PRODUCTION
‘The Legend of William Lamport’ first began back in 2011 when author Eoin McAuley was studying for his BA in History at Trinity College. A life long interest in Heroes, Myths and Legends, led McAuley to a fantastic biography by Gerard Ronan entitled ‘The Irish Zorro: The extraordinary adventures of William Lamport (1615-1659)’.
McAuley was fascinated and enthralled to learn that it may have been an Irish man from Wexford who would one day go on to inspire pulp icons such as Zorro who in turn inspired other Fictional heroes such as Batman.
Much of McAuley’s remaining years of study at Trinity College was dedicated to the pursuit of further investigation to the story… nay the Legend… of William Lamport. This would culminate in the penning of a new Graphic Novel detailing the exploits of Lamport. In 2016 McAuley was awarded the Young Artist Development Award from South Dublin County Council. This support allowed artist Cormac Hughes to come on board to bring the story alive with vivid and dynamic line work. Cover Art was produced by Hughes with colours by Tríona Farrell (seen here in the profile picture of this page). Letter Robin Jones also provided the essential lettering and logo design.
Unfortunately by 2017 production came to a grounding halt. The graphic novel was unable to secure the definitive support of a publisher despite much interest. McAuley, as Publisher himself of the Independent label Lightning Strike Comics, was reluctant to publish his own work due to mounting demands on other licensed projects. The concern was if McAuley were to write, edit and publish the work solely, quality may decline and the support of an external publisher would raise and secure the quality of the story.
Prior project commitments also took Tríona Farrell away from the project, a very talented and in demand colourist within industry.Finally events would transpire that McAuley would go on to become Course Director for a new BA in Animation further limiting available time to work on the story. And so, production suddenly stopped.
Until now….
RELEASE
Returning to tell the tale they started, McAuley and Hughes revised and remastered previous script and art materials. Joining them is colourist Ellie Wright who has been a prolific colourist on many comics, including work with US publisher Dynamite. New material is being put into development and the story is finally on track to its release.
Speaking of which, how will the story be released?
The approach now is to make the story available for free online in a serialized format. This will allow us to share the story on as wide a platform as possible. Then by 2021 we hope to collect the story in its entirety in one physical published book. To follow the story as it is released, simply subscribe to our social media accounts listed in our info section and we will update our platforms regularly.
You can follow the story on:
Facebook at: @LegendofWilliamLamport (https://www.facebook.com/pg/LegendofWilliamLamport/about/?ref=page_internal)
and
Twitter at: @lamport_william (https://twitter.com/lamport_william)
THE STORY
So what can readers expect from ‘The Legend of William Lamport’? Well, although it is based on historical events and characters, creative license is being taken. This is not the type of text that you want to be using for academic purposes.
We plan to tell you a story of action, political intrigue and romance. Bonus material will supplement story material released, including notes on the historical background of events and profiles on key characters. (We’ll try to let you know where and when we deviate from historical accuracy.)
There will be something for every reader with Lamport. For those of you who have never read a comic book before, the subject matter alone may just intrigue you to check it out (besides it’ll cost you nothing and you will be supporting the work of some hard working artists). As for you long time comic book readers, we promise you everything you would expect and more (hey, heroes still wore tights in the 1600s!).
William Lamport’s story is a fascinating one. From a rebellious teen arrested for treason to becoming a pirate and then forging his way into the Court of King Philip IV of Spain’s court- Lamport’s story is as wild as it is entertaining.
We hope that you enjoy the story. Messages and shares are all welcomed.
The Legend of William Lamport 