The Dragon Lord Saga is a story that I’ve been working on for a long, long time. It’s a five-volume graphic novel series combining the fantasy adventure of The Lord of the Rings with the cartoon humor of Calvin and Hobbes. Thanks to my Patreon backers, I’ve been able to continue work on the series, but for the last two years, the first volume has been out of print. I’ve been trying to find a way to bring it back.
I’m thrilled to announce that as of this October, the Dragon Lord Saga will be published by Rabbit Room Press—and this time, in color! I’m especially excited to be working with Rabbit Room Press because of their thoughtful approach to bringing stories to print. Books are something special, and we want that to be evident in how we shape the reading experience.
There’s a lot about my childhood that I can’t remember anymore, but I do remember trips to the library. It was a highlight of my life anytime I got to explore that labyrinth of bookcases, tracing my fingers over the spines lined up on the shelf, pulling down volumes and flipping them open. By the time I had to leave, the stack of books at my side had grown to sobering proportions, and I would agonize over what to weed out and what to take home.
The towering shelves were my cave of wonders, and they were studded with shining treasures and fascinating antiquities. Jonny Jimison
The stories on the shelf were full of all sorts of adventures, but the library itself was also an adventure—the towering shelves were my cave of wonders, and they were studded with shining treasures and fascinating antiquities. The sense was even stronger at the bookstore, because there, the books could become mine forever. I remember leaving the checkout line with my purchase inside the cheap plastic bag, clutching it to my chest. I couldn’t wait to bring it to its new home—this little package of unlimited potential, this little portal to understanding, possibility, and other worlds.
I’ve self-published two books. It takes a long time to create a book, and it’s exhausting to market them at book shows, but every now and then, when a parent pays me for a book and hands it to their child, I see that child’s fingers greedily clasp its edges, and they hold it to their chest, like I did in the bookstore checkout line when I was eleven. They begin to fidget. They don’t want to stick around; they want to get this book to its new home so they can prop it open, flip through the pages, and enter the adventure. I never feel more fulfilled than in those moments when I help a middle-schooler have that same wide-eyed experience I remember having myself.
The plan has always been for my comics to live through print copies, designed for that book experience. I’m excited to be working with Rabbit Room Press on bringing the Dragon Lord Saga into print, in full color, as vibrant, physical books. If you pick up a copy, I hope it finds a cherished place in your own cave of wonders.
I’ll be back from time to time with more posts here at the Rabbit Room on the story of the Dragon Lord Saga and the process of remastering the books in color.