Longtime ComicsAlliance favorites for their work on books like Casanova, The Nightly News, Fantastic Four, Immortal Iron Fist, The Manhattan Projects, Hawkeye and more, comics writers Matt Fraction and Jonathan Hickman have confirmed they will be contributing two episodes to the second season of Da Vinci's Demons. A Starz network original series created by David S. Goyer (co-writer of The Dark Knight film trilogy), Da Vinci's Demons is a historical fantasy saga full of mystery and intrigue that imagines the early life of artist, inventor and, in the series, romantic adventurer Leonardo da Vinci."One of the best parts of this job is that you occasionally get to call up people you admire out of the blue and ask them if they want to play in your sandbox. Sometimes, they say 'yes,'" wrote Goyer on his website.

Appropriately both Fraction and Hickman are known for works in which they put forth some fantastical alternatives to what we know about various inventors and other geniuses of human history. In his and Steven Sanders' 2006 graphic novel The Five Fists of Science, Fraction imagined a kind of sinister pact between Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain and Bertha von Suttner to trick the world into ending war.

Reached for comment, Fraction told CA, "Da Vinci's Demons has everything I look for in a show as a viewer, from the vision of the creator to the caliber of writers to the narrative structure, intrigue, blood, sex, carnage, fun, and all points in-between. So as a writer to be asked by David to play in his sandbox is an amazing opportunity. Besides, Leonardo was always my second-favorite ninja turtle and I look forward to exploring his mythos with all of you."

Hickman agreed, writing via email, "I, obviously, echo everything Matt has said. When David let me read the first couple of scripts, I knew five pages into the pilot that they were on to something. So, I'm just incredibly honored that they extended the opportunity to come in and write for the show. It's fun, ambitious, and irreverent in all the right ways. Check it out if you get a chance."

Longtime Hickman readers will remember that Leonardo da Vinci was actually a character in his and Dustin Weaver's S.H.I.E.L.D. for Marvel Comics, also a historical fantasy dealing with real-life figures in epic struggles with secret societies of the distant past -- although with a distinctly science fiction/superhero angle, and not to be confused with the Goyer series.

Only one episode of Da Vinci's Demons has aired so far, and it can be watched for free on the show's official site. Season two of Da Vinci's Demons is expected to begin broadcasting in 2014.

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