As early as I can remember, I have always been a fan of comics. My earliest heroes were Spider-man, the Hulk, Superman, and Batman. Even before I could read, I would flip through pages and try to piece together the stories for myself, imagining their voices as I would hear them on my favorite cartoons.

In middle school, I became a huge fan of fantasy films and novels, and began creating characters, stories, and a world of my own. My passion for drawing turned into an obsession for writing, and I have spent more than two decades creating the fantasy world where Grinidon takes place. 

I have devoted the last three years to bringing this series to life, and now the time has finally come to release the first volume!  

Our Goal

This is an absolute work of passion and I am so proud of how far it has come. 

In order to continue to release Grinidon, especially in a timely manner, we need to build our audience.  With your contributions, I will be able to print extra volumes of our first graphic novel beyond the small number that have already been pre-ordered.  I can then take these books to comic conventions where we will hopefully meet new readers, and then continue the cycle until we are old and gray...which is not as far-off as I would like ;)   

When I am able to, I would also like to bring Grinidon's incredibly talented artist, Erwin Arroza, to the U.S. on a work visa.  Then we could travel to some of these conventions together and you could see what a great person he is, and why I consider him such a dear friend.  

The Story

Grinidon is an epic saga of kingdoms and factions fighting for control of a newly discovered island, Calaway.  You join the story fifty years into this conflict, after its lords and people have successfully won their independence from their homeland - and now wage war against each other.  

Lords and families from the old lands have risked everything to come here and find their fortune.  Alliances have been formed and broken, guilds and kingdoms have risen and fallen, and heroes have come from the most unlikely of places.  

In Volume 1, the southern kingdom of Carnasus is preparing its capital for an attack from the north.  The council has sent word for all those loyal to the realm to aid them, but they know that this is a battle they cannot hope to win. The northern army is impossibly large and their king has taken steps to ensure victory. 

All appears lost until a figure from Carnasus’ past reemerges - but the slim hope he offers comes with great risk, for he knows a dark secret that must never be told. The council must decide if they will place their lives into the hands of those they cannot trust, or risk annihilation on the battlefield and leave their end to fate.

PERK ITEMS

Wallpaper

Prints - 11" x 17":

Laden and Demetrius

Gideon, Alycea, and Veradon

Loric

Grinidon 

T-Shirts

Logo 1

Logo 2

Personalized Drawing

 Erwin Arroza will sign and send you an 11"x17" Original Commission, done in bw pencil with ink wash, complete with certificate of authenticity!

This picture will never be recreated in any print or poster, and we will absolutely consider any special requests you may have -  though of course, within reason

Your Likeness In The Book

We are offering a limited number of opportunities for your likeness to appear within Volume 1, or to even be a recurring character within the series

Links

Facebook

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Twitter

Instagram 

Music Credit: "Lost Frontier" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

From a recent interview on Moby's - 1/9/2016

http://www.mobys.ws/01/09/interview-with-j-miles-dunn-creator-of-grinidon-a-fantasy-graphic-novel/

Grinidon is ‘A Fantasy Graphic Novel’, but what more is it? From what I can tell, Grinidon promises war, adventure, mystery…but there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?

J. Miles Dunn – This is definitely a story with all of those elements, but I can quickly name a few things that may separate it from similar works in this genre.

One, I have been working on this story for more than twenty years. This has allowed me to really delve deeply into this world and create a place that truly feels authentic. There are reasons why the people and kingdoms look and behave the way they do, having differing cultures and motivations.

Secondly, the island where the book takes place, Calaway, has only been settled by humans within the last fifty years. I can talk more about this later, but I love this aspect of the series. You are not just part of a struggle between people and kingdoms; you are in a place with endless opportunities for new discoveries. There are already mysteries that they cannot explain, and many of the answers they find will only create new questions and added dangers.

Thirdly, I would have to say the characters. You can’t have a great story without great characters, and to achieve this, they need to have genuine reasons for why they act the way they do and what has brought them into the situation they are in. Just as with people in our world, Grinidon’s characters have complex backgrounds and personalities, and they continue to evolve through their relationships with other people and the changing world around them. Their actions will have consequences, and the reader will be able to see how these ripple and affect one another.

The artwork is truly outstanding and really seems to suit the story you’re telling. Can you tell us about how Erwin came to join the project?

Erwin (Arroza) is such a great person – and I couldn’t mean that more sincerely. I have been lucky to have worked with many great people along the way, which is an absolute necessity when you’re setting out to do something as involved and demanding as creating a new company and series from the ground up.

His style was very different from what we had done before, much darker and grittier, and we had moved away from color and were essentially starting the book over.  Even though it is the same story, the differences were undeniable...believe me, when you're in the difficult position of being a start-up company with little money and no revenue coming in, this decision came with a great deal of personal sacrifice.

The style is eye-catching, and those splash pages showing the landscapes and vistas give the sense that the land, the island of Calaway itself, will play a large role in the tale. Perhaps the land still has many secrets hidden in its valleys and forests?

That statement couldn’t be any truer. In a sense, Calaway is a character of its own. It has a history that extends beyond what its inhabitants know, and each race, kingdom and location holds secrets that will continuously come into play. The more the readers come to understand the lore and mysteries of the island, the more they will begin to form opinions of their own as to what things mean and where the story is headed.

Is Calaway a place of magic?

Magic is one of the greatest components of Grinidon. The series is actually named after a tower that houses a secret assembly of wizards – the most powerful magic users in the realm. During the story, you find out who these characters are and why they have come together. Each is very unique in both personality, and how they have chosen to use their power. Some know each other well, others have even been enemies, and one particular wizard of interest is a stranger of completely unknown origin. This makes for a very interesting dynamic and allows the reader to learn more about magic and the realm through the character’s interactions.

You’ve spent three years working on turning this story into a graphic novel. What inspired Grinidon?

When I was about thirteen-years-old, I began to slowly piece this world together. I had originally wanted to be an illustrator, but over time, I fell more-and-more in love with writing. I had wanted to try making a novel out of this place I had created but I just couldn’t find the right story to do it. It took about five or six years before I finally came up with an idea that I truly believed in and could really pour myself into.

Ultimately, I found the more I was willing to express myself through my characters, the easier the story became to write. Symptomatically, as I became more personally invested in the story, it also made it much more interesting and meaningful to work on.

This is why I am so passionate about this story and project, because it is very much a part of who I am. This has kept me from taking shortcuts in regards to plot and development, and really stay true to my vision and remain loyal to the reader. I hope people are able to identify with these characters and circumstances, and find value and meaning as well as entertainment.

As the author, is there anything in particular about the series that you would like the readers to be aware of?

I think one of the greatest strengths of this series is that since I have written so much of the story already, I have been able to include small clues and various pieces of information in earlier volumes that won’t immediately be obvious – or even recognizable at all. This was one of the most challenging aspects of writing the books because I had to change so many things throughout the series simultaneously, but the benefit is, as you progress through it, you can reread any of the volumes at any time and see things that you may have missed before. To me, this makes the series infinitely more enjoyable because you will always be finding something new as you revisit it.

If you have read this far, you have my thanks!  I hope we have managed to catch your interest and feel free to visit us at our websites where you can get more up-to-date pictures and information!  

Risks and challenges

Nearly everything is made locally, so the only foreseeable problem we could encounter is a minor delay in shipping. We can't control the weather, but the companies we are using all have quality and delivery guarantees.