Chimera's Comics to Publish "Magnificent" Original Graphic Novel

Submitted by Carmelo Chimera.

Chicago’s fastest-growing comic book store is expanding again - but this time a little sideways.

Chimera’s Comics is opening an in-house publishing imprint with its first original graphic novel, “Magnificent.”

Co-owner of Chimera’s Comics and co-creator of “Magnificent” Carmelo Chimera, 26, explained that the store has turned to crowdfunding to bring their project to life.

“It’s the community of friends and customers that have let our stores thrive and so it made sense to turn to that community to be a part of this project.”

The Kickstarter campaign to fund the project, which runs through Nov. 10, was over 25 percent funded in less than 24 hours.

“We were really awed by the show of love and support from our friends and customers,” said co-owner and co-creator Steven Brown. “This project is very near and dear to our hearts because we’ve been working on it for 6 years, so it means so much to us that so many people want to be a part of that.”

Chimera wrote “Magnificent”, a 66-page graphic novel, while attending Carthage College in 2009. He shared it with his best friend Brown, a graduate of the American Academy of Art. The duo worked on the project for over a year before taking a break to open their first store in La Grange.

“Working on ‘Magnificent’ is what brought Steven and I together in the first place,” said Chimera. “In many ways, this project came before Chimera’s Comics and it represents our journey coming full circle.”

Brown said that while ‘Magnificent’ is the dream project, Chimera’s Comics hopes to publish a full line of books.

“Like anything we do, it’s up to the community. If people like our stories we’ll keep putting them out and putting out comics from others that we think are awesome too.”

“This first project is a sort of pilot,not just for our own publishing efforts but for a universe of stories,” added Chimera.

Supporters can get a copy of “Magnificent” and other collectibles exclusive to Kickstarter backers, including Brown’s original artwork, at bit.ly/magnf.

Key Dates
Nov. 7: Kickstarter Grand Finale Party
Nov. 10: Kickstarter Campaign Ends
Jan. 31, 2016: Magnificent” complete
March 18-20, 2016: Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, where Carmelo & Steven
April 1-29, 2016: Kickstarter Backer Rewards will be fulfilled
April 30, 2016: “Magnificent” prerelease party
May 7, 2016: Free Comic Book Day; “Magnificent” is released to the public will meet with fans to talk about “Magnificent”