THE LAST MERMAID’S DEREK KIRK KIM TO BRING MIND-BENDING SOUTH KOREAN CRIME CAPER GRAPHIC NOVEL—ROYALS—TO SHELVES IN APRIL 2025

November 26, 2024 Patrick Hickey Jr. Books & Comics 0

Eisner Award winning writer Derek Kirk Kim (The Last Mermaid, Same Difference) and rising star artist Jacob Perez (Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) team up for an all-new, mind-bending crime caper in the upcoming hardcover Royals. This standalone, original graphic novel is slated to hit shelves in April 2025 from Image Comics.

Set in the shadowy back alleys of Seoul, South Korea, Royals follows twin brothers Paul and Castor who have crafted the perfect poker hustle using their uncanny telepathic connection. Perfect, that is, until they’re caught red-handed by the most ruthless criminal syndicate in Seoul. To pay them back, the brothers must pull off a daring heist and use their gift for something bigger than themselves for the first time in their lives…but only if they don’t wind up killing each other first!

“As a lifelong fan of crime capers and Jackie Chan films, this is a dream project come true for me,” said Kim. “And having it brought to glorious life by Jacob Perez with his vivid, dynamic art is an absolute honor!”

Perez added: “Royals has been such a fun and wild ride as my first journey into the world of graphic novels. Derek Kim’s script carries this book from beginning to end!”

The Royals hardcover (ISBN: 9781534389045) will be available at local comic book shops on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 and independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.

Royals will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14273 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.