New ongoing digital comics series from Alterna Comics tackles gender, class and colonialism through a steampunk-inspired lens of high fantasy adventure.
CANNONS IN THE CLOUDS follows the adventures of Sela Windbourne, a spunky teenage girl with her head in the clouds, literally. Sela lives in a world of floating islands, the surviving fragments of a once-powerful lost civilization, where she dreams of escaping the rigid rules of her aristocratic upbringing. When she finds herself on the run from a bloodthirsty conspiracy, her course collides with a young steeplejack named Robb Cadman.
While Robb lacks Sela’s wealth or influence, he possesses an uncanny connection with diametal, the mysterious substance which powers flying ships and fuels their entire civilization. As they try to unravel the true motives of their pursuers, the pair must join forces with unlikely allies - a crew of pirates captained by the notorious Jenny Avery - to keep their world from crashing down.
Co-creators Anne and Daniel have shared a pre-school classroom, a high school lunch table, a two-bedroom apartment and a lifelong friendship. CANNONS IN THE CLOUDS is their first collaboration. Daniel is the author of The title story in The Croods: “When Grug met Ugga” from Ape Entertainment and has self-published numerous indy Comics, most notably “Cyberpoint.”
The project's artist, Jorge Donis is an up and coming comics professional from the thriving South American art scene. He has been previously published by Indie Comics Magazine and Vizyone. “Far and away Jorge is the most talented artist i’ve ever worked with," said series co-creator Daniel Woolley. "His style is an incredible blend of the clean bold lines found in the best current comics, with a sense of action and motion deriving from the manga style.”
“At first i simply wanted to write a fun adventure ala Avatar the Last Air Bender, but as i fell into writing it, the world started to become a real place to me, and the characters, especially Sela and Robb, took me to places I never expected to go,” continued Woolley. Co-creator Anne Gresham added, “we also wanted to write a world where the female characters had more to do than just propel or fulfill a male protagonist’s trajectory. Sela and Robb are both imperfect characters with their own motivations, and they’re equally capable of carrying their own story arcs. We’ve had a lot of fun bringing out their quirks and personalities by throwing them into such desperate circumstances together."
CANNONS IN THE CLOUDS will be an ongoing digital series released bi-monthly from Alterna Comics. Look for Issue 1 in mid-July at Comixology, MyDigitalComics and DriveThru Comics.
To schedule an interview and/or receive a review copy, please contact us at cannonsintheclouds@gmail.com.