FINAL PRINTED CARDINAL EDITION RELEASED!

Cardinal creator K.J. Kolka has announced that CARDINAL ADVENTURES #16 will indeed be the final issue of the long-running series.

"There are many reason for having to end the publication," said Kolka. "The economy in Michigan is bad. A lot of unemployment. So, funding from churches has been down, while printing and delivery costs have skyrocketed. Also, some of the people who have been helping us prepare the publication for printing over the years have now found work in the comic field. And that’s a good thing.

"But this is not the end of the Cardinal. I still feel called to continue my work for this project. For the past several months I have been exploring Web sites as possible new homes for the strip. I believe I have found the right site for the Cardinal’s new home, but no contract has been signed yet."

Kolka says he plans to sign a contract before the end of this year. Work on a weekly strip has already begun and he has been conferring with a professional comic creator about ways to improve on the ongoing series.

"The new strip will be a sort of a Cardinal 2.0," explained Kolka. "Because an online strip has the potential to reach a far wider audience, we’re relaunching the series. However, fans of the series need not worry about having to re-read old stories. Cardinal 2.0 will feature new stories and retell older stories with new art and added scenes not appearing in the originals.

"All of the original characters will be back, but this time we’ll be adding more substance to them. We’re also adding new characters and giving readers a better sense of the type of place Arbor City is beyond the college. The Cardinal’s world will be expanding."

According to Kolka, he will be keeping a blog on the Cardinal Web page updating readers on the progress being made until the new series releases sometime in 2007. To learn more, go to www.thecardinal.org

Copies of the original Cardinal comic series remain available for purchase. The entire series can be bought for $7.25 and includes a CD-ROM on the "History of the Cardinal." More information on how to order is available on the Cardinal Web page. The URL is listed above.


Community Comics would like to salute Kurt for his years of work on the Cardinal, and we look forward to his online adventures in the very near future.

Bud Rogers
Managing Editor