Posted in: Comics | Tagged: amazon, comixology, comixology originals, Kel McDonald, the stone king, Tyler Crook

11 Pages from Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook's ComiXology Original Series Stone King, Debuting Tomorrow

Published Tue, 13 Nov 2018 22:12:47 -0600

Following their victory in getting the taxpayers of New York to subsidize their new headquarters, Amazon ran a victory lap by releasing a preview of their new exclusive comic book from Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook: The Stone King. The book is part of Amazon's ComiXology Original series, a new initiative that sees the publisher debuting exclusive comics on its digital comics platform alongside exclusive print-on-demand options that Amazon surely hopes will help them exclusively take over the entire comics distribution market (and then the much more lucrative movie and television rights deal market). And then, probably, get taxpayers somewhere to subsidize that too.

From the press release:

The Stone King is a fantasy story about Ave, a young woman who is trapped in a life of petty crime. In an attempt to advance the life she desires, the young thief often steals magic moss from the Stone King. One day, she steals a bit more than magical moss and things very quickly go awry. The Stone King goes on a rampage, threatening Stoneport, the fishing and trading city Ave calls home. In order to save the city, Ave must track down the rare gem and return it to its rightful owner to make things right.

Said McDonald:

As a kid, I always craved adventure stories about girls and fantastical worlds. I think right now the world needs more adventure stories about girls who're flawed people. We are seeing more stories centered around girls, but mostly the focus has been on women/girls who are good role models. And it's important to me to have more adventure fantasy stories where the main character is a girl, but also a flawed individual.

And Crook:

I don't know if I'm remembering this right, but I think I had a dream about climbing on giants and kept thinking I should come up with a story about them. Then Kel and I were talking about how we should do a project together and I said 'Let's do something with giants!' A few weeks later, she showed me the first outline for The Stone King. Our goal is to make a story that will engage the reader emotionally. We want to make sure the book can get into the hands of a kid and they will read it over and over.

Check out the preview, with art and watercolors by Crook, below. The Stone King #1 (of 4) will be available on ComiXology and Amazon tomorrow.