Creator/Writer Brian Hawkins
Pencils/Cover Art Aris Gonzales
Colors Scappaticci
Inks/Cover Art James Hebert
Letters HdE
Design – Layout/Variant Cover B Artist Morgan Sawyer
Variant Cover A Artist Andrew Hahn
Producer Theodore R. Jackson Jr.
It’s been a good couple of weeks for me; I started to receive the digital rewards from a couple of my favorite creators who’s Kickstarter’s I backed, one of them being Brian Hawkins and America’s Kingdom. America’s Kingdom was successfully Kickstarted late March with an estimated delivery date of April. Some people might have been upset that the rewards are a couple of months late; but not me. I’m glad that the rewards waited a little while and here is why. As indie creators these people generally have day jobs and other things going on in their lives and as we all know that can hamper a guy or gals day. Being a grown up sucks sometimes and takes away from things that we would rather be doing. With that being said there is a lot of time and effort being put into these books and every single person involved has meticulously combed over their part to make sure that this book is in tip top shape.
The story of issue two is a successful flow from issue one and doesn’t skip a beat at all. Hawkins writing style is modern in dialog but light years ahead of other stuff like story, character, and world building. Hawkins uses the known of society mixed with certain pop culture feels and inserts it into an alternative future for America. I never review or talk about America’s Kingdom without expressing how amazing I feel this concept is. A single decision made by one man in history could have genuinely changed this world is explored in such a fun way while at the same time showcasing the importance of the fact that he alone made the decision that he did. The writing doesn’t need to be this deep however, if you prefer a fun comic this is filled to the brim with action and adventure this is that too. This comic is truly versatile and made for the masses; as I said it has something for everyone, and Hawkins leaves it to the reader to take what they will from it.
Like I expressed before; everything that is good is generally worth the wait. The artist team have put together, what I see as, a flawless book. I have seen pages of this and issue one from pencil to finished product and I can say with certainty that every step is done with a touch of true artistry and there is never a time that they don’t use professional discretion and maybe push back the finish date to make sure that the product is up to par. Gonzales has pencil skills that lay a most solid foundation with distinct characters that really give the book character. Gonzales style is what makes the efforts of Hebert’s ink and Scappaticci colors stick out. The foundation is nice so every single ink that Hebert does is dramatic and adds a certain pop to the page. I have seen issue one with no colors and I don’t want to take anything away from Gonzales or Hebert but with the addition of Scappaticci’s colors I feel the book is complete and black and white just doesn’t capture my imagination like the finished colored product does. Black and white is nice and it’s still a great book but color is something like the icing on the cake, it can do without but when it’s added it only makes it better.
I feel that there are about three, maybe four, top notch indie letterers in the game right now and HdE is certainly at the top of the heap. His color matching in captions and font choice for everything is always what makes a book stand out and I have yet to see a book he lettered fall short of anything less than stellar. In the metaphor of a cake HdE is the cherry on top that no one knew was the glue that held the book together.
America’s Kingdom will be on Think Alike Productions Comixology page soon as America’s Kingdom new publisher but until then Issue one is on Gnosis Comics Comixology and Drive Thru Comics as well as PDF’s and print of issues one and two on Gumroad . There are also a few different social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. But if you like Brian Hawkins and Gnosis comics you can check them out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
