If you’re reading this in the USA, this post is coming out on Mother’s Day weekend. We’re wishing a happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and mother figures out there. A special Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, who has always supported me in everything I’ve done. I wouldn’t be who I am without her.
​

I have been working a lot this year to get Endurance Comics into some of the local comic cons in the area, but to no avail. Because demand is high and things are just beginning to be normal after the pandemic, I’ve found it very hard to get spots. Between the cost and spots available, it’s been even harder to get in. My new strategy though is focusing on local markets to sell instead. This should require a lower cost of entry and also hopefully less of a gatekeepy experience.
​

In the meantime, stay posted for more updates as they come through. We’re excited to expand our stories and introduce this world to more readers!

The Shadow Agency story continues! We are so excited to be starting the art process for The Shadow Agency #2, the next book in the series! Pencils have begun and all pages have at least an initial pencil done. Here's some initial images, without any spoilers of course! See the images below:

From the pencils step, we move onto inks were the image has more details added to it. After that step, the pages have colors added and then letters, which make up the words that help tell the story. We did a post about the art process a while ago, but each page goes through a similar process for the final product.

No spoilers, but #2 is going to continue the story built so far and leave on a cliffhanger that will set up a big challenge for The Shadow Agency. Plus, we finally get to see Phantom Unit in action! Can't wait until you get a chance to read it!

We’re making good progress towards book #2 and in the meantime, if you haven’t caught up on The Shadow Agency #1, make sure you do before #2 comes out. In the meantime, stay tuned for more updates to come!

It's really easy to feel downtrodden in the world right now, there's a lot going on. Russia is currently invading Ukraine, causing death, wreckage, and violence throughout the country as the fight continues.  Families are split apart as Ukrainian fighting-age men stay to defend their country and all else flee to neighboring countries where they can find safety.

Over 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country so far, in less than two weeks since the conflict interrupted. So far, refugees have been welcomed in with open arms, which is a refreshing change of pace from other refugee crises of late. Let us not forget that refugees, regardless of where they come from or what they look like, need this kind of help in order to sustain themselves and survive. Let's come together and make a difference in the lives of those in need.

What can you do to help? You can give. International charities like the Red Cross and UNICEF are taking donations. You can speak. Educate yourself on what's happening and talk to your family and friends about the importance of this issue. You can help. You can help provide clothing and furniture to refugees in your area through local groups collecting them. There are plenty of ways you can provide support, even if it's small.

It seems small in comparison to the current events, but for us, we're starting to get initial art completed for The Shadow Agency #2! We have several early pencils completed, being the first steps in the final pages. This is very exciting and we can't wait to show you more!

When things get hard, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the despair of the situation. It's easy to feel like there's nothing you can do. And don't get me wrong, you wouldn't be alone in feeling that. The truth though is that the change we wish to see in the world might mean we have to become more than what we are now. More generous. More vocal. More compassionate. Take this month and try to be the change you want to see in this world.

February is Black History Month and now is the time to celebrate Black history and culture all month long. It doesn't have to be February for you to celebrate successes in Black culture, but this month in particular, find some time to learn, engage, and celebrate. Take a walk back in time to see those who broke barriers, fought for rights, and made sacrifices for us to have this history today.

That being said, in Black History Month, we shouldn't just celebrate the ones that came first, but also the ones making it happen today! In the world of comics, look to the authors, artists, stories, and characters pushing forward in the comic book industry, regardless of whether or not they have a major publisher behind them. Let's celebrate it all in February!

It would be a miss for us to forget about what is happening in Black present just so we can celebrate Black history. Amir Locke was a young man, only 22 year old, who was sleeping at his cousin's house when he was shot to death during a raid executing a no-knock warrant that did not name him. We cannot say we made a difference by marching for Breonna Taylor if we are continuing to see people die the same way she did. Let us not forget the history we have yet to make in this present moment and how it continues to impact lives everyday.

We are honored to have The Shadow Agency #1 featured in The Vault of Midnight's display for 28 Days of Black Comics! It's a big deal to be recognized but even more humbling that your support helped us to make it happen! Feel free and stop by to see the rest of the display!

It might not be a first of it's kind, but it's our first. The first Black History Month that people have been able to buy The Shadow Agency #1! If you haven't gotten a copy, feel free and ask your local comic store or check out our store!

We're also currently working on The Shadow Agency #2 as we speak, which is very exciting! Stay tuned for updates on that. Additionally, we've begun the process of getting Only Yellow Door art started as well. Hoping to have more artwork to share in the coming months, but for now, just know we're as excited as you are!

We may not all be able to do the same things to become Black History icons, but each of us have an opportunity everyday to shape the future of the world we live in. I hope one day, the world I live in is kinder, warmer, and full of more hope for my children and my children's children. I hope the same for yours too. Those hopes, some even might dare to call them dreams, are the foundations of which entire movements have been made. In times where it's so easy to argue, my ask this month is to find a way to share joy, laughter, and hope with the ones around you. Celebrate Black History Month by being a force for Black love, Black pride, and Black compassion.

We all had our exciting moments and huge challenges in the last year. In many ways, it felt like we were starting to open back up from the pandemic, which came with it's on challenges and realities. For Endurance Comics though, it was the year we fulfilled our campaign for The Shadow Agency #1 Kickstarter. It was the year we had our first in color comic book to sell.

But now we're in the new year. 2022 has had more pandemic intensities, but still presents itself with new opportunities. So to ring in the new year, we're going to go through a few  things that happened last year that we're excited to continue this year.

The Shadow Agency in 2021 was finally published! It's been a long time coming and we're so proud of how you all made it happen. We were able to wrap up the fulfillment on the Kickstarter campaign and ship out your rewards last year. Before the year ended, we were able to send a copy of The Shadow Agency #1 to the U.S. Copyright Office, so officially they have a book on file. In 2022, we're looking forward to continuing to get books into stores and continuing to work on The Shadow Agency #2.

Our highest pledges from our Kickstarter got the opportunity to name the Unit that our team in The Shadow Agency is a part of. They ended up with Phantom Unit as their final decision. Phantom Unit, containing Liam Parrish, Elle Symone, Clara Pointe, Konstantin Ambarnikov, Raheem Falkoury, and Braxton Kain, will be the main focus of The Shadow Agency story, but the agency as a whole will be much larger. This helped us to solidify Phantom Unit and other Units into this universe. In 2022, we're going to continue showcasing this universe and the intricacies it has.

In past posts, we mentioned the history of some of the characters in The Shadow Agency and in 2021, they reached the prime age of 10. Well, that is, 10 years since they first appeared in a small zine-turned-microwebcomic under the name of American Legends. Moving into 2022, this year really marks 10 years since the production of that comic. The goal won't be to completely forget that story, but to continue to expand what it means to tell The Shadow Agency now.

In 2021, we were laying the groundwork on a new story called Only Yellow Door. We had some character designs done and in 2022 we're expecting to have artwork completed for some of the initial pages. This is very exciting as we can't wait for you to read this story as well!

This year may present it's own challenges, but we're very early. And early means there's time to hope for the best. We have lots of plans for 2022 and we hope they turn out well, just like we hope this year turns out well for you! We can't wait to see what happens and share it with you!

A lot of really good things happened in 2021, but we're not going to talk about them yet. Right now we're going to talk about a school shooting. Oxford is a town not unfamiliar to myself or a lot of people in Michigan, but now its known in the names of towns with schools that had a mass shooter kill and injure kids.

A lot of people focus on different things, but let's focus on the victims. Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shiling, and Hana St. Juliana died in this incident along with Phoebe Arthur, John Asciutto, Riley Franz, Elijah Mueller, Kylie Ossege, Aiden Watson and teacher Molly Darnell who were injured from the gunfire. Not to mention the trauma experienced by students, parents, teachers and staff who were or knew someone who was involved. And even more so from the copycat events that have plagued the cities and towns nearby. This affects all of us.

I've talked about gun violence in the past, but especially when shootings happen at schools and colleges, it's just as relevant. Kids and young adults should be able to learn without fear of being shot, whether it be random or not. There is enough pressure and issues that children, teens, and young adults deal with in general. We cannot keep allowing each active shooter event to numb us to the need for action to keep kids safe.

It's the most wonderful time of the year for some, but for many, this time of the year is hard and just became even harder. Take some time to share joy with people who might not be able to find any right now. Let's comfort each other and check in to see if people are okay.

Our best wishes go out to the families and friends of those who died in this tragedy as they go into the holiday season without their loved ones. Our best also to those who survived as they work through the trauma this caused. Our best also to you and yours, wishing you a safe and happy holiday.

The store is open! If you haven't gotten your copy of The Shadow Agency #1, you can today in our online store.

It's been 1 year since the Kickstarter was funded for The Shadow Agency #1 and in honor of it, we're giving away free shipping on orders using the code Kickstarter2020. Use this at checkout for your discount. It will be good until the end of the year, so if you have some holiday comic shopping, this might come in handy.

We love comic stores! If you're selling comics, you can save buy ordering The Shadow Agency #1 in bulk. Orders will be in batches of 10.

For those of you familiar with our website, the shop is where you could buy mugs and our comic preview. It was taken down shortly before the Kickstarter began. This is about to change back.

The shop coming back to the Endurance Comics site is a big deal, because it means you'll be able to buy copies of the comics we make as easily as you would on your favorite comic book website. This of course is because we have a book available for purchase.

We are so excited to bring The Shadow Agency #1 to the shop for people to purchase! Now you'll be able to buy comics from the online store at your convenience. Of course, we always recommend checking out your local comic shop first but also know we've got your back.

The store will be up and running in the coming days this month, if everything goes according to plan. Once it's live, we'll be making more posts to alert everyone that they can order more books if they like.

Luckily no. We planned on keeping a decent amount of books on inventory to avoid having to rely on print-to-ship delays. That doesn't mean that items won't take time going through the mail, but in general they won't be delayed because of the shortages that many people are experiencing now.

We are still currently working on both The Shadow Agency #2 and Only Yellow Door. We're in very early stages with both of these, so more updates will come as time progresses. Stay tuned!

If you haven't been keeping up with the Kickstarter posts for The Shadow Agency #1 Kickstarter, here's what you need to know. We've completed majority of fulfillment for the campaign! It's exciting to know that we've completed the lifecycle of a Kickstarter campaign and we've learned a lot through the process. Now we're moving towards the next goals.

Of course we're talking about The Shadow Agency #2. As mentioned in the Kickstarter post, the script is complete, so we're starting the initial phase of getting artwork done. In the meantime, we'll be working to get The Shadow Agency into more comic stores and online here for people to read as well.

We're also working on some other stories as well in very early stages. One example would be Only Yellow Door, but luckily it's not the only story. As more content comes out and more things are revealed, you'll find out about them here.

In the meantime, hang tight as more starts coming your way soon! Cheers to the first and on to the next!

It feels good to know we’re here. In this moment, we’ve hit a goal that we’ve been looking to complete.

After some time, we’ve finally managed to get out the bulk of rewards for The Shadow Agency #1. Outside of a batch of social media shout outs and a few loose ends, everything else has been fulfilled. It’s nice to know that it’s coming to a close as we begin to look forward to what takes place post Kickstarter.

This September will mark a few different things worth noting:

First will be the 3 year anniversary of our blog! I hope you’re loving it, because these updates are a honest check in on what our progress has been or what new things we have to share. After 3 years, a lot has changed in the world and in Endurance Comics as well, but I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.

Second, this year in September marks the 10 year anniversary of the mini zine project that gave birth to Liam Parrish. You guessed it, our boy is growing up! The mini zine that eventually turned into the webcomic American Legends and then morphed into The Shadow Agency is into double digits. That means following that date, Liam and several other characters will have been in the public for 10 years. There has been a lot of changes and they’ve grown quite a bit, but the spirit of these characters and stories have stayed and are living in the new book.

After everything completes with Kickstarter rewards, books will be for sale for the general public! This will be very exciting, because we know not everyone was able to back the Kickstarter last year and new people will be finding out about it. We can’t wait for you to get your copy!

We’re still not done! More updates to come as things continue to move forward, but we can’t wait for what the next years have in store!