CROIX-NOIRE – a new 7 episode series starring Ace Hansel Jr

To control your own emotions is a power.

To control other people’s emotions is a SUPERPOWER!

Step into the world of Croix Noire, but watch your back. This is not the safest place to be. Croix Noire is one of the roughest areas in France, full of deadbeats, drug addicts and hookers. And that’s just the municipal library! Based on a novella by Bafta winner David Quantick , drawn by Mike Collins (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Dr Who) and scripted and art-directed by Mike Batt.

Ace Hansel Jr is the self-appointed guardian of Croix-Noire. It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it. He is aided and abetted by his sidekick Lt Colonel John Talbot- an ex Foreign Legion buddy of Ace’s dad, Ace Hansel Sr, who gave his life saving the Colonel from an assassination attempt in the Middle East. Ace Jr has been saved from a life of crime by the retired army colonel who has made money from his inventions, and created for Ace a way around his dislike for guns and killing.

He has worked out how to harness emotions and to turn them against the bad guys. The duo have an elaborate lair underneath the local Cathedral, accessed via the Pharmacie run by the colonel as a front for the operation.

Available online, monthly from April - and in newsagents every third Wednesday of the month, from May!

Each issue also includes the corresponding prose novel chapter

36 pages - £3.99

Croix-Noire #1
31/03/2022
Published by Madhouse Rag Publishing
£3.99
done Mini Series

CROIX-NOIRE – a new 7 episode series starring Ace Hansel Jr

To control your own emotions is a power.

To control other people’s emotions is a SUPERPOWER!

Step into the world of Croix Noire, but watch your back. This is not the safest place to be. Croix Noire is one of the roughest areas in France, full of deadbeats, drug addicts and hookers. And that’s just the municipal library! Based on a novella by Bafta winner David Quantick , drawn by Mike Collins (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Dr Who) and scripted and art-directed by Mike Batt.

Ace Hansel Jr is the self-appointed guardian of Croix-Noire. It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it. He is aided and abetted by his sidekick Lt Colonel John Talbot- an ex Foreign Legion buddy of Ace’s dad, Ace Hansel Sr, who gave his life saving the Colonel from an assassination attempt in the Middle East. Ace Jr has been saved from a life of crime by the retired army colonel who has made money from his inventions, and created for Ace a way around his dislike for guns and killing.

He has worked out how to harness emotions and to turn them against the bad guys. The duo have an elaborate lair underneath the local Cathedral, accessed via the Pharmacie run by the colonel as a front for the operation.

Monthly from Late March 2022 .

Each issue also includes the corresponding prose novel chapter

36 pages - £3.99

Croix-Noire #2
06/05/2022
Published by Madhouse Rag Publishing
£3.99
done Mini Series

Psychiatrist and Client


Having been knocked out by cyborg villains at the end of episode #1 , Ace is being transported in a van, - to who knows where? Luckily the colonel follows the van and is able to rescue him. But who is the mastermind behind the attack, and what does he or it want? Ace is persuaded to visit ha psychiatrist- the beautiful Dr Carla Gamine, who has more letters after her name than an explosion in a scrabble factory. Ace receives a cryptic note suggesting that his teenage best friend Hugo (whom he and Lucie thought had been murdered) might still be alive. He is invited to meet a mysterious woman in a dubious bar, to learn more. Could it be a honey trap?

Croix-Noire #3
20/07/2022
Published by Madhouse Rag Publishing
£3.99
done Mini Series

To control your own emotions is a power.


To control other people’s emotions is a SUPERPOWER!


Step into the world of Croix Noire, but watch your back. This is not the safest place to be. Croix Noire is one of the roughest areas in France, full of deadbeats, drug addicts and hookers. And that’s just the municipal library! Based on a novella by Bafta winner David Quantick , drawn by Mike Collins (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Dr Who) and scripted and art-directed by Mike Batt.


Episode 3 We Don’t Talk About Hugo 


Triggered by a photograph, Ace remembers his delinquent years and his two best friends, Hugo (now presumed dead) and Lucie (still around).


In flashback we see the three pals getting into deep trouble. Hugo is beaten up and taken away by the ruthless Andalou brothers, never to be seen again. Meanwhile back at the present tense, the mysterious Hirondelle who claims Hugo is still alive, tells Ace to “find the Unholy Grail” if he wants to find Hugo.


But what is the Unholy Grail? 


Each issue also includes the corresponding prose novel chapter


36 pages - £3.99

Croix-Noire #4
24/08/2022
Published by Madhouse Rag Publishing
£3.99
done Mini Series

To control your own emotions is a power.

To control other people’s emotions is a SUPERPOWER!

Step into the world of Croix Noire, but watch your back. This is not the safest place to be. Croix Noire is one of the roughest areas in France, full of deadbeats, drug addicts and hookers. And that’s just the municipal library! Based on a novella by Bafta winner David Quantick , drawn by Mike Collins (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Dr Who) with David Roach and scripted and art-directed by Mike Batt.

Episode 4

Each issue also includes the corresponding prose novel chapter

36 pages - £3.99


Croix-Noire #5
19/10/2022
Published by Madhouse Rag Publishing
£3.99
done Mini Series

To control your own emotions is a power.

To control other people’s emotions is a SUPERPOWER!

Step into the world of Croix Noire, but watch your back. This is not the safest place to be. Croix Noire is one of the roughest areas in France, full of deadbeats, drug addicts and hookers. And that’s just the municipal library! Based on a novella by Bafta winner David Quantick , drawn by Mike Collins (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Dr Who) and scripted and art-directed by Mike Batt.

Episode 5 - Tomorrow Will Be a Black Dawn

In this issue, Ace tries to penetrate the inner sanctum of La Societe, disguised as the Professor of medieval history at the Sorbonne, and convicted antiquities thief. 

Each issue also includes the corresponding prose novel chapter

36 pages - £3.99

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