Yo-ho-ho. If you love your pirates and you’re a little bit burned out by Johnny Depp and the many, many Pirates of the Caribbean, you might be looking for something a little different in the “pirate” category. If you can expand your definition to include Bow Street Runners, flintlocks, and “flying things that aren’t supposed to fly?” then February 2010 has something for you. It’s the start of a new four-issue mini-series by Warren Ellis (Supergod; No Hero) and Raulo Caceres (Gravel; Crecy) from Avatar called Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island.

Described as “an electrical romance of a pirate utopia thwarted,” Captain Swing is set in London, 1830. That would be the Warren Ellis London of 1830 in which copper Charlie Gravel starts seeing things, including the legendary Spring-Heeled Jack. I love the Bow Street Runners. They figure prominently in the mystery novels of Bruce Alexander (Blind Justice) and Richard Falkirk (Blackstone), and I’m curious to see what this new incarnation will be like.

This is an Avatar book, so expect some cover variants and a retailer incentive, but best of all, it’s a new Ellis mini-series and I’m looking forward to it.

[Artwork: One of the covers to Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island, © Warren Ellis]