Leviathan (comic)
Encyclopedia
Leviathan is a horror
comic
series created by Ian Edginton
and D'Israeli
and appearing in the British comic 2000 AD
starting in 2003.
The story is set on a massive ocean liner (the Leviathan of the title) which has been transported to some sort of parallel world with no land or landmarks. The story appeared in ten parts followed by three stand alone "Tales of the Leviathan" which expanded on the history of the ship as well as featuring new characters.
Ian Edginton
has described it as "Agatha Christie
meets Silent Hill
."
published by Rebellion
in October 2006
, ISBN 1-904265-65-0):
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
comic
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
series created by Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer.He is one of the few British comic talents to follow the reverse trajectory to the one usually taken: becoming successful in American comics before returning to work for 2000 AD.-Biography:...
and D'Israeli
D'Israeli
Matt Brooker, whose work most often appears under the pseudonym D'Israeli , is a British comic artist, colorist, writer and letterer. Other pseudonyms he uses include "Molly Eyre" , for his writing, and "Harry V...
and appearing in the British comic 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
starting in 2003.
The story is set on a massive ocean liner (the Leviathan of the title) which has been transported to some sort of parallel world with no land or landmarks. The story appeared in ten parts followed by three stand alone "Tales of the Leviathan" which expanded on the history of the ship as well as featuring new characters.
Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer.He is one of the few British comic talents to follow the reverse trajectory to the one usually taken: becoming successful in American comics before returning to work for 2000 AD.-Biography:...
has described it as "Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
meets Silent Hill
Silent Hill
is a survival horror video game series consisting of seven installments published by Konami and its subsidiary Konami Digital Entertainment. The first four games in the series, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4, have been developed by an internal factor, Team Silent...
."
Characters
- Detective Sergeant Aurelius Lament, a police officer who is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. His wife, Mary, died in child birth five years earlier, the result of the ships doctor being drunk.
- William Ashbless, the boat's designer.
- Sky Baker, a "Mace", one of the unofficial police who maintain order in Steerage class. Her mother was killed by the Stokers about six months before the story starts.
- HasturHasturHastur is a fictional entity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benign god of shepherds. Robert W...
, the demon controlling/powering the ship who appears to be under control of Ashbless. His servants, known as Stokers, kill their victims by flaying them with their long tongues. - Davy Moyes a young Scottish apprentice who became Hasturs' first servant (in "Chosen Son")
- Captain Michael McLean, soldier, hunter and adventurer who went on an expedition to Hold Thirteen, rumoured to be filled with luxury items. (in "McLean's Last Case").
- Petra Connaught, famed aviatrix killed whilst trying to search for land (in "Beyond the Blue Horizon").
Plot
The Leviathan is the largest ship ever built - A mile long and half a mile tall and taking ten years to build. She is clearly modeled on the Titanic. Launched in 1928 with some 30,000 passengers and crew it disappeared and has spent the last twenty years lost in some kind of endless and lifeless ocean. There are strange goings on deep in the bowels of the ship which occasionally leaks out on to the upper decks.Collected editions
All of the strips were collected in a trade hardcoverTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
published by Rebellion
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
in October 2006
2006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
, ISBN 1-904265-65-0):
- "Leviathan" (in 2000 AD #1351-1360, 2003).
- "Tales of the Leviathan":
- "Chosen Son" (in 2000 AD #2005, 2004).
- "McLean's Last Case" (in 2000 AD #1465, 2005).
- "Beyond the Blue Horizon" (in 2000 AD #1466, 2005).
- "Tales of the Leviathan":