreal twist!” she says.
The Gloriously Untrue Adventures of Sapphira “has been work of love,” Sapphira continues, who cites 2000AD, Moebius, Peter Milligan and Terry Moore as influences. “I’ve written a lot of novels, but I’ve always loved comics and it’s long been a dream to do one.
“Richard Starkings of ElephantMen fame has done the lettering for the project and has been wonderful in supporting me and holding my hand in this first issue.”
Although already fully funded, you can still back the project here. Issue One is all set for launch at Thought Bubble in November where Sapphira will be exhibiting.
This is a very limited run of the fab first issue, so make sure you don’t lose out. Rewards include art cards, badges and more for backers.
• Follow Sapphira Olson on Patreon
• The Woman in the Ship by Sapphira Olson is available to preorder direct from Lethe Press | ISBN 978-1590217078
After the destruction of Earth – an event possibly orchestrated by a rogue AI named SuOne – the six-person crew of the Ascension may be all that’s left of the human race. Their original mission, to rendezvous with the Voyager 2 probe and affix a billionaire’s ashes to its surface, suddenly feels meaningless in the face of extinction. Captain Sally Arden finds herself at the heart of this drifting elegy, caught between duty and despair.
Her closest companion is Nova, the ship’s sentient AI, who defied orders to self-destruct and now manifests with the personality and memories of a long-dead woman named Nova Starlight. As the remaining crew wrestles with loss, love, and fractured identities, Sally’s bond with Nova deepens into something intimate, uncanny – and possibly redemptive. With luminous prose and a dreamlike voice, The Woman in the Ship drifts between science fiction and philosophical fable.
Sapphira describes the new novel as her dream project. “I feel everything has been leading to this point. I have written many, many novels and poems but this is the one. The work I am most proud of, my 1984.”
- 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, Comics, Creating Comics, Crowd Funding Projects, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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