HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Greetings ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM Fans! AFK is BACK! — With a new, 24-page issue that kicks-off a new storyline (our fourth). Welcome to the Try-Outs!

UNPLANNED HIATUS
It’s been over a year between AFK issues, due in part to a change in plans regarding the new AFK spin-off series, ACTION PICKLE KINGDOM. You see, ACTION PICKLE KINGDOM #1 was originally supposed to be ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM #11, but upon PICKLE KINGDOM’S completion in October (2018), the decision was made to make the BLOOD PICKLE storyline its own title, so it was now up to yours truly to produce AFK#11. Luckily, I had a little head start, as work on the first 12 pages of AFK#11 had already begun.

ALL NEW?
Actually, the first 12 pages of AFK#11 have appeared before — as the lead story in the AFK 2018 Free Comic Book Day Edition (handed out exclusively at our affiliated comic book store, FUNNYBOOKS, in Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey, on Free Comic Book Day last year).

The 12-pages — which introduced a Mexican speedster named RRRAPIDO to the AFK Universe (Free Comic Book Day was on Cinco De Mayo last year) was presented in the rough-sketch stage of the AFK process. Since then, those 12-pages have gone thru a bit of an overhaul — New panels have been added, and others have been moved around. I also rewrote a bunch of the dialogue, and I turned the rough sketches into finished pencils. So, even if you have the AFK Free Comic Book Day Comic from last year, ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM #11 will still provide you with a fresh AFK experience. As for the last 12 pages of ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM #11, they are indeed all-new, never seen before pages!

A page from the 2018 AFK Free Comic Book Day issue on the left, compared to the new page from ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM #11 on the right.

LET THE TRY-OUTS BEGIN!
I’ve been thinking about producing a try-out storyline for a while now. I’ve always liked the concept, whether used in comics, animation, or movies. One memorable one for me is from the movie, Mystery Men (and more recently there was a good one in DEADPOOL 2). One of the most famous try-outs in comics was featured in DC’s ADVENTURE COMICS #247 (1958), featuring the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes — also one of the most iconic comic book covers of all time. When I decided it was time to introduce some new characters to the ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM Universe, the try-out theme seemed like an engaging, endearing, (and efficient) way to accomplish that. The result is the first AFK storyline that pays homage to a classic comic book story device — The Try-Outs.

GUESS WHO’S BACK?
Now that ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM is on its way through double digits, I thought it was a great time to bring back a character we haven’t seen in a while. So, I reached all the way back to the debut AFK storyline, “Return of the Queen” (told in AFK#1-4), to borrow one of the “THREE ROYAL ELEMENTALS” for the try-outs. Who will it be? You’ll have to pick-up ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM #11 (and read it all the way to the end) to find out!

Thank you for your interest in ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM! — I’ll be back soon to fill you in on our upcoming (potential) FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comic, and the next issues of both ACTION FIGURE KINGDOM and ACTION PICKLE KINGDOM.

Thanks for reading! – Action Steve