The cover for Mezolith Book Two, the long-awaited continuation of the much-praised, award-winning graphic adventure created by performance storyteller Ben Haggarty and storyboard artist Adam Brockbank.
First published in The DFC comic, Mezolith got its US publication through Boom! Studios imprint Archaia with the release of a new edition the first volume earlier this year– and Ben told us then that a second adventure was “just a little closer“.
Set 10,000 years ago in what will eventually become the east coast of Britain, Mezolith Book One tells the stone age tales of a young boy, Poika, and the members of his tribe, the Kansa. As they go about their hunter-gatherer lives, the seven stories in the book show the dangers that they face from the animals they hunt and from the neighbouring tribe, as well as relating some of the superstitions of the tribe.
In Book Two, Poika’s journey into manhood continues – caught in a mesh of tribal hunts, gatherings, and feasts determined by the waxing and waning of thirteen moons… But he’s not alone. Greed, appetite, and desire dance under watchful eyes in the shadows.
The boundary between the real and imagined worlds blur as more and more of the Kansa cosmology is revealed in the dreams, nightmares, and ancestral beauty of Mezolith…
Ben Haggarty is a renowned performance storyteller who has been appointed Honorary Professor of Storytelling at the Arts University of Berlin, and illustrator Adam Brockbank is a storyboard and concept artist who has worked on the Captain America: The First Avenger, Spider-Man and Harry Potter films.
“As a professional storyteller working with oral tradition and performance, I have had to study folktales, fairy tales myths and epics from all over the world,” Ben told Paste Magazine earlier this year, explaining the origins of the project back in 2007. “Seeing similarities between stories told in very diverse cultures, and at very different epochs, a question began to burn about the nature of the oldest stories told on British soil. I wanted to dig into the archaeology of imagination — were there stories still being told here today that were once common to all of humanity?
“The realization that Britain had only become an island separated from the rest of the European continent about 8,000 years ago added to my wondering about who those early ancestors living in pre-insular Britain were. What were their lives like? How did they understand their place in the world?
“To that end, I seriously researched the Mesolithic Period (circa 12,000 – 6,000 BC) and the lives of the last hunter-gatherers in Northern Europe, before the Neolithic agricultural revolution swept up into Europe from what is now the Middle East. When Adam invited me in 2007 to collaborate with him in making a comic, I proposed a Stone Age horror strip which would allow me to give form to my conjectural ideas about our ancestors and the oldest stories.
“I did masses of research”, he revealed, “archaeological, ethnographic and anthropological; reading books, visiting museums and speaking with archaeologists. In order to arrive at which stories to tell, I had to understand what the conditions of life were and what the food sources and natural cycles were, which is why the book starts immediately with a bull hunt and the frame story follows a year of changing seasons.
Expanding on the official information for Book Two, Ben says “Urga was our pilot tale, and when Adam showed me his first picture of the fresh-faced hero of that tale, I knew immediately that we should take him out of the story and follow him, and, following him, explore how stories and storytelling might have worked amongst our ancestors. That is how Poika was born. Book One follows a year in his life, Book Two follows most of another year.”
• Ben Haggarty Official Site: http://benhaggarty.com
• Adam Brockbank Official Site: http://adambrockbank.com | Adam’s “Mezolith” Feature
• Read Ben’s full interview about Mezolith and working with Adam on the project here on Paste Magazine
• The first volume of Mezolith from Archaia is available now from all good bookshops and online retailers
Mezolith Volume 1 Hard Cover
Publisher: Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios
Writer: Ben Haggarty
Artist: Adam Brockbank
Cover Artist: Adam Brockbank
Format: 6.875” x 10.25”, 96 pages, FC, HC
ISBN: 978-1-60886-699-1
On sale: Now
Mezolith Volume 2 Hard Cover
Publisher: Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios
Format: 6.875” x 10.25”, 96 pages, FC, HC
ISBN: 978-1608868315
On sale: 13th September 2016
- About the Author
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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: downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics