Salvete!

As you can see, we've slowed down a bit this week on our way to our main goal. We've still got a bit of time left, but that's no reason not to try to bring it home early! Plus, there are some great stretch goals I look forward to offering you!

And speaking of stretch goals...

Amiculus was just featured yesterday on the comic, TV and pop culture site Bleeding Cool, the THIRD time this series has been honored in such a fashion by this site! It's a fun feature article that showcases the great art from Volume I and previews expectations for Volume II, and is a great introduction to any newbie to the series! Check it out, and share with friends! 

Also tell them to read to the very bottom, because it includes information on an Amiculus mini-stretch goal! If we can get 40 new backers to the campaign within seven days of the appearance of this article, I will provide all backers with digital downloads of a six-poster set of the principal Amiculus characters in 8×10 size, complete with biographies! 

Be sure to tell them to message the campaign if they are coming from Bleeding Cool.

Expect news, articles, reviews, and more to come, starting this week!

So far, so good, Amiculi!

In the first seven days we've satisfied more than a quarter of the total goal, which is awesome! 

As important as reach the goal is, so is reaching the widest possible audience for the book. Keep forwarding the Kickstarter link to everyone you know to bring more Amiculi into the fold!

If anyone will be in the Louisville area June 20-21, I will be exhibiting Amiculus: Volume I at Derby City Comic Con as well as appearing on a panel on small-press comic creating! it will take place on Saturday, June 20 at 1:00 p.m. in the Non-Media Room. 

Also, check out this interview I did with writer/documentarian Roger Kupelian on the Amiculus series!

There will be more reviews, interviews, and media in the next week for Amiculus, with a possible mini-stretch goal coming up as well!

Postea continuendum!

Salvete, Amiculi:

Once again, it's on! The Kickstarter for Volume II: Flagellum Dei is a go, and you can access it here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508003706/amiculus-a-secret-history-volume-ii

Volume II takes the drama, suspense, action and mystery from Volume I and cranks it up to eleven. It contains secret origins, hidden pasts, violent betrayals, reprisals to those betrayals, and lots and lots of things hitting each other hard enough to at least leave a very nasty bruise. If you've read and enjoyed the first volume (and if you haven't, check it out!), you can be assured that the second volume will deliver the goods, and then some.

This campaign will run to midnight on July 16. In that time, I'll be posting new reviews, updates, some mini-stretches, and lots of great stuff to keep you engaged. Feel free to comment or send questions to my site or at the Kickstarter page itself!

You've been great traveling companions so far, Amiculi; I can wait to see what we'll do in the next thousand stades or so!

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!

Hello, Amiculi.

It's finally over. Volume I is finally printed, shipped and available on Amazon as we speak. Reviews are coming in, and they are looking very, very good.  Time to sit, back, relax, and rest on the laurels, right?

WRONG! 

Momentum is with us, which means now is the perfect time to launch the campaign for Volume II: Flagellum Dei, coming to a Kickstarter near you on Monday, June 1!

As we speak, a new campaign video is nearing completion. New teaser art has been created. A list of new campaign rewards will be coming to this website soon. On 6/1/2015, this thing is a go!

I'll be releasing glimpses of new art and information throughout the month of May. Watch for it across the social media spectrum, 'cause like Amiculus, I'll be everywhere. Salvete!

Salvete, Amiculi!

I hope everyone has had a chance to check out Volume I on Amazon! If you've had a chance to read it, please take a moment to post your thoughts in the "Customer Review" section.

And, now, as promised in previous posts...

 ROMAN DEBAUCHERY FUN FACT* EXTRA: THE MURDER OF ATTILA THE HUN

*I should preface this by saying it's not entirely a "fact," per se. There are facts involved, and they are very interesting ones, but, ultimately, the final conclusions are left open to speculation. Still, that can be just as fun, if not more so!

Attila lives on 1500 years after his death in the world's imagination as an indomitable conqueror, and, to many, the poster-boy of barbarism. His reign saw the culmination of a vast Hunnic empire stretching from the Volga to the Rhine, which he expanded further, slaughtering and enslaving thousands of Germanic tribes and nations in the process and laying waste to the frontier regions of the Roman Empire. He held the Emperor Theodosius II practically in his thrall, extorting thousands of pounds of gold tribute from him yearly. When he invaded the West, it took a massive Romano-German alliance to defeat him at the Battle of the Catalunian Fields in Gaul. Even then, it did not stop his invasion, prompting him to change course and rampage into Italy instead. According to legend, only the negotiating tactics of Pope Leo the Great saved Rome from his depredations. (More likely, the threat of plague and famine dissuaded him.) For these and many other reasons, Attila earned the title Flagellum Dei, The Scourge of God.

Given his dramatic life, the nature of Attila's death might seem anticlimactic. According to the official account, Attila suffered a hemorrhage on his wedding night brought on by heavy drinking, and drowned in his own blood. However, other historians of the time suggested that he was murdered, possibly stabbed to death by his new bride. There was little corroborating evidence of this  and the theory of murder was ignored. But the modern historian Michael Babock has constructed a tantalizing theory in his book, The Night Attila Died, suggesting that the official account was an effort to conceal the real murderer, directed to strike at Attila by his nemesis, the Roman emperor Marcian.

So who was he? Babcock suggests that the hand that dealt the blow belonged to an insider, a trusted figure in Attila's court, one who had, ironically, inadvertently saved Attila from an earlier assassination attempt. 

Coincidentally, he is also a major character in Amiculus, and will tell his version of Attila's demise in  Volume II: Flagellum Dei.

Hey, everybody,

The launch of Volume I on February 28 at Laughing Ogre Comics was a great success, as was the show at Ace of Cups the following weekend! 

The next big announcement for Amiculus is that Volume I has just launched on Amazon.com (no picture just yet) and will soon appear on barnesandnoble.com! I will set up a button on my main page soon to create a direct link to the Amazon page. Check it out, and if you have a copy, please post a review!

So, since there is no rest for the wicked or the creative entrepreneur, preparation for the Volume II Kickstarter is already underway! Voiceovers and new art is in production for the new campaign trailer (art to come soon!).

As with any second campaign or installation, I intend to take Volume II: Flagellum Dei to a whole new level. It will be longer than Volume I (estimated 72 pages), denser story-wise (origin stories galore!), with lots of opportunities for fantastic new art and art extras. And it will feature a special guest appearance by Attila the Hun, the 5th Century A.D.'s most notorious bad-boy and the very Flagellum Dei (Scourge of God) from whom Volume II derives its name. 

Keep an eye out for an official launch date for the Vol. II Kickstarter, as well as one of your favorite segments and mine: a Roman Debauchery Fun Facts special feature on the "Murder of Attila!" 


More to come...

Salvete!

Be sure to make it to the debut signing of Amiculus: Volume I TOMORROW, February 28, at Laughing Ogre Comics from 12-3 p.m.! There will be lots of books, itching to be signed, and you will also find out some info on the Volume II Kickstarter, coming late this spring!

And if you are interested in more opportunities to get your copy, you can catch Amiculus at the Indie Comics Fair just one week later on March 7! It will be a featured exhibitor at this relatively new independent comic and small press convention held at Ace of Cups from 12-6 p.m., established by Nix Comics creator Ken Eppstein. It generates a pretty good crowd, so be sure to get there early!

I will have more convention news as the year progresses. See you tomorrow!