What is Thieves & Kings?
And Who amd I?
| Thieves & Kings
is an all-ages fantasy adventure graphic novel series about a young thief growing up in a magical city.
The story is told in the exciting Graphic Novel format, using a unique combination of elaborate comic book illustration and text. The story was first serialized in the form of a comic book series, the first issue appearing in 1994 to the praise of comic book readers everywhere.
In the years since then, Thieves & Kings has grown! It now fills six Graphic Novels, with more in production. The series is aimed to wrap up in 7 or 8 books in total clocking in at over 1500 pages! Thieves & Kings will then be, I hope, an enduring tale of swashbuckling adventure, magic and friendship. --All achieved with warmth and humanity; the kind of book you can put down and feel happy and bubbly inside for having read. My name is Mark Oakley, and I am both the writer and the artist. I am a first-generation Canadian, eldest of three boys. My parents emigrated from Merry England back in 1970, the year I was born. (My birthday is May 31st.) I grew up all over Eastern Canada, calling Montreal, New Brunswick and Toronto 'home' when I was a kid. When I was old enough, I got a job at an animation house in Toronto called, Lightbox Studios under director Greg Duffel. I learned all kinds of great things about professional illustration and story-telling that Summer! Afterwards, I spent a little less than a year in Sheridan College's illustration program, but I got bored with that and so left to start my own publishing company! Always a fan of such esteemed works as Star Wars, and Bugs Bunny and the Lord of the Rings, I decided that I wanted to create a comic book series which allowed me to explore my love of such worlds. And so Thieves & Kings was born! Set against the backdrop of the city state of Oceansend, and magical war with dark powers, the story follows the life and adventures of the young thief Rubel and the sorceress Heath Wingwhit. Told partly in a format similar to an illustrated fairy tale, and partly in the standard frame by frame comic book style people know and love, I have been able to do some really amazing things with the comic book medium. As the years have gone by, a lot of material has been produced surrounding this series, including dozens of cover paintings and extra comics and stories to read, as well as my musings about comics and my life in making them. So please have a look around. On the store side bar on the main page, you can read synopses and teaser pages by clicking on the covers of the books; if you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email. I'll write back as soon as I can!
Cheers!
-Mark
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