This May, Top Cow/Image Comics sets sail with a high seas pirate adventure featuring women privateers.
Stephanie Phillips (Butcher of Paris and Descendent), along with art by Craig Cermak (Red Team and Voltron), are bringing Anne Bonne, the famous Irish pirate to the printed page in A Man Among Ye.
Anne Bonny was a famous Irish pirate who operated in the Caribbean during the eighteenth century and started as the partner of pirate Calico Jack Rackham. Initially, she joined the crew disguised as a man, with her secret known only by Rackham and Mary Read until it became clear that she was pregnant with her first child. Bonny, Rackham, and Read stole the ship William, which was anchored in Nassau harbor, and put out to sea. Rackham and the two women recruited a new crew and spent their first years in Jamaica and the surrounding area. Bonny took part in combat alongside the men, which led to her being named by Governor Rogers in the “Wanted Pirates” circular published in The Boston News-Letter.
In 1720, the three were captured, and Bonny and Read were sentenced to death, but their executions stayed because both of them were pregnant. Read would die in jail in early 1721, but Bonny’s fate remains unknown.
Might this new series give us a little more insight into the life of Bonnie?
The first issue features a cover by Cermak and a variant by Sjtepan Sejic.
A sketch of Anne Bonnie from Cermak’s Instagram.
High adventure on the high seas in the waning days of piracy, when men were men, and the best pirates were…women? Phillips and Cermak bring to life the tale of Anne Bonny and Mary Read as they hoist the skull and crossbones, draw cutlasses, and seek a treasure that will make them legends. In an era when sailing with women was thought to be bad luck, Anne and Mary might just be the only people capable of saving the pirate way of life.
Written by STEPHANIE PHILLIPS (Butcher of Paris, Descendent)
Art by CRAIG CERMAK (Red Team, Voltron)
A Man Among Ye hoists the Jolly Roger on May 13th.