Ahead of the release of Chapter 2, ‘The Legend of William Lamport’ author Eoin McAuley spoke about the project in depth with John Siuntres of the Word Balloon Podcast.

Word Balloon is currently in its 15th year and for the past decade and a half John has been interviewing comic creators from many different publishers and has amassed a very impressive archive of insightful discussions with comic creators about their work and careers.

The full Word Balloon podcast archive is available for free here.

If you wish to support the Podcast Mr. Siuntres has a Patreon account here.

During the McAuley interview background to the project’s development and an overview of Lamport’s biography is discussed. Other topics are touched upon as well such as classic swashbuckling films and wider discussions on mainstream comics and the Irish Comic Book Community in general.

You can listen to and/or download the full interview here.

There will also be a video recording of the interview posted to the Word Balloon YouTube page which you can subscribe to for free here.

Before you go, be sure to check out some great art work by Cormac Hughes from Chapter 2 (starting next week) below.

A little later than advertised, we’re happy to present the concluding pages to Chapter 1 which sees young William commence his education and hone his legendary intellect.

This week we are concluding chapter 1 of ‘The Legend of William Lamport’, highlighting young Lamport’s childhood in Wexford. This chapter along with our 7 page prologue will be shared in a collected format on our Facebook page shortly after the final installment for chapter 1 is posted (a link to our Facebook page can be found on the contact page of this website- by ‘Liking’ and ‘Following’ the page you will be updated on all of the latest posts and installments of our story).

Ahead of chapter 1’s conclusion we’re offering a brief preview to chapter 2. This will explore Lamport’s teenage years and his wider education. Lamport’s father, Richard, managed to use his resources to have William sent to London for further learning. William’s options at home in Ireland were limited due to ‘The Oath of Supremacy’ which meant that anyone wishing to study in Trinity College, must swear an Oath recognising the King of England as the supreme leader of the Church of Ireland. This alienated the majority of Catholic citizens in Ireland.

Ireland’s political landscape in the 17th Century was further altered by the emergence of the “New English”. This Anglo-Irish class replaced the Gaelic Irish and “Old English” ruling class. The use of “New” and “Old” was to further distinguish them from Hiberno-Norman settlers from medieval times.

These political and sociocultural aspects will be further explored in a brief supplemental essay format on this website.

In the meantime, please enjoy Cormac Hughes’s character design for a teenage Lamport and an extract from chapter 2 page 1.

This week the second part of Chapter 1 looks at the relationship between a young William Lamport and his father Richard and how his father’s advice will impact his life.

The artwork below is by Cormac Hughes. Stay tuned for more content coming soon.

Welcome back to this week’s installment. Starting Chapter 1 we explore some of William Lamport’s backstory. Son to Allison and Richard Lamport, William had two brothers John and Gerald and a younger sister Catherine. John was five years older than William the second eldest.

The genealogy of the Lamport family line is a fascinating one. His Father Richard helped to pilot a Spanish armada into Kinsale (The Battle of Kinsale, 1601) against the English overlords. This was part of a rebellion led by Gaelic Chieftain Hugh O’Neil. The General of the Armada sent was Juan Del Águila. Ultimately the rebellion failed and Richard reinvented himself as a merchant.

Lamport’s maternal grandfather was Leonard Sutton of Rahayle, a local nobleman who may have worked with Richard, possibly sharing connections to Spain as part of a smuggling operation, which may have culminated in a brief stint in a North African Prison.

The start of this chapter sees Richard return home to Wexford following his merchant dealings. At the time Wexford would have been a noisy place covered in raw sewage, tanning pits, brothels and alehouses.

Richard learns from his own brother that his wife Allison has passed and his brother has been caring for Richard’s children. Grief for the loss of his wife would drive Richard to seek atonement and ultimately take up the Priesthood. This path would be formative in young Willie Lamport’s education. But for now we will see how the loss of his mother so early in life left such a profound impact on Willie. We meet him as a carefree risk taker, but on a collision course reunion with his father and the advice that he has to impart.

William as a child seemed to be the type to push things to the absolute limit, so when the bloody sport of bull baiting arrived from Spain to Wexford, he was sure to take the opportunity to enrapture a crowd.

Last week Artist Cormac Hughes and Writer Eoin McAuley spoke with Danny Wilson of The Dublin InQuirer. They shared some of their experiences and background on working on the Lamport project.

The full interview can be read here.

Thanks again to the InQuirer for their coverage. They are funded by readers and not advertisers, so if you would like to read and support more content from them consider a subscription available here.

In our next installment we will start Chapter 1 chronicling the childhood of Lamport in Wexford circa 1619. You can have a sneak peak of this above this very article. Looking back to Lamport’s Ireland of childhood we hope to resolve how such an essentially selfish character in pursuit of the progress of his own career, wealth and status became such a proponent for freedom. We start drawing parallels between the land displaced Irish Catholic class of the 1600’s and the Native Mexicans under Spanish colony rule.

Also, below, you can see of Cormac Hughes’s line work from the Prologue.

More content coming soon. Questions and comments welcomed and you can reach us at the Contact Page above.

And just before you go, check out some preview art above from Chapter One starting next week.

Welcome to the first installment of “The Legend of William Lamport”.

This week, our story begins at the end, as we find our hero making a daring escape from the holding prison of the Grand Inquisition in Mexico, circa 1659.

Lamport escapes his imprisonment to pin accusations against the Inquisition and further declare independence for the Mexican people.

As an added bonus we flash back to Lamport in his youth as a pirate mercenary during the Siege of La Rochelle in 1627.

From pirate adventurer to author of the first declaration of independence in the Indies (a century before the French Revolution). How this came to be be will be explored in our coming chapters as we next look back to Lamport’s childhood in Wexford, 1619.