Ignition City is set in an atompunk/dieselpunkalternate history in the year 1956; in this timeline, World War II was interrupted by a Martian invasion. As a result, space travel became commonplace. Ignition City itself is Earth's last spaceport; a circular artificial island located in equatorial waters. Rockets launch from a ring of gantries ringing the island, and the interior is a shantytown populated by former spacemen who have found themselves out of work due to a planet-wide ban on space travel. The story follows Mary Raven, a young woman who travels to Ignition City after her father, a formerly famous spaceman named Rock Raven, is killed there.[5]
Characters
Mary Raven – former astronaut and daughter of the space hero Rock Raven, comes to Ignition City to investigate the death of her father.
Rock Raven – British space hero, veteran of campaigns against the Martians and thus possibly inspired by Dan Dare.
Lionel "Buster" Crabb – British government official, a friend to Mary and her father. Based on the real life Navy officer thought captured and brainwashed by the Russians.
Lightning Bowman – one of the first three humans in space (alongside Gayle Ransom and Doc Vukovic), now marooned in Ignition City. Inspired by Flash Gordon.
Gayle Ransom – former lover of Lighting Bowman, and another of the first three humans in space, now a bar-owner and gun-runner in Ignition City. Inspired by Dale Arden.
Dr. Dragomir Vukovic, AKA 'Doc Vukovic' – another of the first three humans in space, he built the original spaceship out of junk parts. Inspired by Dr. Hans Zarkov.
Kharg the Killer – dictator of the planet Khargu and ally of Adolf Hitler, who was defeated by Lightning Bowman, Gayle Ransom, and Doc Vukovic. Inspired by Ming the Merciless.
Bronco – drunken customer in Gayle Bowman's bar who talks of his time spent five centuries in the future, and thus analogous to Buck Rogers.
Piet Vanderkirk – Gayle Bowman's right-hand man. Former member of the Royal Netherlands Navy's Solar Patrol in the Pluto Detachment, part of "The Chain" which appears to refer to a psychically linked group of soldiers using gifted alien technology, similar to E. E. Smith's Lensmen.
Yuri – washed-up "Russia's greatest cosmonaut", since disavowed and abandoned in Ignition City.
Marshal Pomeroy – Corrupt lawman of the Ignition City settlement. Flies with the aid of a jet pack, reminiscent of Commando Cody.
