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The final issue of Here Be Dragons is out now, published by Titan Comics and set in the world of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London – part urban fantasy, part modern-day police procedural.

Written by me, with guidance from Ben, script editor Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who, The Vinyl Detective series) and senior editor David Leach (Death’s Head, Warhide), the story features interior art by José María Beroy (Deadman, Star Trek, Heavy Metal) and an exciting cover by V. V. Glass (Kamen Rider Zero One, Blade Runner: Black Lotus).

In the last issue, magic cop Peter Grant’s investigation into a series of attacks by a dragon-like wyvern uncovered connections to the Fey, legendary rock star Jimi Hendrix and the iconic Centre Point skyscraper – but with time running out, Peter must find a way to contain the creatures…or destroy them.

With Here Be Dragons I’m posting an “author commentary” piece to highlight and annotate some of the concepts that appear in the comics.

Spoiler Warning! These notes give away story points from issue #4 of Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons and other stories from the Rivers series!

The title of issue #4 is “All Along the Watchtower”, once more referencing a famous (and my personal favourite) song by Jimi Hendrix.

P.3 – The “hunters” Peter mentions are seen in the Rivers of London comic miniseries Cry Fox. I had originally planned for them to appear in this story, but that subplot was cut for length (early promo text for this series still mentions them).

P.4 – Peter calls his father – jazz trumpeter Richard ‘Lord’ Grant – for information on the life and times of Jimi Hendrix. Off this, he tracks down ex-roadie Plugs after visiting key London locations from Hendrix’s life – his flat on Brook Street in Mayfair, the Bag O’ Nails rock club, the former Olympic recording studios and the Samarkand Hotel, where Hendrix died from an overdose of sleeping pills.

P.6 – As we did in issue #3 to suggest the alternative universe of the Fey realms, the art style here shifts to something in the style of Roger Dean (notable for his work on many a prog rock album cover) and French comics artist Jean “Moebius” Giraud.

P.8 – Jimi Hendrix’s custom-made Gibson Flying V guitar appears briefly in issue #3, but it plays a bigger role in this part of the story. Nicknamed “The Black Angel”, it is (as seen later on P.11) on display in London’s Hard Rock Café. Modified for Hendrix’s left-handed playing style, it features gold-plated hardware and pearlescent ‘arrow’ inlays.

P.11 – The Hard Rock Café’s vault museum – which literally is a former bank vault – contains several legendary items of music memorabilia, including a few of Hendrix’s guitars. The magical effects surrounding the Flying V are, fittingly, a purple haze.

P.13 – Rivers of London fan-favourites Molly the maid and Toby the dog get walk-ons here; Toby’s pose mimics that of Nipper, the dog from the painting ‘His Master’s Voice’ by Francis Barraud, which later became an advertising icon. Danny Philo and the helicopter crew from issue #1 play Hendrix’s “Dolly Dagger” over India 99’s ‘Skyshout’ public address system.

P.14 – Millwall Stadium (also known as ‘The Den’) is home of one of London’s most notorious football clubs, and I chose it as the venue for the climax of the story. Frank Caffery first appears in the novel Rivers of London, and here he’s fulfilling his role as the man Peter calls when it’s time for the big guns. Frank references Godzilla and Game of Thrones in his question about the naming of the operation, but Peter chooses a designation that nods toward Hendrix’s song.

P.18 – Peter’s line “No, I don’t think I will” deliberately echoes Old Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame (even though technically, Here Be Dragons is set before that movie came out…)

P.19 – Peter suggests here that the dress sense of the High Fae bears a similarity to that of characters from the videogame World of Warcraft.

P.21 – Beverly Brook’s t-shirt is of course, from Star Trek: Discovery; her comment about a “furry jockstrap and a helmet with horns on it” is an oblique reference to the Marvel comic-book depiction of Conan the Barbarian.

P.22 – The Welsh radio announcer’s dialogue is: “This is BBC Radio Wales, continuing our tribute to Jimi Hendrix with this next classic, ‘Voodoo Child’…” I’d like to give a big thank-you to Wales’s noble son Gav Murphy for stepping in to vet the text for authenticity.

For more details on Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons, click Here or visit Titan Comics.

The 4th and final issue of Here Be Dragons is on sale today in all good comic shops, published by Titan Comics and set in the world of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London – part urban fantasy, part modern-day police procedural…

Written by me, with guidance from Ben, script editor Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who, The Vinyl Detective series) and senior editor David Leach (Death’s Head, Warhide), the story features interior art by José María Beroy (Deadman, Star Trek, Heavy Metal) and an exciting cover by V. V. Glass (Kamen Rider Zero One, Blade Runner: Black Lotus).

In the last issue, magic cop Peter Grant’s investigation into a series of attacks by a dragon-like wyvern uncovered connections to the Fey, legendary rock star Jimi Hendrix and the iconic Centre Point skyscraper – but with time running out, Peter must find a way to contain the creatures…or destroy them.

The Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons graphic novel, collecting all four issues of the miniseries, will be released on December 19th and is available now for pre-order…

The penultimate installment of the Here Be Dragons miniseries is now on sale, published by Titan Comics and set in the world of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London – part urban fantasy, part modern-day police procedural.

Written by me, with guidance from Ben, script editor Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who, The Vinyl Detective series) and senior editor David Leach (Death’s Head, Warhide), the story features interior art by José María Beroy (Deadman, Star Trek, Heavy Metal) and covers by Abigail Harding (Ask For Mercy, Bloodborne) and Gyula Nemeth (Zorro, Criminal Macabre).

In the previous issue, London copper and magic-user Peter Grant was investigating a series of apparently motiveless attacks across the city by a dragon-like creature; now he finds himself face-to-face with a group of Fey offering to help… But at what price?

With each issue in the Here Be Dragons series I’m posting an “author commentary” piece to highlight and annotate some of the concepts that appear in the comics.

Spoiler Warning! These notes give away story points from issue #3 of Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons and other stories from the Rivers series!

The title of issue #3 is “Up from the Skies”, once more referencing a song by Jimi Hendrix.

P.2 – Peter mentions pioneering British hip-hop and grime rapper Dizzee Rascal when criticizing the Fey’s attempts to blend in to the urban London landscape. He also mentions Anne McCaffery, author of the landmark fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern. The flashback on this page references the events of the Rivers of London comic series The Fey and the Furious.

P.4 – The art style shift here is toward neo-art-nouveau, mod-psychedelic, as popularized by the work of Peter Max in the animated film Yellow Submarine. For our non-UK readers, Peter references ‘shandy’ (a drink where beer is diluted with lemonade) and a ‘flat-roofed pub’ (traditionally, a pub built after the 1960s, typically thought of as a rough joint). On this page, the Fey meet the legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix for the first time.

P.5 – The Bag O’ Nails is a London club where many of rock music’s most famous performers played, including Hendrix.

P.6 – Sites of note here are the King’s Road (where much of Sixties counter-culture and fashion had their origins), and the flat on Brook Street, Mayfair, where Hendrix lived (and which is now a museum).

Sidebar: this part of the Here Be Dragons story was inspired by a London urban legend about the parakeet population in the city; so the story goes, Jimi Hendrix kept a pair of the birds in his flat, and one day decided to release them into the wild – where they bred and thrived in London’s parkland. These comics take that story and give it a supernatural spin!

P.8 – The Fey princess Silinea refers to Hendrix as “the troubadour with the burning guitar”, a nod to his real-life performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where he set fire to his instrument at the end of his set.

P.9 – “Refs” is British police slang for “refreshments”.

P.10 – “Builder’s Tea” is typically a big mug of very strong, very sweet tea favoured by British manual workers.

P.11 – Busker Mick Spooner establishes the bona fides of his friend and ex-roadie Plugs; across the decades. Plugs worked with acts like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Journey, and The Spice Girls.

P.15 – The tune Peter sings to himself is the theme from The Sweeney, an iconic, hard-edged British cop show from the 1970s.

P.16 – The Centre Point tower is one of London’s most contentious landmarks; built in the 1960’s, it stood empty for years and became emblematic of the housing crisis. It’s since been refurbished into a series of multi-million-pound apartments.

P.17 – Centre Point’s elevators really do have a confusingly large number of buttons.

P.19 – For everyone following along, the fate of Chardonnay’s pet dog Yappy (as seen in Here Be Dragons #2) is finally confirmed. Peter references the dinosaurs-on-the-loose movie Jurassic Park.

P.21 – Peter refers to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s record for the 100 meters (8.7 seconds).

P.22 – Peter’s pose and framing on the last page are deliberately meant to invoke the classic, Batman-eque image of a comic-book superhero looking out over his city. He refers to Softly, Softly, another popular British cop show from the 60’s and 70s, and his last line in this issue is a salute to the movie Hot Fuzz.

Issue #4, the final part of Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons arrives on October 4th; more details here at Titan Comics.

Issue #3 of Here Be Dragons is out today, published by Titan Comics and set in the world of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London – part urban fantasy, part modern-day police procedural, is on sale in all good comic shops…

Written by me, with guidance from Ben, script editor Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who, The Vinyl Detective series) and senior editor David Leach (Death’s Head, Warhide), the story features interior art by José María Beroy (Deadman, Star Trek, Heavy Metal) and covers by Abigail Harding (Ask For Mercy, Bloodborne) and Gyula Nemeth (Zorro, Criminal Macabre).

In the previous issue, London copper and magic-user Peter Grant was investigating a series of apparently motiveless attacks across the city by a dragon-like creature; now he finds himself face-to-face with a group of Fey offering to help… But at what price?

The final issue of Rivers of London: Here Be Dragons arrives on October 4th and is available now for pre-order…