Launch of new novel about Scottish comic book superhero "Saltire"

A new graphic novel, featuring further exploits of Scotland’s first comic book superhero "Saltire" will be launched at the Glasgow Comic Con this weekend 22-23 September. Saltire is the creation of Glasgow born John Ferguson and published by Diamondsteel Comics.  On their website, creator John Ferguson describes the Scottish superhero: “Saltire is an immortal being created thousands of years ago to protect Scotland and its people. He’s big, he’s blue and he’s ginger. He has Scottish values but he’s a traditional comic book superhero with a variety of super villains to contend with as the story progresses, a Scottish competitor to Batman and Spiderman if you like.”

Set in the Scottish landscape during important moments in Scotland's history, some of the characters involved have been inspired by legendary figures and events. Including the strange disappearance of the Roman auxiliary legion the 9th Hispana in Scotland in AD 120.  Legio IX Hispana was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least AD 120. The legion disappears from surviving Roman records after c. AD 120.  The Legion featured in the novel Eagle of the Ninth, in which the legion is said to have marched into Caledonia (modern day Scotland), and was then "never heard of again". As well as encounters with Romans and Saxons, the comics also follow Saltire's encounters with supernatural beings.