​If you are a regular follower of Amiculus on Facebook, you may have seen a few of these, but several teaser pages for Volume III are already here! These pages below will actually be featured art rewards in the upcoming campaign!

Amiculus will be making an appearance at the following conventions in June, July and August: 

Following the show at Derby City, I will be traveling to the Eternal City itself to meet with master Amiculus artist Giancarlo Caracuzzo to finalize plans for the September Kickstarter campaign. I will also be interviewing him at his home, along with his daughter, master Amiculus colorist Flavia Caracuzzo, in a video regarding their careers, artistic backgrounds and upcoming projects. Currently, this very talented father-daughter team is hard at work on an all-ages graphic novel: Simon Blood: The Seventh Moon, which was also a recently successful Kickstarter itself!

Additionally, I will be posting an Amiculus Photo Tour, featuring fantastic Italian locales that served as models for scenes in Volumes I - III, side-by side with scenes such as those below:

Thanks for all you do, Amiculi!

​More to come!

Salvete, Amiculi! Welcome to the next phase of the Amiculus series!

It's entirely possible, if you are a recipient of my just-issued newsletter or a backer of a previous Kickstarter,  that you have heard the news at this point, but let me reiterate for those who are unaware: the campaign for the climactic installment of the Amiculus Trilogy will launch on Kickstarter on September 7, 2016!

​In Volume III, The hour of Rome's fall has come. The mysterious saboteur Amiculus has played his games, and prepares to deliver the death blow to the mightiest empire the world has ever known. Yet Rome and her defenders still have weapons in their arsenal, and these will be used to bloody effect before all secrets, including the identity of Amiculus, are finally revealed.

Salvete, Amiculi!

Happy Kalends of Junius to you! June takes its name from the Roman goddess Juno. Or, alternately, it comes from the word iuniores, meaning “youths,” in contrast to the preceding month of Maius (May), whose name comes from maiores, meaning “elders.” 

​June is also the next big month of shows for Amiculus! As mentioned, Amiculus will be traveling to Huntington, WV for its Tri-State Comic Con on June 4, which I understand is a pretty significant affair. Later in the month, we’ll be heading to Louisville, KY for the equally wild two-day Derby City Comic Con on June 25-26! Hope to see you there!

​And now, once again, it is time for your favorite Amiculus feature and mine:

After Romulus Augustus (or Augustulus) was deposed as Roman emperor, what happened to him? The histories agree that he was exiled to Campania, the region around Naples, to live out the rest of his days in the Villa of Lucullus (now the site of the Castel Dell’Ovo in the Gulf of Naples). After that, his fate becomes a mystery. The Order of St. Severinus moved in and made the place a monastery sometime around 488, suggesting to some historians that Romulus was dead by this time; however, a letter from the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in 507 to a “Romulus” suggests that he might have still been alive at that late date.

Fortunately, where history fails us, popular entertainment is always ready to fill in the gaps! There have been a number of attempts to tie Romulus in with Arthurian legend, if only marginally in some cases. The Marvel Comics villain Tyrannus, first appearing in The Incredible Hulk #5 in 1963, was a Roman sorcerer/scientist originally sporting the name “Romulus Augustulus” who tried to conquer Britain and was defeated and exiled by Merlin, although his connection with the historical Romulus only goes as far as the name. 

The 2007 film The Last Legion (adapted from Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s 2002 novel of the same name) goes further. In similar fashion to 2004’s King Arthur, which mashes up late Roman history with the Knights of the Round Table with decidedly mixed results, The Last Legion proposes that Romulus fled to Britain after being deposed to become Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur, also with decidedly mixed results. (Interesting note: Romulus’s look in Amiculus is actually based on actor Thomas Sangster, who portrayed Romulus in The Last Legion.) 

​Okay, to be fair, there is a certain (significant) level of speculation to these fun “facts,” but the mystery is what makes it fun, right?

In upcoming news: I will be announcing the actual launch date of the Amiculus: Volume III Kickstarter, and will be releasing updates and new fun facts throughout the summer via an e-newsletter I will be launching very soon!
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More to come…
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