by Zuzana Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:34 pm
"DC COMICS, the publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, has launched a graphic novel about Irish immigrants to New York, which draws inspiration from a song by the band The Pogues.
Gone to Amerikay, written by Derek McCulloch and illustrated by Colleen Doran, was inspired by Thousands Are Sailing, a Pogues ballad about generations of Irish emigrants travelling "across the western ocean to a land of opportunity".
The book intertwines the stories of a penniless single mother raising her daughter in the Five Points slum in 1870, a young artist who travels from Ireland in 1960 intent on becoming a Broadway actor, and an Irish billionaire who comes to New York in 2010 in search of the link that ties them all together.
McCulloch, who previously worked with Doran on a comic anthology of songs by Tori Amos, first approached Philip Chevron, guitarist with the Pogues, with an idea for a graphic novel based on the band's entire catalogue. Chevron was enthusiastic, but other members of the band were "non-committal", so he decided to give McCulloch permission to use Thousands Are Sailing, a song he wrote.
"What I think Gone To Amerikay does well is set an interconnecting tale, a sort of ghost story, in three separate eras," said Chevron. "It's a fairly audacious undertaking and I'm delighted to have helped inspire or influence it.""
You can read the whole Sunday Times article
HERE.
[indent]"DC COMICS, the publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, has launched a graphic novel about Irish immigrants to New York, which draws inspiration from a song by the band The Pogues.
Gone to Amerikay, written by Derek McCulloch and illustrated by Colleen Doran, was inspired by Thousands Are Sailing, a Pogues ballad about generations of Irish emigrants travelling "across the western ocean to a land of opportunity".
The book intertwines the stories of a penniless single mother raising her daughter in the Five Points slum in 1870, a young artist who travels from Ireland in 1960 intent on becoming a Broadway actor, and an Irish billionaire who comes to New York in 2010 in search of the link that ties them all together.
McCulloch, who previously worked with Doran on a comic anthology of songs by Tori Amos, first approached Philip Chevron, guitarist with the Pogues, with an idea for a graphic novel based on the band's entire catalogue. Chevron was enthusiastic, but other members of the band were "non-committal", so he decided to give McCulloch permission to use Thousands Are Sailing, a song he wrote.
"What I think Gone To Amerikay does well is set an interconnecting tale, a sort of ghost story, in three separate eras," said Chevron. "It's a fairly audacious undertaking and I'm delighted to have helped inspire or influence it.""[/indent]
You can read the whole Sunday Times article [url=http://www.pogues.com/Pics/Promo/amerikay-about.jpg][b]HERE[/b][/url].
[img]http://www.pogues.com/Pics/Promo/amerikay-cover.jpg[/img]
