What’s it about?

Here’s the third issue solicit:

What would you do if you were consumed by magic?

Beatrice’s gambit to absorb the Pillar of Atlantis has backfired spectacularly, so now it’s up to Svetlana to lead an excursion south to the Mayan Riviera, to locate a lost Atlantean secret that may be the key to saving her friend.

Back in New York, Damon and Topo are tasked with infiltrating a new-age spa that may be a front for something far more sinister. As their training intensifies, they begin to question whether they are even on the right side.

It’s a globetrotting magical adventure for the modern day!

Blood of Atlantis #3 features three covers: our main wraparound cover, drawn by interior artist Francine Delgado, the Pulp Homage variant, by Enid Balám, and the Arcade Homage variant, by Goodman Yamada.

In addition to our covers, you can pick up a digital deluxe copy of the issue, with the script, inks, and unlettered pages. We’ve also got some fun swag in the form of a sticker set, trading cards, our Beatrice chibi pin, and a new coaster!

The campaign funded on day 1, and we’ve already unlocked the first stretch goal!

This comic only exists because of your support. Thank you so much to our backers who have showed up strong for this campaign! And if you’re new to the series, we have discounted catch-up tiers that make it easy to jump on board.

I hope you’ll support Blood of Atlantis by backing the campaign and helping to spread the word.

Blood of Atlantis Kickstarter

Today we are taking a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a fictional shared universe.

There was an idea…

I wrote what ended up becoming the prologue of Guild of Tokens almost 11 years ago, entering the flow state to create what I thought was a perfect piece of flash fiction: a person finds a section on Craigslist called “Quests” and completes their first five real-world quests in New York City. It was sadly rejected by a handful of flash fiction online publications.

I then spent the next few years building out a story that continued that original piece, serializing it over a few months in my nascent monthly newsletter. It was … not very good. Major characters appeared immediately, and things built to an insane crescendo without any room for the plot or characterization to breathe.

So I went back and wrote more. And when I did, the story veered completely off course, as I discovered and uncovered who Jen Jacobs1 was. I finished 12 chapters and packaged it together with that original prologue into Guild of Tokens: Initiate, and then let it marinate for a few months. In the meantime, I took the side character from Initiate, Beatrice, and wrote a story about her (Trainee). One story became two stories became three stories, and suddenly I had a second main character, but a personal story only big enough for one of them.

… to bring together a group of remarkable people…

With that conundrum in mind, I plotted Beatrice’s exit as a secondary character from the NYC Questing Guild series, setting her up with a new status quo at the end of Guild of Magic. But I had no clue what was next for her. I eventually figured it out and that the story wouldn’t be another book series, but instead would be a comic.

I wrote the first draft of the script for issue 1, full of cross-references, a cameo from Jen Jacobs, and several editor’s caption boxes encouraging readers to check out my other books (including two in the first few pages!).

Fortunately, I had my friend read over the script first before I sent it to Fran Delgado to start the art.

Too much “inside baseball” was exactly the right note here, and I realized that by focusing too much on crossing over the stories, I was alienating potential readers who had never read any of my books before. So I drastically scaled that back and took a few additional pages to let the introduction breathe. That didn’t mean eliminating all cross-references. I just needed to be more strategic with them.

In addition to Beatrice’s spin-off, the end of Guild of Magic generated a second new plot thread: there was an empty Seat in the Guild to fill, but again, this wasn’t Jen’s story to tell. She could be tangentially involved, but I didn’t want to start adding POV characters to book 3, especially when the books had been written using a first-person perspectives.

So it was time for a second spin-off: Guild of Magic: The Gauntlet.

… to see if they could become something more…

I wanted this new project to be fundamentally different from the existing Guild books. That meant multiple POVs, third-person instead of first-person narration, and a new framing device: a Questing podcast with interviews and hosts who will follow the action as the competition for the Guild Seat progresses. I began writing this new story over two years ago in fits and spurts, but finally committed to it at the beginning of 2024. Along the way, I started dropping hints about this story in my other work. With issue 1 of Blood of Atlantis coming out in summer 2024, I made a passing reference to what I was now calling the Gauntlet, to pique readers’ interest:

This also imposed a time constraint: all subsequent issues of Blood of Atlantis needed to occur after the Gauntlet had reached its top 10 and that the villains in issue 1 are among those 10.2

… see if they could work together when we needed them to …

Readers of Marvel and DC understand that the titles in the mainline continuity don’t always mesh well together. Mr. Fantastic could be off in New Avengers fighting incursions in another universe, but at the same time a week later, he’s going back in time to ancient Rome with his family. For a comics line with dozens of titles, there is a certain flexibility that the readers will permit (even if it always doesn’t totally make sense).

But for my little universe, with only three interconnected titles, I wanted things to line up in a cogent manner. In The Gauntlet, there is an after-party at Beatrice’s coffee shop/speakeasy that takes place after one of the Challenges, which is rather eventful. So we need to have our BoA crew acknowledge it:

And you might notice that a few of the characters in issue 2 are wearing metal bracers around their wrists. A small visual detail that is not referenced on page, but a nice little easter egg hopefully for people who are reading the comics and the books. Later in issue 2, I take my biggest swing, leaving a plot thread dangling that will run through The Gauntlet first before coming back to Blood of Atlantis several issues later. It’s a small subplot that doesn’t impact the main storyline, but helps give the story universe a lived-in feeling.

… to fight the battles we never could.

Although continuity can be complicated at times (witness the multiple universe resetting crises in DC Comics or the sliding scale timeline in Marvel Comics), it offers a unique storytelling mechanism and challenge: how to build a new story on top of decades of existing ones that honors and respects both? Even though my own fictional universe isn’t quite that old, I try to keep that balance of existing vs. new in mind as I add to its story tapestry.

Writing The Gauntlet has been such a fun experience, from developing new character voices, to introducing new villains and magic. The Kickstarter campaign is currently live through November 20, and it’s a great on-ramp into the wider fictional world I’ve created. I I hope you’ll check it out!

Do you love playing D&D but sometimes wish the quests and adventures took place in the real world?

Do you like determined heroes, gritty cityscapes, and strange magic?

Does it seem to you that there is a secret magical organization running everything that’s just out of your reach?

Then you’ll love Guild of Magic: The Gauntlet!

Back the Kickstarter

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing issue number one (#15) | Announcing Blood of Atlantis (#16) | Comics marketing 102 (#17) | Comic social media (#18) | The convention scene (#19) | Tabling at NYCC (#20) | Comic book lettering (#21)

What’s it about?

Here’s the second issue solicit:

The first Pillar of Atlantis has been located, but at what cost?

After the shocking events of Blood of Atlantis No. 1, Beatrice is one (small) step closer to locating the Lost City. And for this next phase of her mission, she's taking a little vacation, with Svetlana in tow. But appearances (and history) can be deceiving. In a world where memory and magic are anything but static, figuring out who to trust is its own adventure.

Meanwhile, Damon and Topo have unwittingly signed up for new Quester training, with an unlikely mentor guiding them every step of the way ... at least for the first five minutes. It will test the limits of their endurance and their friendship, but should they complete it, they'll be counted among the city's elite Questers. If they survive the experience…

It’s a pulp adventure for the modern day, but with magic!

Blood of Atlantis #2 features four covers: our main cover, drawn by interior artist Francine Delgado, the NYC Night variant, by Laura Braga, the Day in the Life variant, by Kath Lobo, and the Pillars variant, by Uko Smith.

In addition to our covers, you can pick up a digital deluxe copy of the issue, with the script, inks, and unlettered pages. We’ve also got some fun swag in the form of a sticker set, trading cards, and our first-ever pin!

The campaign funded quickly yesterday, and the first stretch goal has been announced!

And if you back by tomorrow, you’ll also get a free print of our Kickstarter banner with any physical pledge:

Blood of Atlantis Kickstarter

What is Blood of Atlantis?

Blood of Atlantis is a modern-day globetrotting magical adventure! It’s the adventure and puzzles from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis mixed with Dungeons & Dragons, with a dash of myth a la Gargoyles’ Avalon World Tour.

Magic is real. That’s a fact Beatrice Stallard has known for more than a decade.

It is not the magic of the storybooks though. There are no wands, no spells, no incantations. Magic, or alchemy, as it is better known, is about harnessing the energy flowing within the Earth. And the Quests that have the New York City underground by storm? They're all about finding whatever little magic is left.

In her travels, trials, and tribulations, Beatrice has come across inklings and whispers that the myths of yore weren’t exactly myths.

And the big one, the one she is setting her sights on, is Atlantis, the fabled lost city that sank beneath the waves so long ago, never to be heard from again.

Or so the story goes.

Together with her business partner/wizened bartender Svetlana and a couple of newbie Questers she picked up along the way, Beatrice will traverse New York City and beyond to discover the secrets of Atlantis.

Written by: Jon Auerbach (that’s me!)

Art by: Francine Delgado

Issue 1, featuring 34 pages of story, launched on Kickstarter last summer, and then on retail channels in the fall.

You can read a 12-page preview directly in your browser, no downloads required, by clicking below:

Issue 1 has 4 awesome covers:

What’s this new Kickstarter all about?

We’re coming back to Kickstarter to launch issue 2! With 4 new covers and new swag, Kickstarter backers will be the first to get their hands on the 34-page oversized second chapter.

The first Pillar of Atlantis has been located, but at what cost?

After the shocking events of Blood of Atlantis No. 1, Beatrice is one (small) step closer to locating the Lost City. And for this next phase of her mission, she's taking a little vacation, with Svetlana in tow. But appearances (and history) can be deceiving. In a world where memory and magic are anything but static, figuring out who to trust is its own adventure.

Meanwhile, Damon and Topo have unwittingly signed up for new Quester training, with an unlikely mentor guiding them every step of the way ... at least for the first five minutes. It will test the limits of their endurance and their friendship, but should they complete it, they'll be counted among the city's elite Questers. If they survive the experience...

We’ve revealed 3 covers so far, the A cover by Francine, the B cover by Laura Braga, and the D cover, by Uko Smith, with 1 more waiting in the wings:

In addition, we just revealed our first-ever pin, designed by Francine and featuring chibi Beatrice!

Just like for our first campaign, we’re launching this campaign with the issue already done, so expect a quick fulfillment turnaround.

Finally, we’re offering a 48-hour early backer bonus, a free print of our Kickstarter banner! To ensure you get your free print, visit the Kickstarter pre-launch page now and hit “Notify me on launch.”

BoA2 Kickstarter Pre-launch

Behind-the-Scenes Blood of Atlantis reading

I’ve written a number of behind-the-scenes posts on creating and marketing a comic. You can check out the highlights below:

Follow the Kickstarter

When I started reading comics in earnest in 2019, the various roles involved in bringing a story from idea to printed page were pretty foreign to me. My comic creating experience at that point was one-panel comics of Bart Simpson getting into various sorts of trouble from my middle school days:

So I was surprised to learn that many, many people were involved in creating a single-issue comic. There was the writer, obviously. But once you moved to art, it got more complicated. There could be one artist who does everything, or a separate penciller, inker, and colorist, or some combination of the three. And then there was the lettering, which was also done by a separate person.

Creating my own comic series last year let me see the process firsthand, and while I would love to up my art skills to the level of the talented professionals I’ve worked with so far, that seemed like a years-long endeavor.

So instead, as a fun exercise, I decided to see what lettering was all about, using issue two of Blood of Atlantis as my canvas.

Now, most letterers use Adobe Illustrator, which I do not have, but fortunately I found a YouTube video on how to letter in Photoshop, so off I went.

The first step in lettering a comic is picking a font. You might not have ever given this much thought, as you’re stuck with either Times New Roman or Calibri (or whatever terrible font Gmail uses) for the bulk of your professional writing.

But selecting a readable and context appropriate font is super important, and something that deserves its own separate post.

Where do you even get a comic book font? An excellent place to start is letterer Nate Piekos’s Blambot, where Nate has hundreds of fonts for sale, many of which you can download for free under an indie/small press license.

For this exercise, I picked Plot Holes:

With the font installed, it was time to get cracking! I opened up the colored TIF in Photoshop and added a 70% opacity layer of white over the art. That way, the font would be more visible, but I would still be able to see its placement compared to the art underneath.

Next, it’s time to add the dialogue.1 This panel only has one dialogue line: “Gotta meet a new coffee distributor uptown! See you!” I added that straight into the panel:

After that, the dialogue needs to be fitted so a word balloon can be drawn around it. This entails figuring out how many words should go on each line and how the text as a whole should look. Should there be one word, then two, then three, etc., making a triangle shape? Or maybe that in reverse? The suggestion in the video above is to make it small-to-big-to-small. So I tried to do that. But it’s not as simple as it sounds!

Should “uptown” and “see” be on the same line? Should “meet” be on the first line? I don’t know, I’ve never done this before!

I press on to the next step, which is adding the word balloon. This is also easy, just draw a circle!

But in drawing that circle, you need to pay attention to how much white space is around the dialogue. The above attempt leaves too little space at the bottom, making the lettering look a bit squished. To fix that, I turn to the Direct Selection tool, which allows you to modify each part of the circle’s curve.

I add some more space around the edges, so now we can move on to adding the tail to the word balloon. Again, not so simple! You can freehand draw a tail (which to me sounds like a terrible idea), or use the Pen tool to add a curve to the circle. This again sounds simpler than it is. After nearly giving up, I finally figure out how to create a decent-looking tail:

Great, so now we’re done! With one panel. On one page (out of 34).

Except, not quite. Because what I haven’t told you is that our Blood of Atlantis letterer, Toben Racicot, already lettered this page. And I’ve purposefully not reviewed it, so I could try on my own and see what I came up with. But now that I’m done, it’s time to tabulate the score:

Lots to critique here. My lettering font was too big, my dialogue balloon was too big, and my tail a bit too wide. Using Toben’s lettering as a guide, I recreate (or at least try to) what he did:

Perfect! Time for me to do the rest of the issue! Ehh, not quite. While this experience was definitely educational, and I feel confident enough to create some fun graphics to help promote the Kickstarter, I will definitely be leaving the lettering to the professionals.

Speaking of, if you want to see a comic with awesome lettering and art and a great story to boot, then head on over to the Blood of Atlantis #2 Kickstarter pre-launch page to get notified when we launch next month!

Follow the Kickstarter

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing issue number one (#15) | Announcing Blood of Atlantis (#16) | Comics marketing 102 (#17) | Comic social media (#18) | The convention scene (#19) | Tabling at NYCC (#20)

Two weeks onward and I’m still recovering from a whirlwind weekend at New York Comic Con. 

There were a lot of firsts: the first time I’ve gone all 4 days, the first time tabling, the first time taking 3 kids at the same time, the first time meeting Captain/Peggy Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, and of course the first time meeting a lot of awesome writers and artists!

It can be overwhelming for a first-timer, especially if you only have one day to visit. Thankfully, I was able to spread out everything I wanted to accomplish over 4 different days.

Which was key, because this year was a big balancing act for me, as I alternated taking family and friends around the show and being a fan, with meeting as many writers and artists as I could. I loved seeing all of the first-timers’ faces when they stepped inside the Javits Center. As a 10+-time attendee, you take for granted how overwhelming it is, between the giant Goku and Luffy inflatables, booths, cosplay, and the throngs of people going up and down the convention floors.

Pro-tip for future attendees: Make sure you either bring a sturdy bag to hold your many purchases/freebies or make your way up to the show floor first to grab a free (and big) Dragon Ball Daima bag. Those ran out almost immediately on the first day.

While I love the big displays on the show floor, nothing beats the energy that permeates Artist Alley.

It’s the mixture of fans interacting with creators, collaborators getting to hang out or meet for the first time in person, and artists creating commissions on the spot.

The highlight was of course spending several hours at the Blood of Atlantis pop-up with artist Francine Delgado. Having worked with Fran remotely over the past year, it was so nice to be able to hang out in person and tell people about our comic!

I worked on honing our elevator pitch when creating the Kickstarter campaign pagw, but it’s definitely a lot harder to pitch when you only have a few moments with a potential reader.

That 1-2 sentence description and your cover is basically all you have to convince someone to take a chance on your story. When the “Indiana Jones meets Dungeons & Dragons” line immediately connected with someone, they were much more willing to buy. But when they had to think about it and page through the book, they usually passed.

But that’s OK! No comic is for everyone, and as a new series standing side-by-side next to characters with decades of history, stories, and fandom, the key is to just take it one reader at a time.

Thanks to everyone who came over to meet us and to grab a copy of Blood of Atlantis! And a special shout-out to Justin and Alicia from The X-Wife Podcast, who brought their Kickstarter copy of BoA to get signed.

If you missed us at NYCC, don’t worry! You can get a double-signed copy of issue one, a double-signed NYCC print, and an exclusive sticker at my online shop. Or if you want to read digitally, you can download a copy on Global Comix or Amazon.

Get your BoA x NYCC pack

Read on Global Comix

Read on Amazon

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing issue number one (#15) | Announcing Blood of Atlantis (#16) | Comics marketing 102 (#17) | Comic social media (#18) | The convention scene (#19)

Here are the details:

• Thursday, October 17, 2 - 3:30 PM

• Friday, October 18, 11 AM - 12:30 PM

For those of you who like maps and diagrams, here’s where you can find Table C-44 in Artist Alley. It is the second-to-last table in Row C. So you’ll definitely get your steps in by coming to the Pop-Up!

What you’ll be able to get:

• Signed copies of Blood of Atlantis #1 main cover and variants

• Exclusive Beatrice sticker

• Exclusive BoA x NYCC print, illustrated by Fran

• Other awesome art and prints from Fran

Check everything out below (One Piece NYCC badge not included):

And ICYMI, last week I interviewed Fran about her comic convention experience past and present:

Hope to see you at NYCC!

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The story of Blood of Atlantis begins in New York City, but not only on the page. Three years ago, I went to New York Comic Con’s Artist Alley for the first time, stopping by the table of fellow indie comic writers and I was just starting to develop my first comic and was looking to meet potential artists to collaborate with.

Honor and JL told me about an artist a few tables down from them who was looking to do interior work, and that led me to Francine Delgado’s table. We chatted for a bit, I got some of her cool X-Men roller derby stickers, and I took her business card.

That one interaction led to Fran and I working together on the Welcome to the Quest Board mini-comic and then Blood of Atlantis.

With New York Comic Con starting next week, I talked to Fran about her experience at comic conventions past and present. And stay tuned at the end for some exciting news about Blood of Atlantis and NYCC.

What was your first comic convention?

The first comic convention I attended outside of Costa Rica was Fan Expo Canada in 2015.

How did you pick which conventions to attend?

I started by attending conventions near where I live. Later on, I expanded to larger conventions or ones recommended by peers. Sometimes, I get invited to conventions where my travel and accommodation are covered.

What’s your favorite city/convention you’ve attended?

Calgary Expo is my favorite because it was the first major convention I attended as a guest.

When you create a new print for a convention, what's your process for picking the character or theme?

I’m currently working on a print for NYCC, so here’s how I do it: I pick a subject I love or feel connected to, something that matches my style. Sometimes I ask fans what they’d like to see in my style—that’s how I ended up making prints of Street Sharks and Silver Hawks.

What’s one convention you haven't been to that you would love to go to in the future?

Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival in Yorkshire, England.

What’s one of your favorite parts of a convention away from the table? 

I enjoy visiting other creators’ tables and chatting with them.

I also love participating in sketch duels or panels.

How do you stay energized the entire weekend?

I’m naturally energetic, but if I start to feel tired, a good cup of black tea usually revives me.

What’s some advice you would give to someone tabling at a convention for the first time?

Research the best setup for your type of work (whether you’re a writer, artist, or vendor), be mindful of your neighbors’ space, and get ready to talk for at least three straight days. 

Do you like to talk to people who walk by your table to get them to come over, or wait for them to walk up to your table?

It’s a mix for me. I love talking to people who show interest in my table, but I also travel with a friend who is amazing at bringing people over.

Thank you, Fran for stopping by ARC Worlds!

As I teased the other week, Blood of Atlantis is coming to New York Comic Con! Fran and I will be doing a Blood of Atlantis pop-up on Thursday, October 17 and Friday, October 18, where you’ll be able to meet both of us and get signed copies of Blood of Atlantis #1 along with some exclusive swag.

Stay tuned to this space next week for more info and the specific times! And drop a comment if you’re also headed to NYCC.

Missed the Blood of Atlantis campaign? You can pre-order the comic here. Or grab a digital copy at Global Comix.

If you enjoyed the article, consider leaving a tip on Ko-Fi!

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing issue number one (#15) | Announcing Blood of Atlantis (#16) | Comics marketing 102 (#17) | Comic social media (#18)

In the previous issue of Amazing Journey, I made the case for Kickstarter as the best place for getting your indie comic out into the world.

But for indie comic writers who are not able to put out an issue each month, either in comic book stores or on Kickstarter (where it’s practically impossible to do), staying visible is a constant challenge.

With the often-repeated mantra of “you have to have an online platform,” and expectations in the book side of publishing that such a platform is a prerequisite for even getting a publishing deal, a lot of writers struggle with how much time they should be devoting to social media.

The answer, based on my experience, and which sounds unhelpful, is “it depends.”

Let’s unpack that as we survey the current social media/online platform landscape. And because the number of useful platforms has increased in the past several years, I’m splitting this post into two parts, with part 1 looking at X and Instagram, and part 2 looking at Substack/newsletters, websites, and YouTube.

X (f.k.a. Twitter)

X remains the king of time sinks while offering the tantalizing promise that you are just one witty tweet (I guess they are now called posts?) from going viral. With constantly rotating relevant hashtags, there is the temptation to just post about the current flashpoint. But in my experience, that rarely, if ever, does anything to help you reach readers or other writers.

For example, this tweet about me trying to pre-order an SNES Classic 7 years ago is probably my most-viewed tweet ever, but brought me 0 new followers.

At the current level of my writing career, I find X best-suited for meeting other creators, bloggers, and “industry folks,” rather than using it as a bat signal for potential readers, or to drive traffic to an offsite link. The best thing about X is the ability to follow and interact with just about anyone on the platform, and I’ve probably “met” the most people via X than any of the other platforms combined.

As with all of the social media platforms, X makes it extremely difficult to promote external links, causing people to do multi-tweet threads where they put the link in the second tweet. Of course, 99% of people don’t actually read anything other than the first tweet, so this tactic has minimal returns. And you can forget about posting Substack links or mentioning the word “Substack” on X, as that is the equivalent of your post being loaded into a cannon and shot into a black hole.

Similarly, lots of Kickstarter creators report that they are driving fewer and fewer backers to their campaigns from X, and my own experience bears this out. At the end of the day, each tweet is a fleeting moment, and you should keep that in mind every time you post.

That’s not to suggest that you should neglect how you present yourself on X (or any of these platforms). Even if you only using X to network with other people, you should still craft your profile so that it best highlights your work.

Below is my X profile, where I feature a fun header from Agent Carter (leave a comment if you want the backstory) and let people know that I am a comics writer and fantasy author, that I have a comic available for pre-order, and that I will be attending NYCC in a few weeks.

If someone wants to learn more without leaving X, I pinned a tweet with the first 12 pages of Blood of Atlantis along with another pre-order link:

And in terms of getting people to share and engage, X makes it the easiest for others with larger platforms to share what you are posting.

Finally, as a writer looking for artists to collaborate with for comic interiors, covers, or swag, X is way behind Instagram in terms of usefulness, with one exception: Portfolio Day.

Portfolio Day is an event that occurs the second Tuesday of January, April, July, and October, and tons of artists will post their work under the #PortfolioDay hashtag, as well as sharing others’ work.

X’s interface and social proof makes it easier to find artists during Portfolio Day than Instagram in my experience, although I usually end up following the artists I find on Instagram and not X.

Best practices

• Share comics you’re reading and Kickstarters you’ve backed. It’s an easy way to highlight other creators.

• Follow other writers and engage with them organically.

• Take 30 minutes the day after Portfolio Day to scroll through the top posts to look for new-to-you artists.

Instagram

I put X first because as a writer, a text-based platform is naturally going to more strongly align with my work than an image-based platform. But as a comics writer, Instagram is a close second, and if you’re an artist, it should probably be your primary focus.

Instagram is a bit more complicated to use, given the number of different ways you have to interact with people on the platform.

• There are regular posts, which your followers will have a higher likelihood of seeing than your tweets and which can also be seen by non-followers in the “Explore” tab.

• There are Stories, which are fleeting 24-hour vertical posts only seen by your followers.

• There are Reels, which are Instagram’s version of TikTok videos that the platform is giving outsized reach at the moment.

It is tempting to want to chase that reach, to spend time creating short videos with enticing hooks to build your view and follower count. But that path is really more suited for people who are selling services or are in a very defined niche (such as fitness, meal prep/food, for example).

As comic creators, we are obviously in our own niche, but whereas a person seeking out a fitness influencer is trying to get in better shape, we are trying to find readers looking for new comics to read.

Our best way to do that is to get the book in readers’ hands, but it’s a lot harder to make an Instagram reel to convince someone to do that, than it is to sell a workout plan by making videos of you working out at the gym.1 I still try to make fun videos that don’t require too much effort into making. Fun fact: this video of me creating my own version of the MCU opening credits with Russell Dauterman’s costume variants is my most-watched Reel:

Fortunately, comics are a visual medium, and so showing off the art in your book, which doesn’t require making videos with snappy editing, is still effective.

I created a 3 x 1 row of images showcasing our Blood of Atlantis banner image, so new people finding my profile immediately are drawn in and hopefully want to learn more about the series.

Best practices

• Follow lots of artists, which will tell Instagram that you like comic art, and it will in turn show you other comic artists’ posts on the Explore tab.

• Do some hashtag research to find a few popular hashtags to use. These will help push your Reels and posts out to people who are not followers.

• Instagram is not a “click here and do this!” type of platform. It’s very hard to get someone to leave the app and go buy something. So lean more into making people aware of who you are and your comics.

• Use Stories to highlight other interesting posts/Reels you find, or to post more casual photos.

Sound off!

Hopefully the above was helpful, but I’d love to hear about your experiences on X and Instagram.

What has worked for you? What hasn’t? Let me know in the comments!

Leave a comment

Missed the Blood of Atlantis campaign? You can pre-order the comic here.

If you enjoyed the article, consider leaving a tip on Ko-Fi!

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing issue number one (#15) | Announcing Blood of Atlantis (#16) | Comics marketing 102 (#17)

As you can see from the above image, my single-issue pop-up comic book shop is now open!

I packed and shipped the first wave of Blood of Atlantis #1 Kickstarter orders last week, and anticipate finishing fulfillment by mid-September, making this my fastest Kickstarter turnaround yet.

After launching the Guild of Magic Kickstarter campaign before the book was done, my decision to hold future campaigns until the book/comic was complete turned out to be the right call. Going forward, I anticipate alternating between a book Kickstarter and a comic Kickstarter, so you aren't waiting so long between my launches for something new.

That means that next up is a new book campaign, and at the end of this newsletter, you'll get to read an exclusive preview of that book, Guild of Magic: The Gauntlet!

In other writing news, I finished the script for issue 2 of Blood of Atlantis, and artist Francine Delgado and I just had a very productive Zoom going over the issue page-by-page before she starts drawing it. 

I also entered two writing competitions, one for comics, one for fiction. 

The first is the Mad Cave Studios Talent Search. MCS runs an annual competition where you submit a short script in one of their existing comic worlds. 

I submitted a script set in the world of Hunt. Kill. Repeat., where the Greek gods have returned to the modern world and found it wanting, quickly conquering it and becoming its new rulers. The series follows the goddess Artemis as she fights back against her siblings and her dad Zeus. The winners should be announced next month, and I’ll share my entry in a future newsletter!

I also entered the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Competition, or SFINCS for short. This is a sister competition to the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off, and I entered my fantasy novella I’m In Love With My Possessed Demon Sword.1 You can see the other entries in my group below. The first round of the competition will be complete by the end of the year and I’m excited to see how Demon Sword will do!

I’m also working on my next Amazing Journey column, and you can help! Check out my Note below and join the conversation:

And if you missed the Blood of Atlantis #1 Kickstarter, don’t worry! You can still pre-order the comic through our BackerKit pre-order store below.

Pre-order Blood of Atlantis

Finally, here’s a sneak peek at Guild of Magic: The Gauntlet. Although this started out as a novella, it’s looking like it will end up being a short novel, probably 50-60K words. It takes place in between Guild of Magic and Guild of Relics, and features a competition run by the Guild called the Gauntlet, to fill an empty Seat in the Guild's membership. 

Think the Triwizard Tournament set in New York City!

[Intro music]

The premise is simple, the rest is not. Complete a Quest. Get a token. The more tokens you get, the more experience you earn. Enough experience and you level up. 

I was just like you once, a newbie Quester who had no idea what was going on. I would work all day and Quest all night. But after pulling double-duty for way too many years, I started this podcast, to help others climb the Questing Ladder. And, three years ago, I was able to leave the day job behind, thanks to a particular fruitful Raid and support from listeners like you.

This is the QuestCast Podcast, episode 116, and I’m your host, Pat Krekie.

In today’s episode, we have a guest in studio with us, Nate Whittaker, former portfolio manager on Wall Street but now head of the Wolf’s Claw Clan. Nate, thank you for joining us.

Nate: Great to be here. I’m pretty sure this is the first interview I’ve done in a church basement.

Pat: Heh, well, it’s got great acoustics. As I like to do for first-time guests on the show, I want you to take us back to the beginning of your Questing career. Part of our mission here is to help out the newbie listeners, who are just starting out. So it’s helpful to hear success stories, lessons learned along the way, any things you wish you would have known when you were starting out.

Nate: Absolutely. I mean back when I was a newb, this show wasn’t around, for one. I remember spending the first few months thinking I had gone a little mad, you know? Like is this actually real or am I the subject of an incredibly elaborate practical joke.

Pat: I remember the feeling.

Nate: Yeah, so, it took me awhile to find others out there, like me. But once I did, everything changed.

Pat: How so?

Nate: It sounds cliche, but … I met a girl. Blonde hair, green eyes. And a figure to-

Pat: I get the picture.

Nate: I do a random quest, and when I show off at this coffee shop and she’s there, dark glasses, big sun hat, like she’s a celebrity who doesn’t want to be recognized. She doesn’t say much, just wants me to complete one more task for her, before she’ll tell me the truth.

Pat: What was it?

Nate: I’d rather not say. No offense, but I doubt she’d want all of your listeners going out to try to find it.

Pat: Fair enough, fair enough. But I assume you succeeded?

Nate: I did. Found what she wanted and we meet back at the coffee shop. She takes the offering, as it was, and then pulls out a plastic container with a mouse in it.

Pat: That’s a bit weird. 

Nate: I thought so. But then she drops the truth bomb on me. About why we're doing the Quests and the Raids, all of it.

Pat: I bet you thought she was nuts, right? 

Nate: Absolutely. I mean, I had seen some stuff during my first months of Questing, but not enough to make me question, like, the fundamental nature of the universe, you know? I was ready to walk away from this crazy chick. But then…

Pat: What?

Nate: She pulls out this ornate dagger, opens the plastic container, and stabs the little mouse in there.

Pat: You cannot be serious! You must have been-

Nate: I’m not ashamed to admit it, I almost pissed myself. But then she slides the container toward me and I look inside and… the mouse is just a stone statue.

Pat: That is … incredible. Wow.

Nate: It was. So then she asks me to be her trainee, and of course, I agree. Why wouldn’t I? I learned so much from her, but…

Pat: What happened? 

Nate: Misread some signals, was a bit too cocky. I … don’t really want to talk about it.

Pat: I hear you, I hear you. So, this is a good time then, for a word from our sponsor. It’s BSG, your number one source for coffee, cocktails, and alchemy on the Lower East Side. Previously known as Bleecker Street Grounds, the cafe is quickly becoming the destination for Questers in the know, thanks to its new owner, Beatrice Stallard.

[Pat flashes a picture of Beatrice on the video feed].

Nate: Wait, are you shitting me? That’s her. The blonde. And that was the coffee shop we met at! I had no idea. I need to talk to her!

[Nate stands up quickly, knocking over his stool, and runs out of the studio]

Pat: Hey! Where are you going? 

Hope you enjoyed that little preview!

As you can see, it’s a little different from my previous books. In addition to featuring three different point of views (who you’ll meet in future previews), The Gauntlet will also feature these podcast chapters as the competition progresses. And as you can maybe tell, this book is written both for seasoned series vets and new readers, so it’s a perfect jumping-on point.

Stay tuned for more previews and a cover reveal next month!

Last summer I wrote a very creatively titled post called Comic Marketing 101 about the challenges that single-issue comics face in a world where there are almost 100 new comic issues hitting the shelves every week.

But standing out in the direct market is a bit different from standing out as an indie comic launching on Kickstarter.

On the one hand, you tell people you’re writing a book with Rogue in it and people have an immediate reaction. They know her, have opinions about her, or at the very minimum, have at least heard of her. Or you’re an artist posting your artwork of said Southern belle, and similarly, you benefit from decades of stories, attachment, artwork, and feelings that the character has earned.

But what about an entirely new property?

You have no recognizable characters, you are probably not a household name in the comics community, and you are asking people to use their limited time and financial resources to give your creation a chance.

How do you do that?

You go to where the indie comic readers are, and that’s on Kickstarter.1

The Kickstarter campaign for Blood of Atlantis #1 just finished last month, and despite this being my first comics project, the campaign raised over $10K from 369 backers. Remarkably, most of those backers were people who had never heard of me, or the series.

As issue 1 heads to print, and work on issue 2 begins, I wanted to reflect on the campaign and some marketing lessons learned.

Note: This post is very long and will probably get truncated by your email client. If you want to read the whole thing, click here.

The formula for success

I spend a lot of time studying what other successful comic creators have done on Kickstarter and in the direct market. Reverse-engineering the path of someone else’s success can be useful in identifying high-level guideposts, but it’s no substitute for charting your own course. Everyone’s path, circumstances, and interests are different, and slavishly copying someone else is probably not the best idea.

That being said, I’ve identified three markers for a successful Kickstarter comic campaign: hook + art + community.

Hook

The hook is your elevator pitch. How would you describe your comic in 15 seconds or less?

It helps to maybe include a recognizable property (or two), but only if they actually relate to your comic and someone can visualize what that combination entails.

Something like “Fullmetal Alchemist meets Game of Thrones!” doesn’t really tell the reader what they are getting.

On Kickstarter, you have several attempts at a hook before you even get someone to your campaign page. You have the campaign image, the title, and a subtitle. Similar to a YouTube video thumbnail and title, a great campaign will use the image, title and subtitle in combination to communicate different aspects of the campaign.

For example:

My campaign image evokes a woman dreaming of a far-off adventure on a Greek isle, with some sort of magic ring, ancient secrets, and a certain leather jacket.

Then my title adds to that with reference to a modern adventure that’s going to be epic and also have magic.

Finally, I throw in the two comps: Indiana Jones (linking back to the leather jacket in the campaign image) and Dungeons & Dragons (referencing the magical adventures), and give a bit of background about what the comic is about.

That’s all the space you’re given on Kickstarter before someone gets to your campaign page, so you need all three items firing to get them to click.

Once they do, then you have another set of chances to convince them to back. That’s where the next part of the formula takes precedence.

Art

This could also be labeled Art + Story, but really, you are going to be leaning on the comic’s art (both the interior and covers) to make the sale to a potential backer.

On my campaign page, I provided a few paragraphs filled with hooks and punchy sentences, mixed with a bit of artwork, to get people scrolling down to the preview:

I included a six-page preview right on the campaign page, to give people a taste of the story and to show off our artist Francine Delgado’s awesome artwork. I also added a link to a 12-page preview, so people could read a full third of the issue for free.

When you are targeting a cold audience, you want to be generous with your comic to build trust. For example, Charlie Stickney now gives away the entire first issue of White Ash, clocking in at 52 pages, right on his campaign page, without even requiring an email sign-up. (His latest White Ash campaign is currently live, so you should definitely take a moment to back that).2

Besides the preview, you also need your covers to do the heavy lifting of communicating what your comic is about, but in different ways.

Blood of Atlantis #1 has four covers, and they each bring a different vibe.

• The main cover is highlighting our cast, and giving a little taste of the magical elements in the issue.

• The Pulp Homage cover is borrowing the goodwill from a well-known existing property while also providing its own take.

• The Day in the Life cover is showing the different sides of our main character Beatrice and how much of a bad-ass she is.

• Finally, the Hellfire Magazine Homage is an awesome pin-up with some fun design work to catch the eye.3

Community

Now we get to the final and oftentimes most vexing piece of the puzzle.

Although Kickstarter has its own audience of backers, a first-time creator on the platform still needs to bring their own crowd to bear.

How do you do this your first time out?

• Friends & family - tell them about the campaign, with a no-pressure, no expectations pitch. You should tell them they don’t need to back if they don’t want to, but encourage them to help spread the word. Ideally this category will help jumpstart your first campaign, and then they cycle out in subsequent campaigns, replaced by your readers.

• Other comic creators: get to know your peers at i) your level, ii) at one level above you, and iii) 2-5 levels above you.

  • The first group will have a similar reach as you (namely, very little), but you should be helping each other cross-pollinate.

  • The middle group will already have an audience and will most likely be willing to share your campaign if you’ve gotten the time to get to know them.

  • And the last group probably won’t share your campaign, but you want to be on their radar as an up-and-coming creator that they’ll want to know about in 2-3 years’ time.

  • Reach out to creators on social media, at comic conventions, and by backing their Kickstarter campaigns. If you have a newsletter or blog, offer to do an interview or get a quote from them for a blog post about comics.

• Comic readers in the wild: This is the toughest group to reach. You may think you can just post about your comic on social media and readers will flock to you, but it doesn’t work like that. You can maybe get super-duper lucky and somehow have a post go viral, but the impact will be fleeting, and most people won’t remember who you are or what you do the day after. Instead of hoping that the social media platforms will give you algorithmic reach beyond your following, you should have the mindset that you are going to hand-sell your comic one reader at a time.

Once you’ve got a seed audience at the end of your first campaign, then you need to move them through the Funnel of Connection (TM).

The below chart from Jack Conte’s recent SXSW talk is instructive.

• The top level of the funnel is people who come across your comic on social media, on Kickstarter when you have a live campaign, or via a recommendation from someone else.

• You can get a smaller subset to move down to the next level by nailing the first two parts of the formula, and getting them to buy your comic or back your campaign. If they like your first issue, they’ll come back for the second, or they’ll tell other people, adding more people to the top level. You keep in touch with these fans through an email newsletter, so you are not beholden to social media visibility to reach them when you have something new to release.

• Finally, a very small subset of the second level will move down to become true fans. They’ll buy everything you make, they’ll evangelize and recommend your work without you having to prompt them, and they will follow you across all of your social accounts.

Now, the reason I labeled this last part “Community” and not “Followers,” is because I think it’s easier for people to form connections to creative work when they have a place to talk about it with other fans. This could be on social media, a writer’s newsletter, the comments section on a webcomic, or on this Substack post!

At the end of the day, the real beauty of Kickstarter is that every time you launch a new campaign, you are bringing in more readers to the top of the funnel, you create urgency to act because of the limited timeframe of the campaign, and you provide opportunities for community to form between backers through backer updates and the campaign comments section.

It’s because of all of the above that well-run, serialized comic campaigns on Kickstarter tend to grow over successive campaigns, rather than shrink like most direct market comics, where the first issue will almost always be the most ordered issue.

Thankfully, our Blood of Atlantis #1 campaign did the heavy lifting it needed to do as a brand-new comic, and we have a great foundation to build on for the next issue and the next Kickstarter campaign. And I’ll be talking more about issue 2 and how I’m getting the word out about the comic in the months to come!

Readers, what’s the most interesting comic marketing tactic you’ve seen?

Creators, what’s one marketing technique you tried that you didn’t think would work but actually did?

Leave a comment

Missed the Blood of Atlantis campaign? You can pre-order the comic here.

If you enjoyed the article, consider leaving a tip on Ko-Fi!

More on this topic

Jack Conte’s recent talk at SXSW, Death of the Follower & the Future of Creativity on the Web:

Jordan Holt discusses indie comic marketing:

Amazing Journey back issues

Check out issue #15, now with new advice from Brian K. Vaughan!

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing issue number one (#15) | Announcing Blood of Atlantis (#16)

I was at my cousin’s house for winter break, and after having spent most of the previous year's break playing Secret of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, I returned to find that she had acquired a new game. 

And it was based on something familiar: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. 

I spent most of that visit playing the opening half of the game, hunting down Plato’s Lost Dialogue, and inadvertently selecting the Team path for the next portion of the game. 

But then I got stuck on the island of Crete, where there was a certain door that for the life of me I could not figure out how to open. I wandered around that (digital) island for days, but still could not figure out how to open the path forward.

And so I returned home, dejected, without having solved the puzzle. 

Now, due to some arcane law of parenting (sorry Mom and Dad if you’re reading), I wasn’t allowed to buy my own copy of the game, but instead was only able to secure a copy of the LucasArts Classic Adventures collection. This did not include Fate, but it did include other classics like Maniac Mansion, Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 

I satisfied my adventure game needs with the movie-tie in game, but longed to return to the voice-acted adventure I had previously experienced. 

Eventually, I convinced a friend to lend me his copy of Lucasarts Archives, which had Fate and Day of the Tentacle, and the rest was adventure game history. 

That game and the Atlantis mythology have stuck with me all these years (along with DotT, The Dig, and the Monkey Island series). 

So when it came time to give Beatrice, who previously was a secondary character in the Guild series, her own Quest, I was immediately drawn to the idea of her seeking out the Lost City. 

I had planted some of the seeds in earlier stories (go read Guild of Tokens: Relic Hunter to find out what they are), and this was the perfect opportunity to add my own spin on Atlantis. And to create a really fun adventure that captured the essence of Fate: puzzles, teamwork, and a bit of action. 

So from that beginning, Blood of Atlantis was born.

I’m not shy about its Indy roots, as you can see from our campaign header and our Pulp Homage variant cover. And while I would love to read new Indiana Jones stories, those don’t seem very high on the priority list of Disney and Marvel at the moment.1 So it's up to our creative team to grab the mantle and deliver an all-new epic adventure for the modern age!

The Kickstarter campaign for issue #1 has about a week left, and we’re closing in on the second stretch goal, with a really fun third stretch goal after that, that you’re going to love if you're an Indiana Jones super fan.

The issue is completely done, clocking in at an oversized 34 pages, so you won't have to wait long to read it. And by backing the campaign, you'll help us start production of issue #2 right away.

If you’ve already backed the campaign, thank you so much for your support. We are a small team of independent creators, and it means the world to us that you have chosen to back our book.

Take me to the Kickstarter!

But before we get there, here’s a quick update on the Blood of Atlantis #1 Kickstarter:

• The campaign recently crossed the $5000 funding level and 150-backer marks!

• There is one more slot left in issue 1 if you want to be drawn into the issue!

• I unlocked the first stretch goal and revealed the second stretch goal:

Back Blood of Atlantis

Lampblack #1-4 by Camille Longley

“A girl whose paintings come to life. A Deaf boy who wants to be a soldier. A story of passion, art, and war inspired by Hayao Miyazaki.”

Camille Longley and Pablo Peppino are back for their fourth issue of Lampblack, presented in an oversize 8.5x 11 inch landscape comic! Lampblack has everything you expect in a coming-of-age story: horrifying ink monsters, wondrous forbidden magic, sign language, runaways, and a cat (of course). It’s the story of friendship, family, and war, set in a fantastical world and depicted in stunning detail. 

If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Sabrina, or Pokémon, you will love exploring the world of Lampblack--a place filled with strange creatures and and stranger magic.

Back the campaign now, as it ends tomorrow!

Hero of Legend: A Fantasy Adventure

“A fantasy comic for fans of The Legend of Zelda and Studio Ghibli. What do you do in a world where the destined hero has failed?”

The Legend of Zelda is one of my all-time favorite video games. A Link to the Past was a mainstay of my childhood, Wind Waker during college, and Breath of the Wild more recently. So I immediately jumped to back Reed Hinckley-Barnes's campaign Hero of Legend, which launched the same day as Blood of Atlantis. 

It's currently only a few backers away from funding and is definitely worthy of your support. Check out the campaign here and go help push Hero of Legend over the funding edge!

Transphoria: A Trans & Non Binary Comic Book Anthology

“A 90-page graphic novel anthology about Trans and Non Binary experiences of gender euphoria across a wide range of genres.”

The team of Kat Calamia and Phil Falco are Kickstarter comics mainstays and they’ve put together another great anthology, with a ton of awesome creators and stories.

Check out the campaign here and check out their latest newsletter here, where they discuss the anthology and their next campaign.

Sagas of the Shield Maiden Book Four

“Sagas of the Shield Maiden is a Viking western comics anthology series that recounts the legends, or sagas, of the titular Shield Maiden as she traverses Scandinavia and beyond the North Sea.”

Following on directly from Sagas of the Shield Maiden Book Three, Book Four continues the journey of the titular Shield Maiden as both a younger naïve warrior and an older, hardened and battle weary mercenary.

I’ve really enjoyed the first three volumes of this series, and I’m super interested to see where things are going in volume 4 after the [SPOILER REDACTED] in volume 3.

Back the campaign here.

What’s your favorite Kickstarter comics series?

Leave a comment

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing first issues (#15) | Breaking down a comic book page (#16)

There as a lot of reading, learning, and writing along the way, but it’s all led to this: my first comic, Blood of Atlantis #1 is now live on Kickstarter!

What’s it about?

Here’s the first issue solicit:

Magic is real. That’s a fact Beatrice Stallard has known for more than a decade.

It is not the magic of the storybooks though. There are no wands, no spells, no incantations. Magic, or alchemy, as it is better known, is about harnessing the energy flowing within the Earth. And the Quests that have the New York City underground by storm? They're all about finding whatever little magic is left.

In her travels, trials, and tribulations, Beatrice has come across inklings and whispers that the myths of yore weren’t exactly myths.

And the big one, the one she is setting her sights on, is Atlantis, the fabled lost city that sank beneath the waves so long ago, never to be heard from again.

Or so the story goes.

Together with her business partner/wizened bartender Svetlana and a couple of newbie Questers she picked up along the way, Beatrice will traverse New York City and beyond to discover the secrets of Atlantis.

It’s a pulp adventure for the modern day, but with magic!

Blood of Atlantis #1 features four covers: our main cover, drawn by interior artist Francine Delgado, the Pulp Homage variant, by Elizabeth Torque and Raúl Angulo, the Day in the Life variant, by Serg Acuña, and the Hellfire Magazine Homage variant, by Rebecca Sorge Jensen.

In addition to our covers, you can pick up a digital deluxe copy of the issue, with the script, inks, and unlettered pages. We’ve also got some fun swag in the form of a sticker set and 5-card trading card set!

The campaign funded quickly yesterday, and I’ll be announcing the first stretch goal later today!

And the good news is that the issue is already done, save for two in-issue cameos (one of which has already been snapped up) and the backer wall of honor. Once those are done, the issue will head to print for a quick fulfillment turnaround.

This has been an amazing journey (pun intended) years in the making, and I hope you’ll join me on the next leg by backing the campaign.

And if you back by tomorrow, you’ll also get a free Beatrice trading card with any physical pledge:

Blood of Atlantis Kickstarter

First up, it’s our Day in the Life variant by Serg Acuña!

You’ve seen Serg’s amazing artwork inside the pages of Batman: Brave and the Bold, Nightwing, The Flash, and WWE and on the covers of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, Shazam!, Sinister Sons, Nightwing, Outsiders, Catwoman, and many more!

And his Blood of Atlantis variant cover gives us an inside look at the many facets of our main character Beatrice’s typical day.

Our next Blood of Atlantis cover reveal takes us back in time to one of Beatrice’s earlier adventures, and an homage to one of the classics, it’s our Pulp Homage variant by Elizabeth Torque, with colors by Raúl Angulo, and design by our letterer Toben Racicot!

Elizabeth’s artwork has been gracing the covers of Ultimate Spider-Man the past few months, with some awesome variants out this summer on Namor, Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime, and many more!

Finally, our third variant cover is one that recognizes Beatrice’s sterling (and other) qualities, it’s our Hellfire Magazine Homage variant by Rebecca Sorge Jensen, with design again by Toben Racicot!

Be sure to grab your copy of Quest Magazine during the campaign to help honor our award-winning heroine!

And that’s a wrap on our covers! Each one brings something different to the table, and I hope you found one that speaks to you (or grab all 4, there’s a tier for that).

The campaign will launch June 4, and as a reminder, please take a moment to visit the Kickstarter pre-launch page by clicking the button below and hit “Notify me on launch” so you’ll get the launch day announcement.

The first 24-48 hours are the most important time during a Kickstarter campaign, and I hope I can count on your support then.

Plus, there might just be an early backer bonus in it for you!

Kickstarter pre-launch page

In the meantime, catch up on the amazing journey so far:

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing first issues (#15) | Breaking down a comic book page (#16)

Subscribe now

Without further ado, here is Fran’s amazing cover!

Featured front and center is our main character, the indomitable Beatrice Stallard. 

You may remember her as a foil/sometimes mentor to Jen in the NYC Questing Guild books, but now Beatrice is setting off on her own! 

Here’s the first issue solicit:

Magic is real. That’s a fact Beatrice Stallard has known for more than a decade.

It is not the magic of the storybooks though. There are no wands, no spells, no incantations. Magic, or alchemy, as it is better known, is about harnessing the energy flowing within the Earth. And the Quests that have the New York City underground by storm? They're all about finding whatever little magic is left.

In her travels, trials, and tribulations, Beatrice has come across inklings and whispers that the myths of yore weren’t exactly myths.

And the big one, the one she is setting her sights on, is Atlantis, the fabled lost city that sank beneath the waves so long ago, never to be heard from again.

Or so the story goes.

Together with her business partner/wizened bartender Svetlana and a couple of newbie Questers she picked up along the way, Beatrice will traverse New York City and beyond to discover the secrets of Atlantis.

It’s a pulp adventure for the modern day, but with magic!

As a reminder, please take a moment to visit the Kickstarter pre-launch page and hit “Notify me on launch” so you’ll get the launch day announcement. 

The first 24-48 hours are the most important time during a Kickstarter campaign, and I hope I can count on your support then. Plus, there might just be an early backer bonus in it for you!

Kickstarter pre-launch page

The campaign launches on Tuesday, June 4, so watch this space for more reveals, including our three variant covers! In the meantime, catch up on the journey so far:

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing first issues (#15) | Breaking down a comic book page (#16)

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Kickstarter pre-launch page

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been slowly dripping out more sneak peeks from the issue, without spoiling hopefully too much.

But there’s so much more to see inside the issue, which clocks in at an extra-long 34 pages. Seeing new art come in and working with Francine Delgado to bring this story to life has been an absolute treat and I can’t wait to share it with you.

If you remember one thing about Beatrice from Guild of Tokens and Guild of Magic, it’s that she always has a plan. And this time, her sights are set on the Lost City of Atlantis.

As to what that plan is? Well, you’ll just have to wait until the issue drops to find out.

In addition to Beatrice, you’ll meet Quester newbies Damon and Topo, along with seasoned vet Svetlana, as they search for something in Brooklyn that could be a key to finding the Lost City.

Blood of Atlantis is the adventure and puzzles from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis mixed with Dungeons & Dragons, with a dash of myth a la Gargoyles’ Avalon World Tour.

It’s a pulp adventure for the modern day, but with magic!

Before you enjoy the rest of the art from issue 1 that’s been revealed so far, please take a moment to visit the Kickstarter pre-launch page and hit “Notify me on launch” so you’ll get the launch day announcement. The first 24-48 hours are the most important time during a Kickstarter campaign, and I hope I can count on your support then. Plus, there might just be an early backer bonus in it for you!

To the Kickstarter pre-launch page!

Subscribe now

The Amazing Journey column will touch on a comics-related topic, such as writing the first issue of a series, what it’s like to run a comic book store, working with artists, and how writing comics is different from writing prose.

Amazing Journey back issues

True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12) | The importance of comic book shops (#13) | Finding community at NYCC (#14) | Writing first issues (#15)

Team Blood of Atlantis is currently working hard behind-the-scenes to bring you an awesome first issue. As I wrote the script months ago, much of my work now is project management: communicating between the various team members, making the pages are moving along the creative assembly line, creating the Kickstarter campaign page, finalizing the various covers, and creating awareness in advance of the launch (which will be the subject of a future column).

With our six-page preview released last week to subscribers (check your inbox, or drop a comment if you can’t find it), today I thought it would be fun to do a side-by-side comparison of each panel of page 1, from script to finished product.

Note: to due to the length of this email, your email client will likely truncate it. Just click the title above and you’ll be able to read the entire thing.

Off to a good start! Who needs dialogue in your comic?

Panel 1:

Another no-dialogue panel. We’ll just build the progression slowwwwwly until the next panel.

Panel 2:

Holy Alan Moore! Although not quite. This description was intended to give some additional context for our main character. And we finally have a caption!

Stepping back and reading over these 3 panels together after receiving them from Toben, I realized that it was a pretty boring start with the two wordless panels:

It would be great to identify where the heck we are, but I didn’t want to break up Beatrice’s narration in an unnatural way. Luckily, I came up with a good solution that was deftly implemented by Toben:

That’s better! Now we know where we are and we have some more scene setting with the location and time established in a snarky way.

Let’s move to the set of next panels:

Astute readers will notice that the Quest Board screen that appears above is also from Fran and my earlier 5-page mini-comic from the Guild of Magic Kickstarter, which you can read here.

Finishing off page 1 with a nice page turn!

As I mentioned above, you can read the first six pages of Blood of Atlantis by checking out the preview.

I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look. Let me know in the comments what kind of posts you would like to see next!

Leave a comment

In case you missed it, here is the big announcement post:

This week, I wanted to do an open thread to give you the chance to ask your burning questions about the series and the upcoming Kickstarter campaign.

• Are you wondering how Beatrice ended up asleep in a coffee shop after her adventures in the first two books?

• Who is that smiling barista?

• Do I need to have read any of the prior books?

• Will there be variant covers offered in the Kickstarter?

• What other extra cool stuff will be part of the campaign?

The floor is yours.

And finally, here is a sneak peek at page 1:

And now, I’m excited to announce that I am one step closer to that being reality, as I shed the working title Project Plato to reveal:

The Book

Magic is real. That’s a fact Beatrice Stallard has known for more than a decade.

It is not the magic of the storybooks though. There are no wands, no spells, no incantations. Magic, or alchemy, as it is better known, is about harnessing the energy flowing within the Earth.

Once, magic flowed across the world like a mighty river. Or sprung from the ground like an oil geyser. Or pick another natural resource metaphor, you get the idea.

No longer.

It’s been siphoned off, pilfered, used up, by those that came before.

But it’s still out there. If you know where to look.

Fortunately, Beatrice does. She’s done a lot of looking. And in the process, made some powerful enemies.

Like the Guild, a centuries-old shadowy organization that runs the Quest Board. The Guild came up with the brilliant idea of making finding magic into a game. So now you have hundreds of would-be adventurers searching all over the city for knick-knacks, rocks, plants—even rats and pigeons that may hold traces of it. These people get tokens and XP, like a video game; the ones in the know get a free labor source. It’s how Beatrice got her start, and she’s thankful for it.

But now she’s playing a different game. In her travels, trials, and tribulations, Beatrice has come across inklings and whispers that the myths of yore weren’t exactly myths.

And the big one, the one she is setting her sights on, is Atlantis, the fabled lost city that sank beneath the waves so long ago, never to be heard from again.

Or so the story goes.

Together with her business partner/wizened bartender Svetlana and a couple of newbie Questers she picked up along the way, Beatrice will traverse New York City and beyond to discover the secrets of Atlantis.

Oh, you want some art to go with this awesome logo?

Well, here you go:

Growing up, I loved playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (one of the best point-and-click adventure games IMO), and this series, while obviously sharing its Atlantean focus, reimagines the classic pulp adventure world-trotting story in a world that’s filled with magic hiding just beneath the surface of the every day. And with a kick-ass female lead to boot.

The Team

In addition to me on writing duties, I am working with some awesome comics pros to bring you an amazing book:

Francine Delgado (art)

Francine is a Costa Rican/Canadian artist who works both in the animation industry and as a comic book artist. Known for her work with Marvel Upper Deck’s Legendary Black Widow and cover art for TMNT/IDW and Mad Cave, she has also contributed sequential art to projects like The Addams Family: Charlatan’s Web (IDW) and Glarien: Short and Deadly. Francine has worked on films such as The Addams Family, Barbie: It Takes Two, and more. You can find Francine on Instagram and Twitter.

Danny Sánchez Chaves (colors)

Danny is a comic book colorist from Costa Rica, who has done work for BOOM! Studios (WWE Smackdown 20th Anniversary), IDW (Addams Family: Charlatan’s Web), Lifeline Comics (The Dancer), and others. You can find Danny on Instagram.

Toben Racicot (letters)

Toben is a writer and letterer. He’s worked on a variety of indie comics like Beastlands, Sidequest, Discordia, The Amazing Adventures of Bart Bartson. He studies Role-Playing Games and Collaborative Worldbuilding at the University of Waterloo. He dreamt of being an aerospace engineer before failing high school Physics. You can find Toben on Twitter.

Finally, special thanks to Winston Gambro for his amazing logo design.

Here is the full art from above in all its glory (click on the image or head to the web version):

The Kickstarter Campaign

Francine is already 75% done with the interiors, and ARC Worlds subscribers can read an exclusive six-page preview. So if you’re not a subscriber, now’s the perfect time to hit the red button and join the ranks.

Subscribe now

Blood of Atlantis #1 will be launching on Kickstarter in spring/summer 2024, with a jam-packed 34-page issue. The campaign won’t go live until the issue is fully done, so expect a short turn-around time between the end of campaign and fulfillment.

Now that I can stop vague-booking, expect to see more behind-the-scenes details in future Amazing Journey editions.

The World

Finally, as you may have surmised, Blood of Atlantis takes place in the same world as my NYC Questing Guild series, where Beatrice has already caused quite a bit of trouble.

To get you even more excited for the series, I’ve got some awesome reading material for you.

First, you can read about Beatrice’s early adventures in Guild of Tokens: Origins, a collection of three prequel short stories:

Download Guild of Tokens: Origins

Next, you can check out Welcome to the Quest Board!, a five-page mini comic with art by Francine that features one of the Blood of Atlantis characters, Damon.

Read Welcome to the Quest Board

Finally, you can check out the rest of the NYC Questing Guild series at my online shop. If you’ve already read the books, you’ll notice some cameos in Blood of Atlantis from some other familiar faces.

Thank you!

This announcement has been a long time coming. I want to thank all of you who have been ARC Worlds subscribers from the beginning and those who have joined up along the way.

I’m really excited to get this story into your hands later this year and take the next step in my comics journey.

Before you go, I’d love to hear what’s your favorite take on Atlantis?

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