Salvete, Amiculi!

As we grind relentlessly toward June 1 and the second Amiculus Kickstarter, I'd like to take a moment to shine a spotlight on another worthy project I've come across. As a lover of ancient history and all things relating to Rome, I was delighted to be introduced to this project by artist and filmmaker Roger Kupelian, East of Byzantium. This exciting graphic novel series and soon-to-be high-end documentary chronicles the struggles of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, caught in a vicious, centuries-long tug-of-war between the Roman/Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire. 

Volume I of the series, War Gods, portrays Armenia beset from within and without. The Sassanid Persians are determined to bring them to heel, and part of the book covers the  kingdom's long war of resistance against them. Meanwhile, it is also locked in civil war, as the pagan followers of the old gods vie with the upstart Christian faction for the soul of the nation. All I will say is this: while Armenia was the first nation on earth to convert to Christianity (something I learned from this series!), the conversion brought with it no peace.

This is made painfully clear in Volume II, Warrior Saints. A hundred and fifty years have passed, and Armenia is a kingdom no more, torn apart between Rome and Persia. In this book, the Persian shah desires to forcibly convert the Christian Armenians under his rule to Zoroastrianism, and a new and bloody war of resistance ensues.

Kupelian demonstrates the raw, epic history of the Armenians in beautifully-rendered, photo-realistic art that captures an ancient land trapped in a crucible of war yet never quite broken by it. I highly recommend checking it out, and I personally am very much looking forward to the release of the documentary.

Greetings, Amiculi!

With just 3 weeks to go to the launch of Amiculus Kickstarter 2.0, things are heating up! Amiculus Vol. I will be a guest at the Appleseed Comic Con in Fort Wayne this weekend, where Jaime Hernandez, co-creator of the series Love and Rockets (among other things), will be in attendance! Should be a lot of fun!

Also, since it was late last week, I wanted to mention that the review site Comic Bastards did a write-up of Vol. I. It was a very positive review, perhaps not as stratospheric as some of the others, but the main critique seemed to be that it left the reviewer wanting more, which is hardly a catastrophe!

In the next two weeks, a lot of information on the new Kickstarter will be appearing on my site. Check my gallery page around May 25 to find a visual list of rewards and backer levels. 

I'm also pleased to report that the new trailer is almost complete! However, you'll still have to wait until a week before the campaign launch to view it. Don't want to give anything away too soon. 

More to come!

Salvete!

While we count down the days to the Volume II Kickstarter (6/1/2015-Mark your calendars!), Just wanted to make two announcements on recent and upcoming events:

• Amiculus will be featured at the Ratha Con pop culture convention this Saturday, May 9 in Athens, OH! I will be doing a presentation on the book and my process and experiences from my first and second Kickstarters. Should be a hoot!

• Very excited about a recent review in Comic Book Resources! It was a very, very good one as well, garnering 7 out of 9 stars from reviewer Greg Burgas, along with quotes such as:

- " (Horseman) creates a myth about Amiculus that fits in well with the apocalyptic tone of (Rome) in 476...a very nice job showing how quickly people turn on each other...he creates a good environment where things are crashing down...it (makes) me want the next volume right now."

This is also one of six reviews that are currently out on Volume I, all of which are quite positive. More events as they come!