Dark One, Book 1

KIRKUS – A 17-year-old faces his destiny in a dividedand distant land. Paul seemingly has a tenuous grip on reality. He sees visionsof an unreal, fantastic land, and Nikka, a blue-tinted hallucination of a girlwho claims to be his sister, insists on keeping him company. Living apart fromhis mother, with whom he has a strained relationship, Paul tries to keep up anormal life with frequent visits to his therapist. When a sword-wielding warriordisrupts a session, Paul is flung into Mirandus, the world of his visions. Witha clear flow between panels, the implication of time passing in a montage ofwide, epic scenes of Mirandus; brilliant and emotive color schemes; and acleanly minimal drawing style provide a strong visual aspect to the story.Inexperienced graphic novel readers will easily be able to follow the flow ofdialogue and the clear depiction of speech and narrative bubbles provide furthervisual literacy cues. While the discussion of good versus evil is a bitheavy-handed despite attempts to subvert the binary, the overarching theme ofdestiny as depicted by the Narrative adds an intriguing twist. Paul’srelationships with Nikka and other characters are intriguing but the pacingmakes them feel rushed. Paul is biracial (Chinese/White); the humans of Mirandusappear mostly White. (This book is available now as a digital edition, withprint release currently scheduled for May 2021.) A dramatically dark fantasythat will leave readers eager for the sequel. (Graphic fantasy.14-adult)

Brandon Sanderson is the fantasy and science fiction #1 New York Times Bestselling, Hugo Award-winning author of the Cosmere Universe, including: The Stormlight Archive series, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, Skyward, and various novellas including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013.

JACKSON LANZING is one half of New York Times Bestselling writing partnership known as “the Hivemind,” alongside Collin Kelly. The two met in college, where they first became bitter rivals before becoming best friends. Their work in comics includes Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Kang the Conqueror, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, Dark One (with Brandon Sanderson), Joyride, and Star Trek — for which they received a 2023 Eisner nomination for Best New Series. They also work in film, TV, games and, and are incredibly proud of their recently released middle-grade novel Thor Quest: Hammers of the Gods from Marvel Press.They live a few minutes from one another in Los Angeles, CA — along with their wives and far too many pets — where they spend their time reading, debating, playing music too loud, and enjoying every tabletop roleplaying game they can get their hands on.

COLLIN KELLY is one half of New York Times Bestselling writing partnership known as “the Hivemind,” alongside Jackson Lanzing. The two met in college, where they first became bitter rivals before becoming best friends. Their work in comics includes Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Kang the Conqueror, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, Dark One (with Brandon Sanderson), Joyride, and Star Trek — for which they received a 2023 Eisner nomination for Best New Series. They also work in film, TV, games and, and are incredibly proud of their recently released middle-grade novel Thor Quest: Hammers of the Gods from Marvel Press. They live a few minutes from one another in Los Angeles, CA — along with their wives and far too many pets — where they spend their time reading, debating, playing music too loud, and enjoying every tabletop roleplaying game they can get their hands on.

Acclaimed artist Nathan Gooden is known for co-creating the bestselling comic, Barbaric, as well as his work on Post Malone’s Big Rig, Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One, and Dark Knights of Steel. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland and plays a lot of basketball.

Kurt is the colorist of comic books such as THE BLUE FLAME and MONEY SHOT from Vault Comics, GLITTERBOMB, and HACK/SLASH. Technically, he colored BATMAN one time in DC’s LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD anthology. It counts.

He won the 2021 Nerdie for Colorist of the Year from The House of Nerd Podcast.

Kurt is also the creator of the Color With Kurt YouTube channel - a channel focused on making color more accessible.youtube.com/ColorWithKurt

He lives in Long Beach, Mississippi, with his wife and two cats. When he is not coloring, he enjoys drawing, streaming, playing basketball, video games, movies, and coloring more.



youtube.com/ColorWithKurt

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