The First Kingdom is Jack Katz's epic graphic novel, which spans 24 issues over the course of 12 years. The complex plot begins shortly after a worldwide disaster, leaving nothing more than a charred planet inhabited by small bands of human survivors, mutant monsters and dinosaur-like beasts. Our hero is Darkenmoor, a brave hunter from the Coaltag tribe, who falls in love with the beautiful Nedlaya. Reminiscent of ancient Greek literary works, there is a very large cast of characters spanning multiple generations and centuries of time. In fact, Katz produced 24 books (two per year) to match the number of books in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

The First Kingdom serial is often overlooked for breaking new ground, but certainly nothing like it had been seen before. It's debatable whether the books qualify as undergrounds; they're more alien-world fantasy than anything else. But at the time it launched, Star*Reach was the only other comic book with similar characteristics, and it was an anthology, not a comic serial. When it comes to being the first serialized graphic novel, The First Kingdom predates Jack Jackson's heralded long-form approach to early southwest American history, as well as American Splendor (which was essentially a serialized graphic novel of everyday life in Cleveland).

Though it can be argued that all comic book serials with one plot and recurring characters are graphic novels in comic book form, The First Kingdom was really the first one to exploit the freedom that underground comics unleashed (as Katz acknowledged in his introduction to Book One). Besides the adult nudity on virtually every page in the early books (genitalia discretely covered by loincloths), Katz shows children and teenagers equally nude. Needless to say, comics before 1968 could never get away with such depictions, no matter how chaste. And The First Kingdom is quite chaste, as its characters' occasional love scenes are portrayed with modesty and poetic, not wild, passion.

But The First Kingdom wasn't just groundbreaking; it's also a pretty damn good story, as it winds its way through generations and conflicts, delivering parables and heroism. It does take time to get comfortable with the typewritten narration and dialogue, which often appears above the illustrations. The writing, like the artwork, is dense and heavy, but it's capable of drawing you in and making you hungry for more.

One of the more fascinating aspects of reading through the entire serial is the inside-front-cover editorials, summaries, forewords and commentary presented by Katz and a host of major figures in the comic book industry, who provide lavish praise for Katz from the beginning to the very end of the serial. Over the course of time, it presents an interesting back story to the serial and its highly dedicated creator, while also giving us a lot of insight into Katz's creative process and the enormous amount of research and planning that went into the comic story.

NOTE: I am not currently providing a review of each issue in the serial. It seems too much like reviewing a long-running daytime soap opera episode after episode and I don't see much value in that. My reluctance to review each issue is not a negative reaction to the serial, which I think is quite an enjoyable read. Just bear in mind the story is 768 pages long and probably should be digested at a leisurely (but not lazy) pace. At a later date, I may add a review to each issue, and if I do I am sure to steal liberally from the comic books' own plot summaries on the inside front cover!