#macintyre

To be courageous is to be someone on whom reliance can be placed. Hence courage is an important ingredient in friendship. The bonds of friendship in heroic societies are modeled on those of kinship. Sometimes friendship is formally vowed, so that by the vow the duties of brothers are mutually incurred. Who my friends are and who my enemies are, is as clearly defined as who my kinsmen are. The other ingredient of friendship is fidelity. My friend's courage assures me of his power to aid me and my household; my friend's fidelity assures me of his will. My household's fidelity is the basic guarantee of its unity. So in women, who constitute the crucial relationships within the household, fidelity is the key virtue. Andromache and Hector, Penelope and Odysseus are friends (philos) as much as are Achilles and Patroclus.

Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur.

- Ben Macintyre

Recognised for their beauty, eccentricity, conflicting political views and sharp intellect, the Mitford sisters were undoubtedly the ultimate It Girls of the 20th century. Everyone was captivated by ‘The Six’; whether it was Evelyn Waugh who spent over two decades writing 500 letters to Nancy, Cecil Beaton who captured Diana in theatrical costume time and time again, or youngest sister, Deborah, who later became Britain’s most loved Duchess as The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

They were young, beautiful, and sharp as a whip (but often, to their detriment). They were some of the 20th century’s first celebutantes – as in, people who are famous for being famous à la Kim Kardashian – at a turning point in history: the rise of fascism and communism.

We’re through the first half of Avania, Issue No.7 now, and these inter-chapter breaks are starting to feel routine. Back when I was still posting from my original 3-issue buffer, I wasn’t sure how well the change over would go... But now after several chapters of this on-off pattern, I think things have gone pretty smoothly! (Of course, I’d still prefer to just run every week without interruption, but that just isn’t feasible with my actual job). As before, chapter 15 is in production and is nearly halfway completed!

As the second chapter of the issue, that also means I have the back cover and misc. extras to complete Issue No.7, but I’m pretty confident it will all be finished by Avania’s 4th anniversary on July 8th.

Overall progress of the “season 1″ story arc also just hit a nice milestone--40% of projected pages have been completed! That’s 144 full interior comic pages out of the 360 I am aiming for (depending on how the details of the season finale go, there may be more or less).

It is exciting to be reaching the middle of the season, as even these early-middle pages seemed so far away when I launched Avania back in 2018... There’s some great action coming up, plus some other scenes I’m really looking forward to drawing. Going out even farther to the 3rd quarter of the season, there’s so much awesome stuff to be excited about, I can’t wait to get there!

In the meantime though, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter.  If you are interested in purchasing issues of Avania, you can order the first six issues in full resolution digital format on Amazon, and high quality printed issues on IndyPlanet! I’ve worked very hard to try and make these comics look great in either format, and your support is greatly inspiring.