Legendary athlete, Sir Roger Bannister runs for his life as a comic book hero in a new graphic novel from SelfMadeHero – The Murder Mile.
In 1954, the world-class runner took part in a number of heats prior to his historical victory at Ifley Road, Oxford in May where he broke the four-minute mile. His closest rivals in that earlier Arizona race were American Wes Santee and Australia’s John Landy, who both feature in the story too.
The real-life race forms the backdrop to Robot City creator Paul Collicutt’s fictional detective thriller, The Murder Mile, which combines his interests in art and athletics in his first graphic novel for adults.
It’s 1954, Arizona – Athlete Todd ‘The Phoenix Flyer’ Naylor is found dead in mysterious circumstances. P.I. Daniel Stone hopes for an open-and-shut case, but finds that Naylor’s death is part of a tangled web of conspiracies, cartels, and – worse still – Communists. Whilst Bannister, Landy and Santee edge closer to the four minute barrier, P.I. Stone faces his own race against time to track down Naylor’s killer before they too are eliminated. The price of victory has never been so deadly.
Brighton-based Collicutt is an award-winning children’s novelist as well as a keen athlete and qualified coach, who’s also on the board of Phoenix Athletics Club.
The book has an introduction by Olympic gold medallist, Steve Ovett who says “The four-minute mile is still today a standard that runners and the general public respect as the yardstick to measure success in the sporting filed of track and field athletics”.
Paul Collicutt studied illustration at Brighton College of Art, who has won the Parent’s Gold Choice Award in America for This Train. He’s also a club runner, a qualified athletics coach and Chairman of the Phoenix Athletics Club.
SelfMadeHero is a publisher of the finest fiction, biography, history and humour in the graphic novel medium that showcases leading authors and artists from around the world: from the quirky and humorous to the political and profound.
The Murder Mile will be launched at Dave’s Comics bookshop in Brighton on 21st February, with a special signing session from Paul Collicutt, with copies sold there including an exclusive book plate.
• The Murder Mile ISBN 978-1-906838-62-1/ 128pp colour/ £14.99
• Paul’s blog: http://paulcollicutt.blogspot.co.uk
• SelfMadeHero: www.selfmadehero.com
- 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.
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