Press Release
Writers Leah Moore and John Reppion are bringing a brand new series to the pages of 2000 AD which pits Vikings against beings of myth and legend in a fight for survival.
Black Shuck will begin in July and marks the first pair’s first work for the legendary weekly anthology. Drawn by Steve Yeowell (Zenith, Red Seas), the series is set in Scandinavia during the Dark Ages, when a lone figure staggers from the wreck of a vessel on a stormy shore.
The nine-part colour series will be available worldwide day-and-date digital through the 2000 AD iPad app and DRM-free through the 2000 AD online shop.
“Black Shuck is basically a classic kick-arse heroic fantasy with swords, sorcery, monsters and mayhem.,” said Moore and Reppion. “The story draws on themes close to our hearts and which permeate much of our writing; folklore, history and horror. Instead of some fictional ‘long long ago in a distant land’ Black Shuck is set in 9th century Europe among the people we now call Vikings, giving us some cool characters and settings to play with. We’re really enjoying writing it so far and, of course, it’s an absolute delight to see pages coming in from Steve Yeowell who is doing some fantastic work on the series. We can’t wait for people to read it.”
Somewhere in coastal Scandinavia, 813 AD. The sea is rough and unpredictable, a black storm blowing in. A vessel is sighted on the horizon just as thunder cracks overhead. The small boat is dashed fiercely against the shingle shore by the tempest. A lone figure staggers ashore from the deck; a raven-haired Anglo-Saxon, clutching at a gory wound on his neck.
The dark stranger collapses on the beach. Local fisherfolk approach cautiously – is the man dead? Suddenly, the outsider seizes one of them hisses “Tell King Ivar he has an heir. I am his son”, before unconsciousness takes him.
Who is the man they call Black Shuck? What became of the Northmen who took him from his home? What happened on that mysterious island where captor and captured found themselves shipwrecked? What fresh horrors await him in King Ivar’s land?
