Ostrander & Mandrake Family Plan New Books...
SUICIDE SQUARD co-creator/writer John Ostrander has teamed up with frequent collaborator Tom Mandrake, his wife Jan Duursema and their daughter Sian Mandrake to work on two new crowd-funded books, Kros: Hallowed Ground and Hexer Dusk.
In Kros: Hallowed Ground vampires have brought their own hell to the American civil war. By day, those armies of the north and south clash in bloody conflict and by night vampires emerge to feast on the wounded and the dying. Against this army of hungry undead rides one man, a vampire slayer known only as Kros.
Alone against a vampire army, Kros, a dampyr with an inborn hatred of vampires, knows that if he fails he could become one of the creatures he loathes. Melding history and horro, the work has been inspired by John Carpenter films like The Thing and stories like Ambrose Bierce's Occurrence at Owl Creek. “Kros is the story we've been wanting to tell! Neither of us is afraid of the dark or taking you there with us! Kros: Hallowed Ground isn't only about the war between North and South — to a vampire, you're all part of the feast!” Ostrander said.
Renowned for their dark, chilling stories on The Spectre series for DC Comics, as well as for their runs on Martian Manhunter, Batman Grotesk and The Kents, Ostrander and Mandrake are said to be thrilled to be collaborating once again. “Working and creating together, we feed off each other’s energy,” said Ostrander, while Mandrake added: “Doing this graphic novel as a creator-owned project will allow us to take what we've done before to the next level.” Add to that mix Tom's daughter, Sian Mandrake, on colour for the title.
“My first thought was to do Kros as a black and white,” said Mandrake,” but Sian's color brings out the moody atmosphere I am going for with the art. ”Kros has been waiting in the wings for far too long,” said Ostrander. “War is hell -- war can also be a nightmare. War is always a horror story and we have a hell of a story to tell.” Mandrake, who recently travelled to Gettysburg to sketch the battlefields and to try to understand the scope of what took place there, agreed: “Many who have visited Gettysburg will swear they have seen a soldier standing on those battlefields. There is a haunting atmosphere there. Ghosts still walk.”
Not to be outdone, Mandrake’s wife Jan Duursema, famed for her work on Star Wars comics among others, will be drawing sci-fi adventure, aliens, monsters, magic and galactic chaos for the Ostrander scripted Hexer Dusk in a tale where the lead character must battle other-dimensional creatures called the Weird.
Look out for both books some time in the future.
News sponsored by Target Media.
