The Underfold has been featuring the comic series, Adamsville, and it’s creator Michael Regina (Facebook, Twitter) for the month of September!

In 2004, I wrote and self-published a book called Battle for Arkwood: The Monster in the Sewers. It was the first in a trilogy (unfinished, of course) about three friends who find an evil monster lurking in the sewers beneath their church. There were shadowy characters, adventures into the unknown, heroism, and monsters. Now, while my book went into a much more spiritual-warfare, mythology realm with demons and angels and minotaurs and labyrinths, the heart of the story was the adventure.

I had been influenced by reading the Harry Potter books and they were just so incredibly fun to read. The characters were likable (for the most part) and the sense of adventure was truly fantastic. Everything I love about storytelling was summed up there, and I did my best to translate that into a novel. Adventure.

Adamsville is that sense of adventure that I wanted to see and read and write. When Michael gave me the advanced copy to read, I must say that I devoured it. I realize this is cliche, but I really had a hard time putting the thing down. I didn’t want to stop reading. The characters are believable and likable. The humor is spot-on and keeps the whole thing from becoming too dark for the kiddos. And man, oh, man. The sheer adventure of finding a horrifying monster in the sewers is spellbinding.

And this is just the first one! This is going to be a trilogy of books! It’s only going to get better. I promise you that.

Let’s get this book printed. Pre-order your copy today!

Chapter 1, Page 14

Michael Regina Interview: Part 4

Q. Who is your hero, and why?

There are so many people I could name here for various reasons, but I think creatively my hero would be Walt Disney.

Not so much for the empire he built, but more for his unfailing sense of optimism. He knew what the power of ideas could do and went after his visions of those things with such a sense of purpose and belief in himself, and humanity really. It’s something I think that is missing today in the arts unfortunately. There is such a breed of cynicism right now in creative things. I have a hard time really getting behind so much of where the industry is going because mostly it doesn’t inspire me to anything. Walt’s vision was built around the best things of people and it uplifted everyone around him. I’m also amazed at how many times in Walt’s early life he was met with failure and when most of us would have turned and chose an easier path… He just picked up and kept going. Mickey Mouse was a character he created after his character Oswald the Rabbit was stolen from him, in a moment that would have jaded most people. The rest is history. It’s a great life lesson and goes back to knowing who you are creatively.

As an artist, where do you draw value from your work?

Risking giving too cliched of an answer, I would say I see the value of it from God and my faith in Christianity. I believe in the power of stories to change people’s lives and how stories can be the vehicles for explaining massive truths. That’s something I believe in general, regardless of religious implications. However, the truths that come out of me come from my belief in Christ. I try not to make preachy, or heavy handed fiction as I genuinely want everyone to be able to enjoy the stories I write, but since my life is so caught up in my faith, it just comes out. One of my favorite things about Christ was that he was a storyteller. He explained so much of himself through parables. That has always encouraged me that telling these silly stories can have weight and matter to, hopefully, someone, somewhere.

Adamsville Kickstarter

The Kickstarter video has been updated, so check it out again. It gets me pumped up about the book!

As of the writing of this post, there’s still about $2500 to go with only 7 days left. I want this book to become a reality so bad.

Let’s do this! Support Adamsville on Kickstarter!