ComiXology, Amazon’s premier digital comics shopping and reading service, debuts the first issue of Delver, a 5-part comic book fantasy series co-written by Iron Circus Comics founder C. Spike Trotman and YA author MK Reed, with art by newcomer Clive Hawken. Delver examines modern social issues through the eyes and actions of a young and tenacious teen from a small village who must navigate the uncertain world around her.

\”Delver is a fantasy adventure for folks who loved Terry Pratchett\’s self-described ‘unimaginative’ approach to world-building; an insistence on asking questions, wanting to know why and how things worked the way they did,” says co-writer C. Spike Trotman. “In my case, Delver is my answer to ‘Where are all these abandoned, treasure-laden dungeons coming from, anyway? And what happens when you unload all that loot in the tiny hamlet down the road?’ It\’s for fans of Critical Role, Ursula K. LeGuin novels, and The Adventure Zone. And it\’s a story I\’ve been wanting to tell for years, and comiXology Originals is the exact place where it would thrive.\”

A new twist on the classic fantasy story, Trotman, Reed, and Hawken provide a modern-day allegory in an epic talewith Delver.  When the door to a dungeon surfaces in the tiny village of Oddgoat and droves of newcomers arrive, the influx threatens the livelihoods of longtime residents – including teen Temerity Aster and her family. As wild magic and gentrification increase, Temerity is forced to make a choice: abandon the only home she\’s ever known to carpet baggers and sellswords, or delve into the new and dangerous dungeon below in the hopes of finding unclaimed gold and treasure to support her family.

“Spike and I are the specific kind of nerds who see epic fantasy settings and wonder about the local economy,” says co-writer MK Reed. “Temerity, our main character, is a teen girl stuck in the middle of sudden economic upheaval in her very small town, except that her town’s gold rush also involves giant monsters springing out of the ground. She has no idea how to help her family and neighbors with the man-made crisis above ground, and the adults around her aren’t any better at solving problems. Going into a hole to win riches seems like the most practical solution, even if she’s not really sure how to fight or what to expect inside.” 

Announced last year during Comic-Con International San Diego, Delver is part of the comiXology Originals line of exclusive digital content. The first issue of the 5-part series arrives today with each subsequent issue arriving monthly, and is available for members of Prime Reading, Kindle Unlimited, and comiXology Unlimited at no additional cost, and is for sale on comiXology and Kindle for $2.99. The collected edition will be available digitally and on comiXology and Kindle as well as Print-on-Demand exclusively on Amazon.com upon release.