Ignition City
| Ignition City | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Avatar Press |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | April – October 2009 |
| No. of issues | 5 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | ISBN 1-59291-087-4 |
Ignition City is a five-issue science fiction comic book limited series, written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Gianluca Pagliarani. It was published in 2009 by American company Avatar Press.
Publication history
Ellis initially conceived the plot in 2005. After some brief initial work in 2006, the series was not mentioned again until after the release of his Aetheric Mechanics in 2008.[1] Inspirations included the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, the show Deadwood, the artist Magdalene Veen,[2] the film Metropolis, the Berlin Tegel Airport, Ray Bradbury's short story "Rocket Summer", Alan Moore's comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and his own Ministry of Space comic (which was in turn inspired by Dan Dare).[3][4]
Plot
Ignition City is set in an
Characters
- Mary Raven – former astronaut and daughter of the space hero Rock Raven, comes to Ignition City to investigate the death of her father.
- Rock Raven – British space hero, veteran of campaigns against the Martians and thus possibly inspired by Dan Dare.
- Lionel "Buster" Crabb – British government official, a friend to Mary and her father. Based on the real life Navy officer thought captured and brainwashed by the Russians.
- Lightning Bowman – one of the first three humans in space (alongside Gayle Ransom and Doc Vukovic), now marooned in Ignition City. Inspired by Flash Gordon.
- Gayle Ransom – former lover of Lighting Bowman, and another of the first three humans in space, now a bar-owner and gun-runner in Ignition City. Inspired by Dale Arden.
- Dr. Dragomir Vukovic, AKA 'Doc Vukovic' – another of the first three humans in space, he built the original spaceship out of junk parts. Inspired by Dr. Hans Zarkov.
- Kharg the Killer – dictator of the planet Khargu and ally of Adolf Hitler, who was defeated by Lightning Bowman, Gayle Ransom, and Doc Vukovic. Inspired by Ming the Merciless.
- Bronco – drunken customer in Gayle Bowman's bar who talks of his time spent five centuries in the future, and thus analogous to Buck Rogers.
- Piet Vanderkirk – Gayle Bowman's right-hand man. Former member of the Lensmen.
- Yuri – washed-up "Russia's greatest cosmonaut", since disavowed and abandoned in Ignition City.
- Marshal Pomeroy – Corrupt lawman of the Ignition City settlement. Flies with the aid of a jet pack, reminiscent of Commando Cody.
Collected editions
The series has been collected into a trade paperback:
- Ignition City Volume 1 (144 pages, Avatar, February 2010, ISBN 1-59291-087-4)
Notes
References
- Ignition City at the Grand Comics Database
- Ignition City at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
External links
- Official website
- Ignition City production blog Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Avatar Press Ignition City section