FIRST KINGDOM #11

Foreword by Sergio Aragones. Katz's legendary science-fantasy saga is one of the first independent comics, and a work unlike any other. As they cross the seas together, the relationship between Tundran and Fara grows. Series Description: Often (but mistakenly) considered the first graphic novel, this pre-dates Will Eisner's Contract With God (1978) and is one of the milestones of Independent Comics history. Jack Katz got his start in comics beginning in the late 1940s at Fawcett and Standard Comics--he did several great horror and sci-fi stories for the pre-code Standard comics like Out of the Shadow. Jack worked extensively for Stan Lee on the Atlas (Marvel) pre-code horror titles in the 1950s, and for Marvel, Skywald and other publishers in the 1960s. In 1972, he decided to write his master epic in the underground comics format (b&w with color covers). The hallowed underground comics movement was in full swing. This sold alongside titles like Star Reach, Cerebus and Elfquest, works that kicked off the era of creator-owned comics. The First Kingdom was first published by Comics & Comix, a chain of stores of which I, Bud Plant, was one of the founders. With issue #7 I took over as publisher. I put aside several of the back issues like this in my warehouse for all these years. The series was collected in softcover volumes by Titan Books, 2013-14, plus two all-new volumes. Previously, issues #1-12 were collected in two volumes by Century Comics in 2005-2006 (they never completed the series). And before that, Simon & Schuster published a (now rare) oversized softcover compiling the first six issues in 1978 but never continued the series. Each issue in the series is introduced by top talents such as Jim Steranko, Stan Lynde, and Burne Hogarth, with a synopsis of the story up until that issue. Larry Todd (Dr. Atomic) painted over Jack's artwork for issue #1's cover; reprints of #1 had a different colorist. Veteran colorist Steve Oliff colored many of the later covers. Jim Steranko even did one.