While you’re waiting for Issue 4 of Graveyard of Empires, I thought I would share some of the research that goes into the book.  At some point I’m going to compile a bibliography of all the books, films etc. that Paul and I used for Graveyard - maybe in the last issue, if we have room (it’s looking like a 27 pager now), maybe in the trade.

Paul has an incredibly cool extra planned for the trade if his schedule allows, and I’d like to do something similar to what I did with the Fearless trade, where I showed the evolution of the project from concept to execution in both words and art.  Graveyard might actually lend itself better to that, as the back and forth between he and I on the story has been unlike any collaboration I’ve had so far.

There will be some sources that - as pretentious as it may sound - I’ll never be able to reveal or thank publicly, but I think what follows is pretty safe.  And gives you a good idea of just how intense the research and collaborative process has been.  

Google Images has been a godsend for comic creators, and my scripts have become filled with more and more hyperlinks.  But sometimes you still have to do the leg work.

This weekend, I sent the following images to Paul along with a revised script:

The first image is a cover to “Northwest-Frontier 1837-1947”, part of Osprey Publishing’s “Men-At-Arms” Series.  I highly recommend their books for visual reference on anything related to military history, from ancient times to the war on terror.

Here’s a scan from the book itself.  It depicts a scene from the first Anglo-Afghan war.  What follows are what I really love about the books, the color plates depicting how soldiers were dressed.  In this case, British soldiers (and their Indian Allies) from the 2nd Afghan war at the tail end of the 19th century.

Maybe my favorite image is the of these Afghan Tribesman…because other than their guns very little has changed in the way of dress over the centuries:

I don’t think that sending this much research is that out of the ordinary for a single comic issue.   But this is all for a SINGLE PAGE (which I really hope makes it into the book). 

(At some point, I hope to post the page and along with the reference to show how Paul incorporates it).

The book - and Afghanistan - is called “The Graveyard of Empires” for a reason.  From Alexander the Great to the British and Soviet Empires to our own, it’s been argued that Imperial ambition has been dashed against the rocky terrain of this supposedly unconquerable land.

In Issue 2, we began flashing back to a year before the events of the story.  In issue 3, we flashed back 30 years to the Soviet invasion and the secret war that the CIA waged to kick the Russians out (interestingly enough, part of the motivation for the British occupation of Afghanistan was to keep the Russians from threatening their Empire in India).

In Issue 4, we’re going to be going back further in time.  Way before the British Invasion…although when and why is a secret I’d like to save for the actual book.

Meanwhile, sitting on both my desk and artist Salgood Sam are just a couple of the dozen or so books in the Osprey series I’ve been sending him for DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON:

I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s comic that’s part horror, part historical-fiction, revealing how the real 15th century Vlad the Impaler became the (fictional) vampire in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  It’s something the novel glosses over and Coppola’s film spent very little time on, and has been an obsession of mine ever since I read the novel in high school, if not before. 

As ambitious of an undertaking as Graveyard was, Dracula proves to be even moreso.  Hopefully, the conclusion to the former and the beginning to the latter will be worth the wait.