Ace Kilroy

Last updated
Ace Kilroy Ace Killroy banner.gif
Ace Kilroy

Ace Kilroy is a serialized adventure webcomic that launched on October 31, 2011. In its first season, it ran in daily black-and-white installments, culminating every week with an extra-long "Color Sunday" that also served as a teaser to the events of the upcoming week.

Contents

The co-creation of artists Rob Kelly and Dan O'Connor (who met while attending the Joe Kubert School of Graphic Art), Ace Kilroy features the title character — a World War I veteran turned soldier of fortune — who has to defeat supernatural monsters in order to stop plans of the Nazis. Inspired by mid-20th century comics and monster movies, the webcomic was well received.

Synopsis

Ace Kilroy takes place in 1937, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victory to a second term, as the United States Government is secretly preparing for a war in Europe. Thanks to some surveillance work involving the upcoming war, they discover mythological monsters are potentially real, and that they are the focus of an effort by Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. In the story, President Roosevelt and a small band of advisors realize that if the Nazis manage to turn otherworldly monsters to their side, they will be unbeatable. Roosevelt then puts out a word to World War I veteran Ace Kilroy that his country needs him.

In the webcomic's first season, Ace Kilroy goes to Transylvania and discovers the cabin of a previous agent who died under mysterious circumstances. As he searches for clues about the agent left behind, he is met by a young local girl named Anca, who claims to be lost. Ace agrees to help her home, when he is confronted by Anca's sisters, who quickly reveal themselves to be vampires, turned into such by Count Dracula, whom Ace encounters at a nearby castle. Ace then gets involved in a tug of war between fighting Dracula, the Nazis, and saving Anca. This inaugural storyline concluded on April 15, 2012.

After a several-month hiatus, Ace Kilroy returned for Season 2 on August 6, 2012. In this story arc, Ace is on vacation, visiting some old friends, including a former romantic interest named Ellie West, now a Hollywood screenwriter working on "B"-level monster movies. Ace' vacation is cut short by President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who send him to Bavaria to search for Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his creation, Frankenstein's Monster.

Development

Before creating Ace Kilroy, Kelly and O'Connor have produced artwork for companies such as ESPN, Vibe, Forbes, Time Out New York, and The Allentown Times. [1] Launching on October 31, 2011, Ace Kilroy has been updated on a daily schedule, with larger, colored pages being released every Sunday. In 2011, Kelly and O'Connor started a Kickstarter campaign in order to raise money and be able to work on the webcomic exclusively, as well as to create a print version of Ace Kilroy. [2]

Ace Kilroy was inspired by classic comics and popular monster stories, such as The Monster of Frankenstein. CC No 26 Frankenstein 2.JPG
Ace Kilroy was inspired by classic comics and popular monster stories, such as The Monster of Frankenstein .

Influences

Ace Kilroy draws its inspiration from newspaper adventure strips of the mid-20th century, such as Dick Tracy , Steve Canyon , Buz Sawyer , and Brenda Starr . The webcomic also incorporates the characters and settings from monster movies of the period, specifically the Universal monster films such as Dracula and Frankenstein .

One of the hallmarks of the strip is its use of real people and locations. President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull regularly appear, [2] and the webcomic includes numerous mentions of real-world locations of the period, such as the Hay–Adams Hotel and Paramount Pictures.

Critical reception

Ace Kilroy has received favorable reviews from various media outlets. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club praised Kelly and O'Connor for keeping the legacy of classic comics writer such as Roy Crane alive. [3] Meanwhile, Brigid Alverson likened the webcomic to films starring Clark Gable. [2] Jonathon Hoffman wrote for Aroundphilly.com in 2011 that he considered Ace Kilroy "one of the most meticulous, independently produced webcomics I've seen in awhile." [1]

In its first year, Ace Kilroy was nominated for an Eagle Award for the "Favourite Web-Based Comic" category, losing to Freakangels . [4] Kelly and O'Connor were also nominated for the 2012 Philadelphia Geek Awards for "Comic Book Writer of the Year" and "Comic Book Artist of the Year" respectively, with Kelly winning the award. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Tomb of Dracula</i>

The Tomb of Dracula is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare occasions, Dracula would work with these vampire hunters against a common threat or battle other supernatural threats on his own, but more often than not, he was the antagonist rather than protagonist. In addition to his supernatural battles in this series, Marvel's Dracula often served as a supervillain to other characters in the Marvel Universe, battling the likes of Blade the Vampire Slayer, Spider-Man, the Werewolf, the X-Men, Howard the Duck, and the licensed Robert E. Howard character Solomon Kane.

<i>Van Helsing</i> (film) 2004 action gothic horror film

Van Helsing is a 2004 action gothic horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s, of which Sommers is a fan.

<i>The Monster Squad</i> 1987 film by Fred Dekker

The Monster Squad is a 1987 American black comedy horror film directed by Fred Dekker and written by Dekker and Shane Black, who met as classmates at UCLA. Peter Hyams was one of the executive producers. It was released by TriStar Pictures on August 14, 1987. The film features pastiches of the Universal Monsters, led by Count Dracula. They are confronted by a group of savvy kids out to keep them from controlling the world.

Kevin Grevioux American Screenwriter

Kevin Grevioux is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and comic book writer. He is best known for his role as Raze in the Underworld film series, which he co-created, as well as his voicework in the cartoon Young Justice as the villain Black Beetle.

Girlamatic was a webcomic subscription service launched by Joey Manley and Lea Hernandez in March 2003. It was the third online magazine Manley established as part of his Modern Tales family of websites. Girlamatic was created as a place where both female artists and readers could feel comfortable and featured a diverse mix of genres. When the site launched, the most recent webcomic pages and strips were free, and the website's archives were available by subscription. The editorial role was held by Hernandez from 2003 until 2006, when it was taken over by Arcana Jayne-creator Lisa Jonté, one of the site's original artists. In 2009, Girlamatic was relaunched as a free digital magazine, this time edited by Spades-creator Diana McQueen. The archives of the webcomics that ran on Girlamatic remained freely available until the website was discontinued in 2013.

Frankenstein (DC Comics) DC Comics character

Frankenstein is a fictional DC Comics character based on the Frankenstein's monster character created by Mary Shelley.

Svetlana Chmakova is a Russian-Canadian comic book artist. She is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other original work includes Nightschool and Awkward for Yen Press. She has been nominated for an Eisner Award twice. Previously, she created The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic.

Dracula (Marvel Comics) Marvel Comics fictional character

Dracula is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is based on the vampire Count Dracula from the novel of the same name by author Bram Stoker. After the initial run of the series The Tomb of Dracula, the character has been depicted primarily as an antagonist to superheroes in the Marvel Universe.

<i>Frankenstein</i> in popular culture

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster, have influenced popular culture for at least a century. The work has inspired numerous films, television programs, video games and derivative works. The character of the monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction.

Frankensteins Monster (Marvel Comics)

Frankenstein's Monster is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is based on the character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The character has been adapted often in the comic book medium.

Count Dracula in popular culture Appearances of Count Dracula in popular culture

The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years, and many forms of media have adopted the character in various forms. In their book Dracula in Visual Media, authors John Edgar Browning and Caroline Joan S. Picart declared that no other horror character or vampire has been emulated more times than Count Dracula. Most variations of Dracula across film, comics, television, documentaries predominantly explore Dracula as he was portrayed in film with only a few more closely adapting Stoker's original narrative. These including borrowing the look of Count Dracula in both the Universal's series of Dracula and Hammer's series of Dracula, including include the characters clothing, mannerisms, physical features hair style and his motivations such as wanting to be a nearby home away from Europe.

Donald F. Glut is an American writer, motion picture film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the novelization of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.

<i>Frankenstein</i> (Prize Comics) 1940-1954 American comic book series

There have been many comic book adaptations of the monster story created by Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Writer-artist Dick Briefer presented two loose adaptations of the story in publisher Prize Comics' successive series Prize Comics and Frankenstein from 1940 to 1954. The first version represents what comics historians call American comic books' first ongoing horror feature.

Eric Millikin American artist

Eric Millikin is an American artist and activist based in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for his pioneering work in artificial intelligence art, augmented and virtual reality art, conceptual art, Internet art, performance art, poetry, post-Internet art, video art, and webcomics. His work is often controversial, with political, romantic, occult, horror and black comedy themes. Awards for Millikin's artwork include the Pulitzer Prize.

<i>Mary Shelleys Frankenhole</i>

Mary Shelley's Frankenhole is an American adult stop-motion animated television series created by Dino Stamatopoulos. The series premiered on June 27, 2010 on Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. It ended on March 25, 2012, with a total of 20 episodes, over the course of 2 seasons.

<i>Nimona</i> Fantasy webcomic by ND Stevenson

Nimona is a fantasy webcomic by the American comics writer and artist ND Stevenson. Stevenson started Nimona while a student at Maryland Institute College of Art. The webcomic began publication in June 2012 and doubled as Stevenson's senior thesis. Nimona was published as a graphic novel by HarperCollins in 2015. The comic has won an Eisner Award, a Cybils Award, and a Cartoonist Studio Prize. It was adapted into an audiobook in 2016. An animated feature film adaptation, produced by Blue Sky Studios, was announced in 2015 and was scheduled to be released on January 14, 2022, but was cancelled after Disney announced that it would shut down Blue Sky.

<i>Dracula Lives!</i>

Dracula Lives! was an American black-and-white horror comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. The series ran 13 issues and one Super Annual from 1973 to 1975, and starred the Marvel version of the literary vampire Dracula.

Emily Carroll Canadian comics author

Emily Carroll is a comics author from Ontario, Canada. Carroll started making comics in 2010, and her horror webcomic His Face All Red went viral around Halloween of 2010. Since then, Carroll has published two books of her own work, created comics for various comics anthologies, and provided illustrations for other works. Carroll has won several awards, including an Ignatz and two Eisners.

Notable events of 2015 in webcomics.

JL8 is a webcomic by Yale Stewart based on the characters of DC Comics' Justice League. Having started in 2011 under the title Little League, the webcomic presents the members of the Justice League as 8-year-old children. Stewart has used JL8 to raise funds for charities, and the webcomic has been positively received by critics.

References

  1. 1 2 Hoffman, Jonathan (2012-12-05). "Introducing Ace Kilroy". Aroundphilly.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  2. 1 2 3 Alverson, Brigid (2011-12-12). "Help Ace Kilroy fight the vampire Nazis". Comic Book Resources .
  3. Murray, Noel (2011-12-05). "Graphic Novels & Art-Comics - December 2011". The A.V. Club .
  4. Nonesuch, Royal (2012-03-02). "2012 Eagle Awards Voting Opens". The Outhousers.
  5. Eric (2012-08-20). "Philly Geek Awards: The 2012 Winners & Nominees". Geekadelphia.com.