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EXCLUSIVE: Preview Pages Of New Brit Steampunk Superhero Mystery (Or Something) Yellowman

Published Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:31:23 -0500

Last updated Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:35:46 -0500

Michael Moran previews a deliciously dark Victorian-set mystery from two new British comics creators.

It's not easy being green, but it's a damn sight worse being yellow. Even today albinos are more likely to be the sinister presence in The Da Vinci Code or Sin City than they are to be a rational scientific urban avenger.

In shadowy, foggy 1870s London it's even tougher. The titular Yellowman is being hunted by two occult groups keen to acquire his skull for their magical rituals

A secret war is breaking out: between magic and science, between the past and the future, between imperialism and independence. Between Yellowman and the world.

Being on the run doesn't stop him from foiling at least one crime – one that puts him on a collision course with a disgraced science academic whose own motives become murkier as the book goes on.

Writer Justin Quirk makes his comics début after close to a decade as one of the leading lights of Men's Lifestyle journalism on magazines such as FHM and Arena.

He describes the book as "an attempt to invert a lot of the conventions of Victorian literature – the character who comes out of Africa here is the rational, logical one, rather than a figure of magic or the occult. On the one hand, it's a bit of a romp and a chase through Victorian London; but it also brings in everything else from English folk rituals and the birth of modern science to the myth of 'black Atlantis' and a psychic cat."

Artist Warren Holder – whose pedigree includes producing the concept art for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland – evokes a mysterious Victorian London half-obscured by stark shadow but rich in exquisite architectural detail. But don't take our word for it: take a look.

We've snagged a few exclusive preview pages for Bleeding Cool readers from the first volume in the four-part series,

You've heard our opinion, you've probably formed your own, but what about a last word from a proper writer?

Red Riding author David Peace calls Yellowman "a spellbinding tale of Victorian London, exquisitely drawn and hypnotically told, that recalls the best of Lynch's Elephant Man or Alan Moore's From Hell, but is in itself an original and unique debut that leaves the reader desperate for the next gripping installment …"

Sounds about right. See you in Limehouse.

YELLOWMAN is released this week. For stockists, or to purchase the book directly for £15 + postage visit the Yellowman site

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