“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.

Retrenders has the same unenviable task as many other reviewers, trying to explain The First Kingdom to a first time audience. I like this line from their review:  “The First Kingdom Vol 1 may not read like one of those Russian novels like ‘War and Peace’, but it’s pretty close.” They also came up with this little gem, “If you like sci-fi/fantasy with that old-school kick…” Read the full review HERE.

Wait till 21st century nerds get their hands on The First Kingdom. The word is out. Now let’s sit back and watch as the world of Jack Katz collides with the world of the nerds. I’m sure they’ll relish the days before there were genres like sword and sorcery or space opera. With The First Kingdom, they’ll get all that and more! Announcement from Word of the Nerd HERE.

Well today Volume 1 of Titan Publishing’s The First Kingdom officially went on sale at booksellers everywhere and this very thorough and favorable review of that book appeared yesterday on ThisIsInfamous.com and you can read it HERE. “It’s not entirely sci-fi and it’s not entirely fantasy; it’s old-school, but aspiring to be ahead of its time. It will blow the minds of sword-and-sorcery or Golden Age Sci-Fi fans…” Yes indeed!

Digital Spy made an announcement about Titan Publishing’s October Solicitations, including The First Kingdom Vol. 2. Read it HERE.

This is a great interview with Bud Plant, who talks a little bit about his publishing The First Kingdom in it’s original incarnation through the 70s into the early 80s. It’s interesting to note all of the innovations Bud handled, including comics stores, publishing, direct mail distribution and independent publishing. Jack Katz was an innovator too. Coming from the big, mainstream companies, Jack needed an avenue for expression and independent publishing was the ticket. Jack is of course grateful to Bud for taking a chance to produce something original and for sticking to it over the 15 years it took to produce the opus.

Read the interview HERE.

Titan Publishing releases Volume 2 of Jack Kat’s The First Kingdom, The Galaxy Hunters.  This is book number 2 of the six book set. Read more HERE.

HERE is the official release announcement on Titan’s website.

I just noticed that Volumes 1-3 are now available for pre-sale on Amazon. Check it out HERE. Here are their release dates:

Volume 1, The Birth of Tundran (September 24, 2013)

Volume 2, The Galaxy Hunters (December 24, 2013)

Volume 3, Vengeance (March 25, 2014)

Titan Publishing created an excellent intro video for the Titan Launch at Comic-Con. This features The First Kingdom and Jack Katz.

See The First Kingdom trailer on YouTube click here.