If brands like Strider, Hinderer, and Chris Reeve Knives aren’t stiff enough competition already, Medford Knife and Tool just added Marvel and DC Comics to the mix. The Phoenix, Arizona-based knife company is releasing a comic book series called The Adventures of Jack Knyff under the brand Full Tang Comics. According to Medford, Jack Knyff is part of a bigger plan to attract new blood into the knife world.

“It’s a fun read on the superficial level. But I want people to pass it around and get kids into knives too,” Greg Medford tells us. He points out that kids today aren’t being introduced to pocket knives and not enough of them are becoming knife users when they grow up. “The industry is in huge trouble if kids don’t start carrying pocket knives again,” he says.

Part of Medford’s solution is Jack Knyff, who Medford describes as a hero for the next generation of knife users. “He has no super powers. He just doesn’t sit on his hands all the time,” Medford says. Instead of x-ray vision or psychokenisis, Knyff uses his trusty Medford Praetorian to save the day.

In order to bring Jack Knyff to life, Medford decided to forego many of the knife shows this year, rerouting the cash he would have spent exhibiting to create Full Tang Comics. He hired two professional illustrators and outfitted them with the same kind of equipment that comic industry artists use. Working in tandem with an in-house writer, Medford outlined the Jack Knyff story, which will be told across 24 issues. The inaugural issue is now available, and the Full Tang Comics team is working to roll out a new comic book every six weeks.

Copies of Jack Knyff will be given to customers with knife purchases, who Medford hopes will pass it on to a young person in their life, inspiring them to seek out an active life of adventure. “I believe we’ve become spectators – and life is not a spectator sport, life is a ‘get involved’ kind of thing. I want to nudge the culture just a little bit,” Medford explains. Customers can also purchase the comic directly from the Medford Knife and Tool website.

Medford has also just started working with knife dealers and local knife shops to begin distributing Jack Knyff. Smoky Mountain Knife Works has already put in a big order and Jack Knyff might eventually appear in local comic book shops alongside Batman and Ironman. “I’m getting the comic book to everybody I can,” Medford says.

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Films like Rambo and the Hunted have introduced knives to a wider audience, and Medford wants to see Jack Knyff do the same. “That’d be good for the knife business, because we haven’t had a Rambo movie in a long time.”

Medford is already considering ways to expand Full Tang Comics, with two additional sci-fi series including one that Medford and his son wrote together called The Order of One.

Knife featured in image: Medford Knife & Tool Praetorian