Cryowulf

Cryowulf is a gender-flipped retelling of Beowulf set on a long-abandoned space station.  

It’s set in a very unusual future, filled with a cast of heroic, funny, cowardly, devious, violent, loving characters. Almost all the main protagonists are female, and the world is a matriarchy.

The story is very loosely based on the 9th century saga Beowulf, but you don’t have to have read the book or seen the film to enjoy this telling.  

The World of Cryowulf

Cryowulf is set on a long-abandoned space station sited over the black hole Cygnus X1. It centres on a young Apprentice Keeper called Crow. Mourning both her birth-mother and her foster-mother, she dreams of the sleeping folk hero Eortha, who might one day rise from her sleep under the station and save the tribe from prowling Grendel.  

But will the help of her level-headed sister Raven and her pugnacious friend Puffin be enough to overcome the forces that threaten Crow, her tribe and the entire station?  

And who will save them from Grendel?

I’m joined in this project by Ben Matsuya, who brings his clarity of storytelling and warm, humane art to Cryowulf.  

He’s pushing the boundaries on comic colouring, taking inspiration from the pronounced chiaroscuro of Renaissance painters like Caravaggio, to create dark and menacing panels lit only by wavering reed lanterns.

Reviews

“The book so far is just fantastic–brilliant work! The story begins to slowly build quite nicely and has a lot of punch at the end, due in no small part to the amazing drawings–that last panel is a masterpiece!! Just stunning and gorgeous and scary as hell. Next level stuff! Cannot wait to read more.” – Craig Kellman (Madagascar)  

“Looks excellent” – David Lloyd (V for Vendetta)  

“The storytelling is expert and welcoming, subtle and smooth.” – Art Holcomb (Star Trek)

“Daring” – AP2HYC.com

“Super impressed” – The Dork Review

“A truly breath taking and mind blowing read” – Pipedream Comics

“Drips tension” – WorldGeeklyNews

“The story only got better after each read” – The Fantasy Inn

“There is a warmth that you wouldn’t expect from a story set in space” – Fandemonium Network