We now have our official launch date: August 26, 2025, 1PM Eastern / 10AM Pacific! The campaign will run for 30 days, to September 25, 2025!
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From the creative talents of creator/writer C. Edward Sellner, artist José Aviles, inker Rudi Sucipto, color artist Paul Little, and graphic artist Jacob Bascle, comes the second epic comic series in the Visionary Creation shared setting! Rated T for Teens / PG13.
Monarch of Manhattan is a "Stranger in a Strange Land" story that explores our world through the eyes of a time-lost Prince of Wu-Ungala, the mightiest empire from the Age of Magic! Now cast adrift in modern day Manhattan, Shakalla first simply seeks revenge against the evil wizard, Daemon Thornne who marooned him in this strange new world. But as he learns more of modern day evils, he promises to change the world for the better! Joined by his sidekick, a rather harried Harold Harrington, accountant, the two struggle to come to terms with each other, even as they realize each will forever change the life of the other.
This series is a true blending of superhero and swords and sorcery style fantasy, mixed with real world challenges and conflicts. Shakalla is not just a 'beat up the bad guys' hero, although there is plenty of that butt-kicking action! Shakalla, however, is so much more. He sees the larger evils in the world and he has sworn to defeat those evils, no matter what it costs!
A Personal Note From Creator C. Edward Sellner
I've never made it a secret that my writing is very personal and my stories always have more to them than simple entertainment. Sure, stories can just be for fun and maybe someday I will actually write one of those. But the ones that have always stuck with me had something more and those have always been the kind of stories I wanted to tell.
When I launched Visionary, I was very intentional in choosing that name not because I believed our work was already visionary, far from it, but because it was something I wanted us to aspire to. I hope to meet that challenge in everything we do with the Visionary Creation, but in Monarch especially I wanted to create a hero who truly is a Visionary. An exciting but terrifying challenge.
When Marvel launched its universe in the 1960's one of the popular catch phrases Stan Lee used to describe it was "the world outside your window," heroes who faced everyday issues, from the beleaguered Peter Parker being bullied to family squabbles in the Fantastic Four, to the bigotry the X-Men faced.
Monarch is very much set in the world outside your window, the world we live in today. It's a world plagued with injustice, divided by hatred and bigotry, teetering on catastrophe, aflame in war, and dancing with fascism. What we need is a hero who confronts those challenges and shows hope that not only can we survive the world today, but that we can genuinely change it for the better.
Yes, it also has lots of action and swords and sorcery style magic, but it was very intentional to make Shakalla a 'stranger in a strange land,' one newly thrust into our world that can see it with a fresh set of eyes. One that questions everything because he hasn't become numb to the reality. Shakalla's journey is one of confronting a world who has lost its way on so many levels and deciding to actually do something about it. We lay the groundwork and take the first steps on that journey in volume 1, pulling no punches along the way. It is my sincere hope that you will join us on that journey as we might explore making the world a better place together.
Get Monarch #1, 32 pages, FREE now on Drive-Thru Comics!
Visionary will be launching as a full digital publisher on multiple platforms starting with Drive-Thru Comics in September! You will be able to get all our latest titles through digital download and by getting Monarch issue 1 free, you can sign up to be notified about new releases!
Monarch of Manhattan is the second ongoing series set in the Visionary Creation shared setting which will feature a wide variety of stories set in different times, different worlds, and different genres. This series is the sister series to The Knight, set in the Age of Heroes of the Visionary Universe!
