So, you like comics and graphic novels, right? And you like supporting independent creators as they strive to put their work before an audience, right?
Yeah, I do, too.
Friend and fellow word-slinger Brandon Easton is a comics creator, you see, and a damned good one. He’s also a standup guy who made his bones the hard way, by busting his hump to get his work published to packing up his stuff and moving to where the action is in his quest to write for TV. After debuting his first graphic novel, the very well-received (and pretty kick-ass) Shadowlaw, Brandon has since written an episode for the new Thundercats animated series. Before and during all of that, he’s also been developing a new graphic novel project:
As Brandon explains it:
“Dominion’s Light is the story of three young people who are united by tragedy. Reso is a young man betrayed by his own father in order to alleviate gambling debts, Kyshia is a woman whose mysterious powers get her labeled as a witch and nearly executed by a mob and then there is Hammerius Rex, future prince of the LizardMan kingdom who is exiled by his peers.”
According to Brandon, he’s been working on this for a very long time:
“The development of Dominion’s Light began back in 1998 when I looked around the pop culture landscape and realized that there was no fantasy/sci-fi series that combined the elements of all the stories I love.
I wanted to tell a story of adventure, excitement, friendship, sacrifice and daring that took place in a world never seen in the graphic novel arena. While there have been many fantasy-based comic book titles over the years like Elfquest, Dragonlance, Elric and Battle Chasers, but none of them have collectively touched on themes that mattered to me nor did they feature an ethnically-diverse cast of characters.
Heroic fantasy like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time and the Dragonlance franchise have influenced and mesmerized writers for many years, but the core criticism is that they present high concept Western European adaptations of reality that omit the vast diversity that exists in our own world.”
Brandon has launched a Kickstarter campaign in the hopes of raising funds to help support his project. If you check out the page he’s set up there, you can read more about Dominion’s Light and what he and his fellow creators hope to bring to the project. There’s a nice selection of concept art and even a video to juice you up a bit. The rewards for backers look pretty tasty, too. There’s also a nice selection of reviews and interviews with Brandon, just so you can see for yourself what a top shelf dude he is.
The Dominion’s Light Kickstarter fundraising campaign runs until December 4th, and has a ways to go in order to meet its $20,000 goal. I’m backing it, and if this is the sort of thing that’s up your alley, I hope you’ll consider doing so, as well. Check it out here:
DOMINION’S LIGHT: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, by Brandon Easton
Good luck, Brandon and the rest of the Dominion’s Light creative team!
