Dead Reckoning Minibook - Europe

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A graphic novel imprint of the ½X ½X NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS

CONTENTS ENNIs

badly wounded and exiled from her own people, Anna begins an odyssey that will take her from the killing fields of World War II to the horrific soviet punishment

“wayne vansant combines thorough military and historical detail with unforgettable characters in his epic masterwork Katusha.” —Foreword

reviews (starred review)

“i’m in awe of this book. it’s got everything right. impressive research, complex characters, passionate yet balanced storytelling, perfect pacing, and a strong female protagonist. we need more graphic novels like this about real heroes.” —Pat

Mills , author of Charley’s War, creator of 2000 AD featuring Judge Dredd

vansant the German army smashes

As As

deep into the soviet Union

and the defenders of the Motherland retreat in disarray, a new squadron arrives at a Russian forward airbase. Like all

bRAUN

above the freezing Arctic ocean, this Night Witch finds she has one last card to play.

“an extraordinary look at a little-known aspect of world war ii, wayne vansant’s Katusha is well worth your time.” —Garth

ennis , writer of War Stories, Battlefields, and Sara

on sunday, June 22, 1941, the morning after Katusha’s graduation, the Germans invade the Soviet Union. from harsh communist rule, but to conquer. They discover there is a special danger for the Jews, and in saving her friend Zhenya Gersteinfeld, Katusha finds her whole family in danger.

ship: first as a partisan, then as a Red Army tank driver and commander. From Barbarossa to Babi Yar, from

successful runs on The punisher and Fury

Stalingrad to Kursk, from the Dnipro to Berlin, follow the footprints and tank tracks of Katusha’s journey

for Marvel comics. As well as his own

invader—but unlike the rest, these pilots and navigators are women. In the lethal skies above the Eastern Front, they will become a legend—known to friend and

During the next four years, Katusha experiences the war on the Eastern Front with all its ferocity and hard-

preacher, The boys, and hitman, with

night-bomber units, they will risk fiery death flying obsolete biplanes against the

As enemy forces occupy Kiev, Ukraine, Katusha and her family learn the Nazis are not there to liberate them

GARTh ENNIs has been writing comics since 1989. credits include

Katusha

camps—and at the top of the world, high

through a time of death, hopelessness, victory, glory, and even love.

war series War stories, battlefields, and

foe alike as the Night Witches.

With casualties mounting and the conflict devouring more and more of her

Seen through the eyes of a Ukrainian teenager, Katusha is both a coming-of-age story and a carefully researched

dreaming Eagles, he recently revived the

“We live in a

classic british aviation character Johnny

world where war

Red and has produced two series of World

has become an accepted

account of one of the most turbulent and important periods of the twentieth century, where women served in

hardened combat veteran. The Nazi foe is

of Tanks for Wargaming.net. originally

facet of life, but Ennis and braun

For more than thirty years

from Northern Ireland, Ennis now resides

show how hellish that facet can be. This

on historic and military subjects, beginning with Marvel’s Savage Tales and The ‘Nam. Since then, he has

in New york city with his wife, Ruth.

title is a riveting read, compelling in its subject

wayne vansant

has been writing and illustrating comics and graphic novels

produced Days of Darkness, Battron: The Trojan Woman, Blockade, The War in Korea, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Normandy, Grant vs. Lee, Bombing Nazi Germany, The Battle of the Bulge, The Red

matter and narrative movement.”

RUss bRAUN has been working in

comrades, Lieutenant Anna Kharkova quickly grows from a naive teenager to a

the hundreds of thousands and Russians died by the millions.

bad enough, but the terrifying power of her country’s secret police makes death in battle almost preferable.

Baron, and others.

— coMIc booK REsoURcEs

comics for almost thirty years, with a seven-year break for a stint with disney Feature Animation. he is best known for

“Few contemporary writers get the psychology of the war story

www.deadreckoning.org eBook edition also availaBle.

like Garth Ennis. . . . This is definitely worth a look.”

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

— NEWsARAMA

Ennis on The boys, battlefields, Where

Monsters dwell, sixpack & dogwelder,

(coNTINUEd oN bAcK FLAp)

his frequent collaborations with Garth

and most recently Jimmy’s bastards.

“Ennis writes some of the most powerful, kick-ass women in comics.”

— coMIc booK dAILy WWW.d E Ad REcKo NING.o RG

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pRINTEd IN ThE U.s.A.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Adapting the classic novel, this is an elegant statement on a generation of men destroyed by war.

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THE NIGHT WITCHES A female bomber pilot fights Nazis and the prejudices of her own government.

10 KATUSHA

14 STALINGRAD

18 MEN AT SEA

22 ONCE UPON A TIME IN FRANCE

26 SMEDLEY

29 TITLES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

A Ukrainian girl comes of age as a tank driver fighting Nazis in one of the most turbulent periods of the twentieth century.

A rich, poetic, and masterfully crafted work adapting stories of life and death on the sea.

A biography which depicts the arc of this legendary Marine Corps general’s career from his days of a greenhorn.

M

2015 N T E R N AT I O N A L C O M I C S F E S T I VA L OFFICIAL SELECTION

en at Sea is an opus of eight spectacularly drawn dark, poetic stories freely adapted by Riff Reb’s.

This collection offers:

rancingly depicts deep emotions with its use of stark, ding, and darkly cartoonish faces.”—Publishers Weekly

• “A Smile of Fortune” from Joseph Conrad • “The Sea Horses” and “The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder” from William Hope Hodgson

Joseph Conrad “A Smile of Fortune”

William Hope Hodgson

• “The Galley Slaves” and “The Far South” from Pierre Mac Orlan

“The Sea Horses” e Shamraken Homeward-Bounder”

• “A Descent into the Maelström” from Edgar Allan Poe

MEN AT SEA

Pierre Mac Orlan “The Galley Slaves” “The Far South”

Edgar Allan Poe

“A Descent into the Maelström”

Marcel Schwob

• “The Three Customs Officers” from Marcel Schwob • “The Sinking Ship” from Robert Louis Stevenson

“The Three Customs Officers”

Robert Louis Stevenson “The Sinking Ship”

MEN AT SEA

These eight tales, themselves interspersed with seven double-page spreads dedicated to extracts from illustrated classics, deliver a rich, dramatic, and masterfully crafted work of life and death on the sea.

Translated by Joe Johnson

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

1/24/19 2:28 PM

German and Russian soldiers fight in brutal, close-quarters combat.

A Jewish scrap dealer becomes a Nazi collaborator and resistance financier in this true-life crime thriller.

2019 Dead Reckoning, a graphic novel imprint of Naval Institute Press, focuses on military history, military biography and memoir, general history, and tales of the high seas.

Available from Diamond Comic Distributors. Look for our listing in Diamond Previews.

For editorial inquiries, please contact gthompson@usni.org

For media inquiries, please contact jbarnes@usni.org

For direct ordering information and sales inquiries, please contact rnoonan@usni.org

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ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Wayne Vansant

H

ailed by many as the greatest war novel of all time and publicly burned by the Nazis for being “degenerate,” Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front, is an elegant statement on a generation of men destroyed by war.

Caught up by a romantic sense of patriotism and encouraged to enlist by authority figures who would not risk their lives to do the same, Paul Bäumer and his classmates join the fighting in the trenches of the Western Front in World War I. He is soon disenchanted by the constant bombardments and ruthless struggle to survive. Through years in battle, Paul and those he serves with become men defined by the violence around them, desperate to stay as decent as they can while growing more and more distant from the society for which they are fighting.

For more than 30 years Wayne Vansant has been writing and illustrating comics and graphic novels on historic and military subjects, beginning with Marvel’s Savage Tales and The ‘Nam. Since then, he has produced Day of Darkness, Battron: The Trojan Woman, Blockade, The War in Korea, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Normandy, Grant vs. Lee, Bombing Nazi Germany, The Battle of the Bulge, The Red Baron, and others.

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN • Advance Reading Copies • Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising • ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss • Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion 3 3

Publication date: 12 June 2019 World War I • $24.95 65⁄8” x 10¼” • 176 Pages • Full Color ISBN: 978-1-68247-333-7 Paperback Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org @deadreckoninggraphicnovels @GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning @DeadReckoningGN www.deadreckoning.org

no one would believe that in this howling waste there could still be men; but steel helmets now appear on all sides out of the trenches, and fifty yards from us a machine gun is already in position and barking.

the wire entanglements are torn to pieces. yet they offer some obstacle. we see the storm troops coming.

haie and kropp begin with the hand grenades. haie throws seventy-five yards, kropp sixty. the enemy as they run cannot do much before they are within forty yards.

our artillery opens fire. machine guns rattle, rifles crack.

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we recognize the smooth distorted faces, the helmets...

...they are french.

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As As

the German army smashes THE NIGHT WITCHES deep into the soviet Union

By Garth Ennis and Russ Braun

“With this fiction, [Ennis] does a remarkable service to women’s history…. Braun and and the defenders of the Motherland Aviña’s work is downright glorious. Scenes of ferocious dogfights, with planes peppered by bullets or exploding in midair, are as gripping as they are beautiful. Back on retreat in disarray, a new squadron arrives the ground, Braun draws people with formal precision and an almost frozen quality that at a every Russian forward makes panel iconic.airbase.

Aviña’s Like colorsallare gorgeously versatile, ranging from subtly enameled tones for the people to at, bright night-bomber units, they will fl risk fiery hues for the action in the sky.”

—NPR death flying obsolete biplanes against the s the German Army smashes deep Garth Ennis has been writing comics since invader—but unlike the rest, these pilots into the Soviet Union and the defend- 1989. Credits include Preacher, The Boys and ers of the Motherland retreat in lethal dis- Hitman, with successful runs on The Punishand navigators are women.

In the array, a new squadron arrives at a Russian er and Fury for Marvel Comics. As well as skiesairbase. above the they will his own war series War Stories, Battlefields, forward LikeEastern all nightFront, bomber units, theybecome will riskafilegend—known ery death flying to obsolete friend biand and Dreaming Eagles, he recently revived planes against the invader—but unlike the the classic British aviation character Johnny alike as the Witches. rest,foe these pilots andNight navigators are women. Red, and has produced two series of World In the lethal skies above the Eastern Front, of Tanks for Wargaming.net. they will become a legend—known to friend Russ Braun has been working in comics for and With foe alike as the Night Witches. casualties mounting and the almost 30 years, with a 7-year break for a conflict devouring more quickly and more of her stint with Disney Feature Animation. Best Lieutenant Anna Kharkova grows from a naive teenager to a hardened com- known for his frequent collaborations with comrades, Lieutenant Anna Kharkova bat veteran. The Nazi foe is bad enough, Garth Ennis on The Boys, Battlefields, Where but quickly the terrifying power of herteenager country’s grows from a naive to a Monsters Dwell, Sixpack & Dogwelder and secret police makes death in battle almost most recently Jimmy’s Bastards. hardened veteran.

The Nazibefoe is preferable.

In combat The Night Witches, Anna ginsbad an odyssey will terrifying take her from theof enough,that but the power killing fields of World War II to the horrific herpunishment country’s secret police makes Soviet camps—and to thedeath top in Publication date: 13 March 2019 of the world. battle almost preferable. $24.95 65⁄8” x 10¼” • 256 Pages • Full Color ISBN-13: 978-1-68247-390-0 Paperback with French flaps

A

Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org (coNTINUEd oN bAcK FLAp)

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN

@deadreckoninggraphicnovels

• Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising

@GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning

• ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss

@DeadReckoningGN

• Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion

www.deadreckoning.org 7 7

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KATUSHA “Wayne Vansant combines thorough military and historical detail with unforgettable characters in his epic masterwork Katusha.”

—Foreword Reviews (Starred Review)

BY WAYNE VANSANT

“I’m in awe of this book. It’s got everything right. Impressive research, complex characters, passionate yet balanced storytelling, perfect pacing, and a strong female protagonist. We need more graphic novels like this about real heroes.” —Pat Mills, author of Charley’s War, creator of 2000AD featuring Judge Dredd

“An extraordinary look at a little-known aspect of World War Two, Wayne Vansant’s Katusha is well worth your time.” —Garth Ennis, writer of War Stories, Battlefields and Sara

O

n Sunday, June 22, 1941, the morning after Katusha’s graduation, the Germans invade the Soviet Union.

As enemy forces occupy Kiev, Ukraine, Katusha and her family learn the Nazis are not there to liberate them from harsh communist rule, but to conquer. They discover there is a special danger for the Jews, and in saving her friend Zhenya Gersteinfeld, Katusha finds her whole family in danger.

Publication date: 8 May 2019 $36.00 7” x 10” • 585 Pages • Full Color ISBN-13: 978-1-68247-425-9 Paperback Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org

During the next four years, Katusha experiences the war on the Eastern Front with all its ferocity and hardship: first as a partisan, then as a Red Army tank driver and commander. From Barbarossa to Babi Yar, from Stalingrad to Kursk, from the Dnipro to Berlin, follow the footprints and tanks tracks of Katusha’s journey through a time of death, hopelessness, victory, glory, and even love.

@deadreckoninggraphicnovels @GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning @DeadReckoningGN

Seen through the eyes of a Ukrainian teenager, Katusha is both a coming-of-age story and a carefully researched account of one of the most turbulent and important periods of the twentieth century, where women served in the hundreds of thousands, and Russians died by the millions.

www.deadreckoning.org

For more than 30 years Wayne Vansant has been writing and illustrating comics and graphic novels on historic and military subjects, beginning with Marvel’s Savage Tales and The ‘Nam. Since then, he has produced Day of Darkness, Battron: The Trojan Woman, Blockade, The War in Korea, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, Normandy, Grant vs. Lee, Bombing Nazi Germany, The Battle of the Bulge, The Red Baron, and others.

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN • Advance Reading Copies • Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising • ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss • Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion 11 11

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BY ANTONIO GIL & DANIEL ORTEGA

S

Daniel Ortega is a Spanish author of a series of novels published about a group of German soldiers surviving the horrors of World War II. He is a specialist in the structure of the German army and the European theater in World War II.

talingrad. From August 1942 to February 1943 this model industrial city, bathed by the waters of the Volga, was home to the bloodiest battle of World War II. Stalingrad: Letters from the Volga offers a fast-paced depiction of this titanic struggle: explicit, crude, and without concessions—just as the war and the memory of all those involved demands.

Publication date: 17 July 2019

The battle rendered devastating results.

Almost two million human beings were marked forever in its crosshairs, a frightening figure comprised of the dead, injured, sick, captured, and missing. Military and civilians alike paid with their lives for the personal fight between Stalin and Hitler, which materialized in long months of primitive conflict among the smoking ruins of Stalingrad and its surroundings.

$19.95 7” x 10” • 120 Pages • Full Color ISBN-13: 978-1-68247-393-1 Paperback Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org @deadreckoninggraphicnovels

Stalingrad: Letters from the Volga presents the battle, beginning to end, through the eyes of Russian and German soldiers. Take a chronological tour of the massacre, relive the fights, and feel the drama of trying to survive in a relentless hell of ice and snow.

@GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning @DeadReckoningGN

Antonio Gil is a Spanish illustrator and comic author who specializes in military history. His work can be seen in more than 100 publications in specialized magazines and books focusing on different periods of history, from Ancient Rome to the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a frequent guest at conferences, speaking about the Eastern Front in World War II and German operations in Stalingrad.

www.deadreckoning.org

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN • Advance Reading Copies • Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising • ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss • Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion

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I wishevIerytcohiulngd rewatusrneatosietrh.e. paLestss, dangerous. when

AlAlthougwahy somto eSscetalnesingradthatI Iwilwitnevnessered beon the to get out of my mind. able to make mat ers worse, And, nge of plans. a chaFĂźhrer orders it. .

The To Stalingrad!

For what?

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AuA gustI. . remember when we advanced to How suburbs! The boys of the Luftwaffe the ed open it up to facilitate our advance. help smoke eclipsed the horizon.

The

Fire-thtoroungghued thase saskyssi.n.s rip rred and heavy.

Cha mmon sight. .

A co ’t wish this upon anyone.

I don 11 17 17

MEN AT SEA Translated by Joe Johnson

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MEN AT SEA

By Riff Reb’s

“A storybook style that entrancingly depicts deep emotions with its use of stark, macabre colors, harsh shading, and darkly cartoonish faces.”

—Publishers Weekly Publication date: 17 April 2019

Men at Sea is an opus of eight spectacularly drawn dark, poetic stories adapted by Riff Reb’s.

$24.95 8” x 11” • 120 Pages • Full Color ISBN-13: 978-1-68247-3870 Paperback

This collection offers: • “A Smile of Fortune,” from Joseph Conrad • “The Sea Horses” and “The Shamraken Homeward Bound,” from William Hope Hodgson • “The Galley Slaves” and “The Far South,” from Pierre Mac Orlan • “A Descent into the Maelstrom,” from Edgar Allan Poe • “The Three Customs Officers,” from Marcel Schwob • “The Shipwreck,” from Robert Louis Stevenson

Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org @deadreckoninggraphicnovels @GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning @DeadReckoningGN

These eight tales, themselves interspersed by seven double-page spreads dedicated to extracts from illustrated classics, deliver a rich, poetic, and masterfully crafted work of life and death on the sea.

www.deadreckoning.org

Riff Reb’s was born in Algeria and lived his formative years in Le Havre, France. He attended The School of Decorative Arts and later co-founded the Azylum Studio, a place of creativity for now-recognized artists. Their first project, Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea, an animated series, was adapted simultaneously as a comic book. After years of publishing comics in France and developing a bittersweet drawing style, Riff Reb’s has become a leading figure in a new school of comic books, skillfully blending a dynamic, innovative drawing style with an often-irreverent style of speech.

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN • Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising • ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss • Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion

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A Descent into the Maelström based on EDGAR ALLAN POE

I’ ve often wondered how simple, decent men, who had their whole lives mapped out, have seen their destiny shattered and have rejoined the wretched souls haunting our cities.

A chance acquaintance in Trondheim, he was my guide today in the province of Nortland, more precisely in the gloomy district of Lofoden.

If each story is particular, that of the brave Norwegian fisherman is truly extraordinary. We’ll see how a bit of physical science saved that man and how, consequently, his peers shunned him.

The island in the distance is called by the Norwegians vurrgh. The one midway is moskœ, That a mile to the northward is ambaaren.

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You must get over your dizziness, for I have brought you here that you might have the best possible view of the scene of the event that interests you.

It was long before I could reason myself into sitting up and looking out into the distance. Whipped by a howling wind, from on the top of the promontory that helseggen is, one could see a sea in an indomitable, chaotic fury and hear the uproar of the waters crashing on the black and beetling cliffs.

Do you hear anything? Do you see any change in the water?

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ONCE UPON A TIME FABIEN NURY AND IN FRANCE BYSYLVAIN VALLÉE

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nce Upon a Time in France is based on the true story of Joseph Joanovici, a Romanian Jew who immigrated to France in the 1920s and became one of the richest men in Europe as a scrapmetal magnate. During World War II Joanovici becomes a Nazi collaborator and war profiteer who provides the Nazi regime with the metals it needs. Secretly, he uses his wealth and influence to finance the French Resistance and free fellow Jews from Nazi hands. Due to his tactics he was one of the three Jews who were denied Israeli citizenship.

Publication date: Fall 2019 $29.95 8½” X 107⁄8” • 368 Pages Full Color ISBN-13: 978-1-68247-471-6 Paperback

For some, he was a villain. For others, a hero.

Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org

Over 1 million copies sold of the French series of Once Upon a Time in France.

The series has won the BDGest’Art Best Scenario Award, BDGest’Arts Album of the Year, Angoulême International Comics Festival Best Series Award, among many others.

@deadreckoninggraphicnovels @GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning

Fabien Nury has scripted more than fifteen comics series, including Once Upon a Time in France and The Death of Stalin, which was adapted to the film with Steve Buscemi.

Nury is also a television screenwriter and has created the Guyane TV series.

@DeadReckoningGN www.deadreckoning.org

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN

Sylvain Vallée graduated from the Saint-Luc School of Brussels. He started as a freelance illustrator in advertising and cartoonist. He published his first comic book with Glénat at age 25 and has worked on a dozen series.

• Advance Reading Copies • Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising • ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss • Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion

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SMEDLEY

BY JEFF McCOMSEY

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ajor General Smedley Butler is one of the most decorated Marines of all time and is a legend among the Corps. Coming from a background of privilege, he became a Marine to prove his worth. Through conflicts like the Philippine-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Banana Wars, and the War to End All Wars, he helped define what the Marine Corps is today.

senator. When he is invited to speak at the Bonus Army encampment in Washington D.C., he arrives early to mingle with the other veterans. Moving around the camp, servicemembers press him for stories about his legendary exploits. How did he win his Medals of Honor? What was it like in China? From there he flashes back to some of his most exciting exploits. Along the way he goes from a boy who cowers at every gunshot, to a man who leads the charge.

Smedley starts in 1932, when Smedley Butler is retired from the Marines and has lost his bid to be a Pennsylvania

Jeff McComsey is an American writer/ illustrator working in comics for the past ten years. He is also editor in chief of the New York Times best selling historical zombie anthology FUBAR now into its sixth volume.

Jeff and his family reside in the quaintly hip city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he also teaches the occasional class at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.

Publication date: 16 October 2019 $26.95 65⁄8” x 10¼” • 176 Pages • Full Color ISBN-13: 978-1-68247-2767 Paperback Publicity Contact: Jacqline Barnes, Publicity Manager Phone: 410-295-1028 Email: Publicity@deadreckoning.org

MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN • Advance Reading Copies

@deadreckoninggraphicnovels

• Review coverage in print and online media • Print and online advertising

@GraphicNovelsDeadReckoning

• ARCs and Digital galleys on Edelweiss

@DeadReckoningGN

• Promotional giveaways and contests • Social media promotion

www.deadreckoning.org

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The Stringbags

WRITTEN BY GARTH ENNIS DRAWN BY PJ HOLDEN; COLORED BY KELLY FITZPATRICK; LETTERED BY ROB STEEN

If you do the incredible often enough, they’ll want you to do the impossible.

Based on the true story of the Royal Navy’s Swordfish crews, The Stringbags is an epic tale of young men facing death in an aircraft almost out of time.

Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy began World War II with torpedo bombers that could devastate enemy warships and merchantmen at will. Britain’s Royal Navy squadrons went to war equipped with the Fairey Swordfish.

A biplane torpedo bomber in an age of monoplanes, the Swordfish was underpowered and under-gunned; an obsolete museum piece, an embarrassment. Its crews fully expected to be shot from the skies. Instead, they flew the ancient “Stringbag” into legend.

Writer Garth Ennis and artist PJ Holden present the story of the men who crewed the Swordfish: from their triumphs against the Italian Fleet at Taranto and the mighty German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic, to the deadly challenge of the Channel Dash in the bleak winter waters of their homeland. They lived as they flew, without a second to lose—and the greatest tributes to their courage would come from the enemy who strove to kill them.

GARTH ENNIS has been writing comics since 1989. Credits include Preacher, The Boys

(both adapted for TV), Hitman and successful runs on The Punisher and Fury for Marvel Comics. He is particularly known for his war comics, including War Stories, Battlefields, Out of the Blue, Sara, and a recent revival of the classic British series Johnny Red. Originally from Northern Ireland, Ennis now lives in New York City with his wife, Ruth.

“Stringbags is, like the best wellX X researched military history, Xdelivered with genuine heart— something Garth Ennis excels at. A gripping underdog tale filled with X spectacle and tragedy, featuring X career-best art from PJ Holden.”

—Rob Williams, author of Judge Dredd and Unfollow “Highly recommended for lovers of damn good stories.”

PJ HOLDEN is a Belfast-based comic artist. Best known for his work for 2000AD on Judge Dredd, over the last twenty years he’s also drawn Rogue Trooper, Robocop/Terminator, James Bond: M, World of Tanks, and Battlefields. He is the co-creator of Dept. of Monsterology and Numbercruncher. He is married to Annette and has two children, Thomas and Nathan.

KELLY FITZPATRICK is a Hugo-nominated comic book colorist and illustrator. She has worked on everything from Kickstarter and indie publications to DC graphic novels.

Kelly spends all of her free time doting on her dog, Archie as well as training dogs, doing yoga and aerial acrobatics, and self-publishing her own books.

ROB STEEN has lettered comics for all major comic book companies. He is also the

illustrator of the children’s book series Flanimals, written by Ricky Gervais, and Erf, written by Garth Ennis.

—John Wagner, co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog ½X

May 2020

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192 pp. | 7¼ x 11 Hardcover | X 978-1-68247-503-4 ISBN: $29.95 | Member: $17.97 ½X GRAPHIC NOVELS

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Uncorrected page proof. Copyright © U.S. Naval Institute. Not for distribution.

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NEW PUBLICATIONS

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The World’s Leading Naval and Military Publisher since 1898.

Atlas at War!

EDITED BY MICHAEL J. VASSALLO ART RESTORATION BY ALLAN HARVEY

Atlas at War! collects fifty hard-hitting stories from Atlas Comics, the company that became Marvel Comics and published more war titles than anyone in the industry between the years 1951 and 1960.

Comics historian Dr. Michael J. Vassallo has chosen the best of the best, many of which are coming back into print for the first time, from sixteen different Atlas war titles and featuring the artwork of twenty different artists—giants of the genre, including Russ Heath, John Severin, Bernie Krigstein, Joe Maneely, Jerry Robinson, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby. Each page has been meticulously restored from its first printing by comic art restorer Allan Harvey.

Atlas at War! covers the brutal pre-code period where graphic depictions of war action were rendered by artists who were World War II veterans themselves, as well as the post-code period, where code restrictions forced creators to tell stories without graphic violence but produced some of the most beautiful comic art of the genre.

In addition to the artists, stories cover all aspects of war—from famous campaigns, weaponry, and personal soldier stories to political topics, Nazi atrocities, and even one story tinged with pre-code horror! Often overlooked in favor of its competitors, Atlas at War! will finally show that Atlas’ war titles were second to no one.

June 2020 X

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272 pp. | 8½ x 11 X Hardcover | ISBN: 978-1-68247-470-9 $65.00 | Member: $39.00

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DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO is a noted comics historian and a world-renowned authority on the Timely/Atlas period of Marvel’s history. He is the co-author of The Secret History of Marvel Comics and has written twenty introductions to Marvel’s Timely and Atlas Age Masterworks volumes. A frequent contributor to comic history publications, Dr. Vassallo has provided writing and editorial support to Taschen Publishing (75 Years of Marvel, The Stan Lee Story) and maintains his own Timely-Atlas-Comics blog. A Manhattan dentist, he resides in Westchester County, New York, with his wife, Maggie, and their children, Michelle and Jason. He is currently researching and writing an art biography of Atlas giant, Joe Maneely.

Welsh graphic artist ALLAN HARVEY specializes in digital restoration, breathing new life into vintage comic artwork. Previous restoration projects include Colleen Doran’s A Distant Soil, Stan Lee’s Amazing Fantastic Incredible, and a host of Sam Glanzman war comic reprints for It’s Alive Press.

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