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With a vast cosmic backdrop framing a fledgling friendship, a dramatic chase and confrontation takes centre stage. This world runs deep with cosmic and ancient mythologies constantly crossing streams, focusing on the titanic struggle between order and chaos !
Below is some sample art from the book.
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Follow the production of the book on Russ's youtube channel - ComicBookBlackBelt.
Live streams and screen captures of the inking process will be available as well as pre-production videos and concept work!
Status at 1st September launch - all pages have pencils and around 30% of the book is inked. 100% lettered and 15% coloured.
We are well on track to hit our schedule of a November print date!
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There are 9 tiers to choose from with a mix of original art and prints from some truly awesome guest artists!
We have the "Rob Willis & Renzo Rodrigas" and "Mike Emeritz & Amrit Birdi" A4 prints, poster sets, A4 character sketches and the "4 horsemen" A3 poster - not folded but sent out separately in its own cardboard tube!
We also have a tier for the collector, with original page art from the book and a one off printed and signed colour canvas of the cover art!
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Art and story is by Russ Leach
Russ has a wealth of production experience stretching back over 30 years and has been drawing his whole life. Returning to comic book publishing in 2010 he has since drawn for Marvel, Panini, BBC Worldwide, Hachette, Cartoon Network, Markosia and Aces Weekly. His work includes runs on characters such as Dr Who and Ben 10 as well as two graphic novels for Markosia. "Only Death Can Save Us" is the culmination of a life loving comics!
Scripting by Rik Hoskin
The Dragon Award winner 2018 for Best Graphic Novel, Rik Hoskin is a New York Times bestselling graphic novelist who has written for various popular properties including Superman, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Shrek and Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. He's also written animated stories for BBC television, and almost 30 novels, making him more than qualified to polish Russ's characters and story line into wonderful dialogue!
Edited by Tim Quinn
Editor Supreme on "Only Death Can Save Us" Tim Quinn, has been a scriptwriter, illustrator and editor on such noted titles as The Beano, The Dandy, Sparky, The Topper, Buster, Whoopee!, Bunty, Jackie, Dr Who Magazine, and Whizzer & Chips before heading Stateside to work for the mighty Marvel Comics Group on the world famous Spider-Man, X-Men and the Incredible Hulk. This is just a fraction of his resume and he is a vital part of making the book feel like comics should feel!
Guest Artists!!
We also have an array of uber-talented guest artists on pinup and colour duties!!
Rob Willis, Renzo Rodrigas, Mike Emeritz, Amrit Birdi, Mike Summers, Chris McAuley and Captain Frederick Head
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"Only Death Can Save Us", despite its ominous title, firmly plants itself in the all ages readership audience, like the comics of the Bronze Age, with ex-Marvel editor Tim Quinn guiding the art and story duties of 'Dr Who' and 'Marvel artist' Russ Leach and script writer Rik Hoskin, in a tale that is in many ways a love letter to the way comics used to be!
Never talking down to its audience, the story delivers the same style of Bronze Age action, heart and cosmic drama that inspired its creators!
"The first comic I bought for myself was Captain Britain and within its pages were reprints of Fantastic Four by Lee, Kirby, Buscema and Sinnott as well as support stories like Steranko's Nick Fury Agent of Shield. After that initial thrill, I went on to pick up Spider-Man, The Avengers and so many other amazing Marvel titles as well as some stellar DC books where I found Neal Adams' art, all mixed in with the British grown Starlord and 2000AD. All those influences have stayed with me and shaped the way I want to make my own comics!"
Russ Leach
Below is some of the sample art from Russ's licensed Marvel work
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Keystone is the first book in a multi part series that hurls Chrissy and Dee (Death) together on a path through cosmic strangeness, adventure and eternity!”
As a taster we've made the first 8 pages of the book available to read so you can get a real idea of what you'll be getting into!
The characters and story are part of a much bigger, deeper world that we’d love to explore over 3-4 books depending on how well you, the reader, respond. That said, the book can be read as its own individual story much like the comics of the Bronze Age!
You can read the 8 page preview at the top of this page or download a PDF version on the website here (subject to change on final publishing)
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