In The Lion & The Unicorn, an epic urban sci-fantasy adventure unfolds in a fully realised alternate reality story world.

In this world, the elusive ‘magic’ of psychic power is a recognised and essential part of modern urban living. Made available to subscribers exclusively by the britomart Conglomerate, who design, manufacture and distribute the disposable, psychic technology patches, known as brands. When applied to the skin, these Brands grant their user exponentially enhanced mental and physical capabilities.

There is a darker side to this technology, and in the litter-strewn streets away from the shining towers of the britomart and the crumbling decadence of the old royal city, poor, disenfranchised and openly antagonistic clans hijack the brand technology, boosting the power to create dangerous, telekinetic, pirate patches. This highly illegal, potent and addictive technology is vilified as the ‘scourge of the city’ by the media, who encourage a culture of fear and panic fuelled by reports of rising levels of lawlessness, violence and Psychic Terror.

The Lion and The Unicorn are brought together by the young, king Jonathan of the Rose as Defenders of the Realm and Keepers of the King’s Peace, in a direct response to this perceived threat.

Together the two heroes must overcome their differences and combine their unique abilities as the last line of defence against the patch-powered criminals and terrorists too powerful, dangerous and destructive for the regular authorities to handle.

Nominated for the British Comics Awards Best Comic The Lion & The Unicorn is described by creator, writer, artist, publisher and ‘bloke who makes the tea’; Ash Pure as, “Urban-mythic, sci-fantasy”,influenced as much by the illuminated books of William Blake as the Blu-ray director’s cut of Blade Runner (and of course the large format UK comics he grew up reading).

These personal influences and those from the creator’s professional career as art director, digital artist and designer can be seen in the unique visual style of the series, incorporating photo montage, rotoscope, illustration, typography and graphic design in a technique that Pure calls Composographic Fotorotomancy (seriously!?)

But it’s not just the unique and arresting visual package that makes The Lion & The Unicorn different, the crossmedia composition is paralleled in the story telling. The central comic narrative being but one way in to a transmedia story world of epic proportions, covering everything from experiential immersive performance, to in-world social platforms and classic prose storytelling.

This ‘truth to materials’ is key to Pure who creates limited print runs of signed and numbered editions realised as a beautiful, oversized 28 – 32 page magazines, produced to extremely high standards as ethically and environmentally as possible. Then painstakingly re-formats every page specifically for viewing full screen on tablet devices. The use of black pages and photographic backgrounds, where there are white pages and white space in the print version, is to maximise the effect of the back lit viewing experience.

But format and platform aside it is story that is at the heart of The Lion & The Unicorn, a relevant yet timeless story set in a fully realised, highly engaging and immersive, alternate-history that can been described as having the richness and depth of Game of Thrones with the revolutionary, cross gender, all ages appeal of The Hunger Games. The Unicorn of the title being a strong, female protagonist, a female hero to challenge the genre stereotype, an intelligent, talented but flawed individual who is isolated by her gifts. It is her arc that drives the main narrative, While fighting to save the world, she will be caught between the charismatic mixed race King, Jonathan and a foul mouthed, enigmatic, Hoodie-iconoclast known as The K.i.D. The Lion on the other hand is the action hero grown old, a mean and bitter old bastard who gets all the best lines.

But these aren’t the only stars of the show; Radio 1 Xtra favourite; singer, producer, DJ Tigerlight debuts in Part 3, starring as a would be freedom fighter. A powerful individual who wants to make a difference but is being seduced down a dark path. And Pure sees this as just the beginning, encouraging celebrities and fans alike to recreate themselves as characters in this universe. “I want people to get involved to fill in their timeline, their story, claim their part of the map. This story is for everyone”