Australian Comic Gallery: Tales of Stranggore

The Tales of Stranggore series is something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time. It is basically a fantasy series at heart, the idea being that stories will be told in the format of a mini-series, featuring different characters and situations, but all set within the fantasy realm of Stranggore. The first six part storyline, ‘The Suitor’s Hand’, is structured around a storytelling contest. The competition is attended by representatives from all the major realms within Stranggore, thus introducing the series and some of the characters who will, later on, be the focus of major story arcs. Writers like Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim and Jeff Smith were all influential in one way or another. Fundamentally, however, I really wanted an excuse to work with artist Brian Jordan. Having convinced him to illustrate Eschaton #1, I was able to twist his arm to work on this project. Once again it aims, visually, to please the aesthetics of a comics fan, but also to appeal to a larger audience, using techniques usually associated more with illustration than comics, approaches taken in books like Stardust and The Dream Hunters.

-- Darran Jordan

Australian Comics