Roads Not Taken: The 1632 Comic

Today would have been the birthday of American author, editor, and e-publisher Eric Flint (6th February 1947 – 17th July 2022), best known for his alternate history novel 1632 and subsequent series of novels, detailed here on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.

The majority of his works are alternate history science fiction, but he also wrote humorous fantasy adventures.

For those unfamiliar, the 1632 series, also known as the 1632-verse or Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series and sub-series created, primarily co-written, and coordinated by American author Eric Flint and published by Baen Books, but has been opened out into a “shared universe” that has seen a huge range of spin-off stories by fans.

The series is set in 17th-century Europe, in which the small fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia, in the year 2000 was sent to the past in central Germany in the year 1631, during the Thirty Years’ War. 

Seven “spinal” novels in the series were published by 2022, and the advice for those new to the universe is to begin by reading these, what Eric calls calls “the main line” of the series.

These are: 1632, the first book; 1633 (with David Weber); 1634: The Baltic War (with David Weber); 1635: The Eastern Front; 1636: The Saxon Uprising; 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught; and 1637: The Polish Maelstrom.

Last year, Baen Books announced they will be publishing more books in Eric Flint's 1632 series. In accordance with Eric's wishes, award-winning editor and a best-selling author Chuck Gannon was named the series’ “showrunner.” That role includes oversight and development of all physically published content, managing the series’ thematic directions, and close consulting on cross-platform opportunities and marketing.

1632: The Comic

Back in 2016, Titan Comics approached Eric to explore the possibility of creating new comics based on his 1632 universe and I was on board as editor, but, unfortunately, partly due to Eric's health and workload, didn't progress beyond settling on an artist and producing a two-page test strip, written by me, pencilled and inked by Iron Man artist Kev Hopgood and coloured by Matt Soffe. So the samples that follow are very much in the "What Might Have Been" category of my work – Eric himself would have written the script for the comic, had it happened.

Throughout the discussions, Eric was nothing but generous with his time and feedback, and I know I'm not the only person who found him a pleasure to deal with.

Whatever alternate you're in, Eric, you're missed...

If you've never read 1632, I highly recommend it. Copies are available from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link). It span off in all directions, including a Roleplaying Game.

• Baen Books: 1632

• Kev Hopgood is online at kevhopgood.com

• Matt Soffe is online at mattsoffe.weebly.com