I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the SHADOW SERVICE by Cavan Scott & Corin Howell Blog Tour hosted
by Rockstar
Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
SHADOW SERVICE Vol. 1: Dark Arts
Authors: Cavan Scott & Corin Howell
Release Date: April 20, 2021
Publisher: Vault Comics
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 128
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/SHADOW-SERVICE-Vol-1-Dark-Arts
Gina Meyers is a Private Investigator who makes her living in
the underbelly of London. She's also a witch. Not the cutesy kind. The
terrifying kind. Witchcraft meets spycraft, when a shadowy government
organization abducts Gina.
BLACK MAGIC MEETS BLACK OPS.
Worried your partner is cheating? Need a missing person found?
Gina Meyers is the Private Investigator for you. Sure, she’s a witch who
worries that her powers make her more of a monster than the crooks she’s trying
to catch, but it’s not like London’s criminal underworld is literally going to
hell… is it? Spy craft meets black magic in the shadowy world of MI666.
Collects issues #1 to #5 of the ten issue series.
SHADOW SERVICE Vol. 2: Mission Infernal
Authors: Cavan Scott & Corin Howell
Release Date: September 28, 2021
Publisher: Vault Comics
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 128
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/SHADOW-SERVICE-Vol-2
First Gina was a witch. Then she was a spy. Now she’s a
traitor. Spycraft meets witchcraft in the world of MI666
BLACK MAGIC MEETS BLACK OPS.
Betrayed by one of their own, the Shadow Service takes to the dangerous streets
of Rome. But can the traitor be brought back into the fold? The chase is on.
Spycraft meets witchcraft in the world of MI666.
Collects #6 to #10 of the ongoing series.
Authors: Cavan Scott & Corin Howell
Release Date: March 21, 2023
Publisher: Vault Comics
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 128
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/SHADOW-SERVICE-Vol-3-Death-to-Spies
Black
Magic woman meets Black Ops Bond in this supernatural spy saga from New
York Times bestselling author, Cavan Scott!
From NewYork Times bestseller Cavan Scott (Star Wars: The High Republic)
and artist Corin Howell (Wonder Woman) comes the start of a thrilling
new chapter of the supernatural spy saga!
All over the world, secret agents are being murdered by monstrous folk horrors,
and not even MI666 is safe. Gina Meyer faces tragedy as a teammate turns enemy.
But what of the quest to find out the truth about her past and powers?
Shadow Service stands tall next to the likes of Criminal
Macabre and Hellblazer in the world of supernatural
detectives while still putting its own spin on it to stand apart. –
Horror DNA
For fans of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan (The Hollows), The
Department of Truth, Umbrella Academy, Doctor Who, Star
Wars High Republic, Hellblazer, and James Bond.
CAVAN SCOTT (writer/creator) – answers
There’s now three volumes of Shadow Service: Vol. 1: Dark Arts, Vol. 2: Mission Infernal, and Vol. 3: Death to Spies (in stores 3/21).
What movies/television/books/video games inspired the creation of SHADOW SERVICE?
The ideas for Shadow Service have been bubbling around my head since I was a kid. I grew up loving three things that were quintessentially British - Doctor Who, James Bond and Hammer Horror. From an early age, I started imagining stories about a supernatural secret service - the title MI666 coming to me years ago. They were always the same; dangerous missions in dodgy locations, with dashing spies using occult weapons. Variations of MI666 have appeared in different forms in numerous short stories of mine over the years, before solidifying into Shadow Service. But there were always monsters. That’s the Doctor Who fan in me. It was Doctor Who that led me to Dracula and Frankenstein and Hammer, Doctor Who that first introduced me to a secret organisation keeping the world safe from otherworldly creatures in the form of UNIT.
Tell us about MI666!
MI666 is a security service which has been operational in Great Britain since the Elizabethan era. Founded by Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, John Dee (in reality, the first ever 007), it has been defending this green and pleasant land from infernal attack ever since, recruiting potential agents from all walks of life. The linking factor is that they’ve all been affected in some way by arcane magic or supernatural beings.
Officially codenamed Section 26, MI666 is actually a nickname hated by the service’s spymaster, a shadowy figure called Hex who looks like a 10-year-old boy. He is so much older than ten! Plus he has powers that stem from… well, that would be telling and Hex has been keeping secrets for centuries.
Over the course of the series we meet a number of Section 26 agents:
Coyne - a living ghoul that is the epitome of ‘you are what you eat’, chowing down on the corpses of recently departed agents so he can infiltrate enemy lines.
Aashi - an emotionless killer with a literal heart of stone.
Major Crookshanks - MI666’s troll-like quartermaster.
And of course, Gina - The service’s latest recruit, a street witch who has been operating as a private detective putting her powers to use to find those who’d rather be lost.
Who are the inspirations for Gina?
I’d been trying to write stories about MI666 for years but they never really worked. I needed someone to pull the team together, and to provide a focal point.
The only snag was that I had sold the idea to Adrian at Vault Comics and was running out of time to deliver the outline. So, I did what I always do when I’m stuck - I went for a walk.
And I walked. And walked. And walked.
Still nothing.
Increasingly frustrated, I popped in a set of earphones and set my iphone on shuffle. Almost immediately a track from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina played - VCTRY’s cover of Black Magic Woman. As the dirty bass kicked in, I saw an image of a witch in a leather jacket, a rat on her shoulder. All of a sudden, I knew who our hero was. Gina Meyer was almost fully formed in my head by the time I got back home - a young witch who believes she’s the only woman in London capable of using magic… other than her sole friend in the world, a talking rat called Edwin. Just don’t refer to him as her familiar, okay?
She was exactly what MI666 needed, both in the story and to bind the series together.
List your favorite graphic novels or comics from when you were a child and talk about how you see them as an adult.
Like many kids in the late 1970s I grew up reading British humour comics like The Beano, The Dandy, Whizzer and Chips and Nutty. These cheap and cheerful weeklies were full of one or two-page strips usually featuring a bunch of rowdy kids getting into increasingly surreal scrapes.
From there I graduated to the raft of weekly titles Marvel UK put out, mostly reprinting US superhero adventures, and 2000AD, the now legendary anthology science fiction and fantasy comic which brought us Judge Dredd among other characters.
2000AD had more to do with those humour titles than you’d at first think. The ‘Galaxy’s Greatest Comic’ had a wicked sense of humour and satire, refusing to take itself - or the subjects it tackled - completely seriously. It was also very, very violent.
2000AD’s tone was - and is - a direct influence on Shadow Service. I wanted the book to have the same down-and-dirty feel, with the same knowing humour and snappy dialogue, dripping with British cynicism and sarcasm. But beneath it all, there is a heart that comes directly from those late 70s weeklies, both humorous and otherwise, a sense of found family among a band of misfits.
List the graphic novels and/or prose books that you’re looking forward to this year.
Grady Hendrix - How to Sell a Haunted House
Johnny Compton - The Spite House
Leopoldo Gout - Piñata
T. Kingfisher - The House With Good Bones
Ness Brown - The Scourge Between Stars
Cavan: Talk about your favorite (and least favorite!) type of character to create/write about/bring to life.
I love fast-talking smart-arses who think they know everything and soon find out they don’t almost as much as I adore writing team books filled with banter, characters who show how much they care for each other by bickering.
What are some of your favorite:
Movies (Classic or Current)
Ghostbusters - I was obsessed the moment I saw it as an 11-year-old kid, going Ghostbusters-crazy. It’s still my go-to feel-good flick.
Just about everything by Guillermo Del Toro - because of the sheer worldbuilding genius and the attention to detail at every level.
Aliens. Because it’s Aliens.
Star Treks II-IV - One of the finest trilogies ever made (with Search for Spock continually - and cruelly - overlooked.)
Most James Bond movies - I’m British. If we had a written constitution it would say we have to love 007 movies. I grew up with Roger Moore as Bond. He was almost royalty back then.
Sean of the Dead - Liquid gold.
The Conjuring universe - the perfect combination of horror and heart.
The Wicker Man - the best horror musical ever made.
Labyrinth - Bowie. Henson. ‘Nuff said. (Also I introduced my eldest daughter to the film in a special screening in an underground cavern which was just magical!)
Books
Of all time:
A Christmas Carol - My favourite novel, guaranteed to make me laugh and cry with every re-reading. I know entire passages off by heart.
The Shining - because Jack’s descent into madness is the most terrifying thing that King has ever written, the Overlook his greatest villain.
Salem’s Lot - for the growing sense of dread as the Master of horror builds up an entire community only to slaughter them chapters later.
Of recent years:
Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman - an intriguing concept hauntingly realised.
Survivors Song by Paul Tremblay - Who would have thought a novel about a global pandemic would have hit so well in the middle of a global pandemic?
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland - So much more than a zombie novel.
Series (TV/Streaming)
Doctor Who - because it’s been around all my life and has influenced everything I’ve written.
The Last of Us - because the character work so far has been stunning. I’m not a gamer anymore, so I’ve come to the story cold and it’s blowing me away week after week.
The Box of Delights - for pure nostalgia. Like many of my generation, I watch this classic British Christmas serial every December. The Wolves are running!
Godfather of Harlem - Absolutely compelling and so underrated.
Mythic Quest - because I’ve worked in too many publishing companies just like that.
Gavin and Stacey - the best British sitcom of the last few decades. So true to life. Sometimes painfully so.
Cavan Scott is a UK number one bestseller who has written for
such popular worlds as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Assassin's
Creed, Judge Dredd, Pacific Rim, and Sherlock Holmes. He
is the author of Star Wars Dooku: Jedi Lost, The Patchwork Devil,
Shadow Service, and is one of the story architects for Lucasfilm's
epic multi-media initiative, Star Wars: The High Republic. He
has written comics for Vault, Marvel, DC Comics, IDW, Dark Horse, Vertigo, 2000
AD, and The Beano.
A former magazine editor, Cavan Scott lives in the United
Kingdom with his wife and daughters. His lifelong passions include scary
movies, folklore, the music of David Bowie, and LEGO.
He owns far too many action figures.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
Corin Howell is a red head Comic Artist of spooky, scary, and sexy,
and monsters, maidens, and robots.
I love cats too.
She is the artist for the supernatural detective series from Vault, SHADOW
SERVICE, with bestselling author Cavan Scott. Hometown: Austin, TX
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
(2) winners
will receive a finished copies of SHADOW SERVICE series - US Only.
Ends April 7th, midnight EST.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
3/1/2023 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
3/2/2023 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
3/3/2023 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
3/4/2023 | Interview/IG Post |
Week Two:
3/5/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/6/2023 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
3/7/2023 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
3/8/2023 | Review | |
3/9/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/10/2023 | IG Post | |
3/11/2023 | Review/IG Post |
Week Three:
3/12/2023 | IG Review/LFL Drop Pic | |
3/13/2023 | IG Review | |
3/14/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/15/2023 | IG Review | |
3/16/2023 | Review | |
3/17/2023 | Review | |
3/18/2023 | Review/IG Post |
Week Four:
3/19/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/20/2023 | IG Review/TikTok Post | |
3/21/2023 | IG Review/FB Post | |
3/22/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/23/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/24/2023 | IG Review | |
3/25/2023 | IG Review |
Week Five:
3/26/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/27/2023 | Review | |
3/28/2023 | Review/IG Post | |
3/29/2023 | IG Review | |
3/30/2023 | Review | |
3/31/2023 | Review/IG Post |
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