Scales & Scoundrels Definitive Edition Book 1: Where Dragons Wander

by Sebastian Girner, Galaad (Illustrator), Jeff Powell (Letterer)

Overview

TKO Studios presents "Scales & Scoundrels: Where Dragons Wander" (Book 1 of 2) by Sebastian Girner

This gorgeous, multicultural fantasy adventure follows treasure hunter, Luvander, as she searches for gold and glory. As she dives into an epic journey along with a young prince, his stern bodyguard, and a plucky young dwarf, our heroes will discover a secret that will bring light to a world encroached upon by an ancient darkness.

This is the story of a girl who liked to wander...

It's hard to make an honest living in a land brimming with magic and mystery, and treasure hunter Luvander is tired of being a penniless adventurer. Ever in search of gold and glory, she sets off for a fabled dungeon "the Dragon's Maw", an ancient labyrinth, at the bottom of which slumber endless wealth...or certain doom!

A loner by trade, Luvander is forced to team up with a team of scraggly adventurers, each hoping to find a treasure of their own in the forbidden tomb. There is Prince Aki, of the Scarlet Sands Empire, anxious for first taste of adventure yet blind to the consequences. His royal Shadow and bodyguard, Koro, whose very honor hangs in the balance of her prince's success. And Dorma Iron, a stocky young dwarf whose journey will take her deeper into the darkness than she ever wished to tread.

For these scruffy heroes, what starts out as a road to riches becomes the first step on an epic journey to destiny, for Luvander holds a secret in her heart that will shatter the chains of fate, and bring light to a world encroached upon by an ancient darkness.

Scales & Scoundrels: Where Dragons Wander includes all previously collected issues in this Definitive Edition, plus 250+ pages of new material.

The Festival of Life - Book 2 continues the adventure as Luvander sets off to find a way to break the chains of her cursed fate. Undeterred by danger, she travels to the frozen northern wastes of the Spine of Winter, to a reclusive monastery whose monks guard a secret entrance to the Dragon Dream, the shared plane of consciousness of all Urden, living or long passed. What she finds there will set her on a journey beyond where any mortals, and few dragons have tread, to uncover an ancient secret from the darkest corners of history. Continuing the epic journey of the cursed dragon princess and her fellow scoundrels in a world bent on undoing itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781952203220
Publisher:	TKO Studios, LLC.
Publication date:	07/06/2021
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sebastian Girner is a German-born, American-raised editor and writer. As editor he has worked for publications including Marvel Entertainment, Image Comics, VIZ Media, Kodansha, Random House, and Wizards of the Coast. His writing work includes the all-ages fantasy Scales & Scoundrels, the tall-tale action/satire Shirtless Bear-Fighter!, and the dark fantasy samurai thriller The Devil's Red Bride. Since its inception in 2018 Sebastian has served as Editor-in-Chief of TKO Studios. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

Galaad is a French comic book artist and a former freelance illustrator, animator, concept artist and storyboard artist for video games and animation. A child of the 80s, his art style was heavily influenced by the Japanese animation of this era, among them Neon Genesis Evangelion, Princess Mononoke, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind and Dragon Ball.

Jeff Powell has lettered a variety of titles in his long career including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic the Hedgehog, Atomic Robo and the critically acclaimed INFIDEL. He has designed books, logos and trade dress for Marvel, Archie, IDW, Image, Valiant and others.

Interviews

An interview with Sebastian Girner & Galaad,creators of SCALES & SCOUNDRELS

Tell us about Scales & Scoundrels!

SG: Scales & Scoundrels is an all-ages fantasy adventure comic created by the artist Galaad and myself,with lettering and design by the Jeff Powell. It follows the adventures of Luvander, a mysterious vagabond and treasure hunter, who joins a motley crew of scoundrels on a quest to reach the bottom of a legendary dungeon, where she expects to find fabulous riches. But she also harbors a dark secret, and all of that may ormay not have something with the big ol’ dragon on the cover!

Tell us a bit about yourselves. How did you come to work together? Why this particular project?

SG: I’ve been a comic book editor and writer and writer for about 13 years now. I was interviewed by a French comic website about my work and Galaad saw that and reached out to me out of the blue. That’s howwe started talking.

G: I was curious about the comics industry and Sebastian seemed like the best person to learn about indie comics and how to publish successful ongoing stories. I had wanted to work on a big, sprawling fantasy adventure series for a while. As we started talking, we realized we had a lot in common, including a love forEuropean classics, 16-bit J-RPGs, manga, and animation. We quickly decided this was the beginning of abeautiful collaboration and friendship.

Galaad, tell us about your artistic background. What made Scales & Scoundrels the comic you setout to draw.

G: Fantasy has become a very serious and gritty genre. I love a good moody fantasy story, but I also like adventure and wandering characters. That’s sense of wonder is what I wanted to capture. When Sebastiancomes up with a new idea or a new place, I instantaneously want to explore it. He has a unique ability to conjure up enchanting settings and fascinating characters. Also, I wanted to draw a story with a lovable scoundrel! Who doesn’t love a scoundrel with a tragic origin story and a heart of gold?

In a cast of many, what made Luvander the main character for your series? Why her story?

SG: Everything about Lu spun out of Galaad’s first designs for her. Before we had a plot, even before she hadthat name, we had his first drawing of that iconic scruffy-haired scoundrel. We knew she was going to be thisgorgeous dragon in her true form but cursed to live life in a puny human body. I loved her design so much; itwas so clear that here was a character with whom you could tell any kind of story. The more we talked abouther personal journey, the more themes, characters, and places came into focus around her. She’s thebeating heart of the world.

We love the character design for Luvander. Can you tell us about what went into creating her, visually?

G: I had a general idea of the character, but when Sebastian described her to me, she just appeared on the page, with her scruffy-hair and her mischievous smile. I needed her to be quite simple to draw, since she would need to appear tough, dangerous, funny, treacherous, vulnerable, and lighthearted, depending on the situation. She’s quite unique, really. And she goes through a lot of emotional range as a character. That’swhat makes her interesting in my opinion.

Scales & Scoundrels is a sprawling story with a large cast of characters and often-changing locals. What do you want readers to take away from the journey through this world?

SG: Scales & Scoundrels is both one big story, like a main highway that snakes through fields and valleys, deserts, and mountains, and also many smaller stories, like detours, and side roads that we explorecharacters and concepts with. But at its heart Scales is the story of a wandering, of moving forward through whatever obstacles may face us. About the constant of change, and how change is inevitable, even for animmortal dragon. Life is change and all things, good and bad, beautiful, and sad, stem from our struggle toaccept this. We wanted to explore a rich, vibrant, and diverse fantasy setting, but have the characters within that world struggle with similar emotions and issues as our readers might.

G: I hope readers have fun and want to explore that next hill over the horizon. Maybe there’s a treasure or adragon! Or just a nice little town with an inn, a warm hearth and good ale.

The series was originally released through Image Comics. How did it make its way to be re- releasedby TKO Studios on 2021?

SG: When Galaad and I started work on the book we thought that a true all-ages comic was really missing from the monthly comic book market, and we managed to get it placed with Image Comics, much to our excitement. And while the critical reception was really encouraging, the readership for this kind of book just didn’t seem to be finding the book in the monthly single- issue market. That changed when we put the first trade paperbacks (collecting what is now in the TKO Definitive Edition Book 1), so clearly the readers for thiskind of book were out there, just they were in the bookstores and libraries. Sadly, by the time we realizedthis, the financial reality of producing, printing, and shipping 12 issues of a comic in a year caught up with us, and to avoid going into debt we had to end the series prematurely. Galaad and I both began other projects, but we never stopped working on Scales & Scoundrels. One of the projects I became involved in lead to mebecoming Editor in Chief of TKO Studios. When we started talks there about expanding our line into all-ages and young-readers original graphic novels I knew the time had come for the slumbering dragon to rise again.

Editorial Reviews

"Scales and Scoundrels is a book that gives us the permission to allow our joy to shine even in the most dire circumstance, and it does it while telling a rollicking tale that has just about anything you could want within it."

Fanbase Press

"Do yourself a favor and drive into this stellar series."

Pastrami Nation

"Scales & Scoundrels is a fun, beautiful fantasy adventure for all ages, and the kind of book we need more of!"

Skottie Young

"Scales & Scoundrels is a fun, beautiful fantasy adventure for all ages, and the kind of book we need more of!"

Skottie Young (I Hate Fairyland)

"Scales and Scoundrels is a book that gives us the permission to allow our joy to shine even in the most dire circumstance, and it does it while telling a rollicking tale that has just about anything you could want within it." - Fanbase Press

"Do yourself a favor and drive into this stellar series" - PASTRAMI NATION

From the Publisher