Den of Geek geeks out on The First Kingdom Volume 1

“Volume one is a mind-blowing blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and philosophy.” Well that’s a pretty good opening for a review of The First Kingdom. Reviewer Mike Cecchini goes on from there… “Katz cites Hal Foster’s Tarzan strips as an influence on his art, and that certainly shows here. The First Kingdom is told through a combination of dialogue and the “storybook” captions that dominated Foster’s Prince Valiant and Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon.” This is absolutely correct. Jack Katz was not only a great admirer of both Hal Foster and Alex Raymond, but knew both of them personally. They both offered their advice and spurred Jack to invent the graphic novel. There were others involved in those conversations, including Burne Hogarth and Will Eisner, but ultimately it was Jack who had to find a new means of expression for something that had been fomenting since he was only twelve years old. This first book of The First Kingdom may tell the story of the birth of Tundran, but in some ways, it is also the birth of the graphic novel and of Jack Katz. Read the full review HERE.