TATSUMI: THE SERPENT MISTRESS (Issue #1 releasing Late summer 2025!)
The last remaining daughter of a fallen empire is hell-bent on RETRIBUTION and REVENGE! A swashbuckling, high seas adventure! Imagine PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the live-action ONE PIECE meeting your favorite MARTIAL ARTS HEROINE!
Issue #1 is still taking LIMITED LATE PLEDGES on KICKSTARTER!
LATE PLEDGE NOW and still get your name in the THANK YOU LIST!
The Pre-Launch Page for Issue #2 is NOW ACTIVE on KICKSTARTER!
FOLLOW the ISSUE #2 campaign now! Launching Late 2025!
​
​
TATSUMI: THE SERPENT MISTRESS #1 is the start of a brand new comic series by #TeamINSYM's Matt Knowles and Steph Cannon, alongside artist Alessandro Ventura and colorist Alan Emmanuel. Utilizing the I AM QIDO fantasy horror one-shot graphic novel as a prequel, this story arc will follow TATSUMI NAKIHANA, the last remaining daughter of the fallen YAMARAN EMPIRE.
She's pursuing a path of retribution and revenge against the evil horde that left her kingdom as nothing more than a trail of embers, ash, and corpses: The post-human DARK KONQUESTORS, and their vampire-like, spirit sucking accomplices: The SOUL RIPPERS.
Before she can do that, however, she must figure out her own path of survival in a world she didn't even know existed, aligning with the most unexpected of individuals, the crew of the PIRATE SHIP: THE SIDESTALKER, in a swashbuckling, high seas adventure.
TATSUMI NAKIHANA is the last remaining daughter of the fallen YAMARAN EMPIRE. Although she's a feared Onna-Bugeisha (female Samurai warrior), the events that wiped her kingdom for the map have scarred and tormented her. She starts our tale adrift (literally and figuratively). She's not exactly sure what she's in search of, but she won't rest until she smites the DARK KONQUESTORS and SOUL RIPPERS from her world. What she DOES know is that this is too grand a task to undertake alone.​​
ADMIRAL DERINGER ASCOT:
He's the Captain of the SIDESTALKER,
a part-time merchant vessel, most times corsair/pirate ship that operates out of the Port of Alabassus. Acquiring riches, by hook or by crook, is his main objective. The Admiral lives for the sea, and any adventure that it may bestow upon him and his beloved ship.​​
LYDIA SNAKEARROW:
Snakearrow operates as a first mate, and is highly respected amongst the crew of the Sidestalker. While she does have important duties on the ship, her most valued assets present themselves elsewhere. Her ability to covertly get in and out of the crews more nefarious indiscretions make her an indispensable part of their conquests.​​
DMITRI MONTOVA:
He's the Quartermaster on the SIDESTALKER, directly reporting to ADMIRAL ASCOT. He's second in command, and if anything ever happened to the Admiral, he'd become the man at the helm. While a heartthrob to many seafaring lasses, his eyes are fixed on just one woman: the lookout on their ship, MARLEY PENDLETON.​
WARWICK SETTLEBARROW:
He's the cook aboard the SIDESTALKER, and is well renowned for his mastery of the culinary arts. When not slicing and dicing in the galley, he assists Ulysses with all of the maintenance aboard the ship. He's also never seen a fight he
didn't want to get his hands dirty in.
ULYSSES FREEBORNE:
Ships need muscle to get their sails raised and their anchors dropped. For the crew of the Sidestalker, they look no further than Ulysses Freeborne. He's in charge of all the heavy lifting, mooring, and also oversees maintenance and upkeep of the firepower on the ship.​
MARLEY PENDLETON:
High above the deck of the Sidestalker, you'll find the eagle-eyed MARLEY PENDLETON, the Lookout for the crew. While perched in her Crow's Nest, she provides important navigational information to Admiral Ascot's helm, and does it with the prettiest face on the vessel. The crewmembers, however, know better than to campaign for her affections, since she's the girlfriend of the ship's quartermaster, Dmitri Montova. ​
MODIMARI (The Majutsu-Shi):
Magicians and Conjurers come in many forms, and have many abilities.
MODIMARI, the lone individual with an enhanced capacity at the Port Of Alabassus, has a particular skillset that could benefit a sailing crew. What might that be? Maybe we'll find out in the pages of the story.
The DARK KONQUESTORS and the SOUL RIPPERS
We can't forget the whole reason why TATSUMI is on her quest of retribution and revenge-- The evil horde that left her kingdom as nothing more than a trail of embers, ash, and corpses: The post-human DARK KONQUESTORS, and their vampire-like, spirit sucking accomplices: The SOUL RIPPERS. She doesn't know much about them, nor where they're currently located, but she'll never forget their faces.
​
The post-human DARK KONQUESTORS (or DK) are marauding across the continent is search of their food source - human souls. Their symbiotic / parasitic relationship with the beastial SOUL RIPPERS (or SR) facilitates this. The SR attach to their human victims and either convert them into DK (akin to how a vampire transforms a human), or they extract their souls as a food source. The SR then utilizes what aspects they need, and transfer the rest to the DK. Both the DK and SR need this process because without it, BOTH entities will perish.
DARK MIYU (pronounced MY-oooo):
There's ONE Dark Konquestor, however, that TATSUMI will have particular interest in: DARK MIYU.
She and Tatsumi were inseparable as they grew up in the YAMARAN EMPIRE. Alongside their friends, they rose through the ranks, and were two of the most honored Onna-Bugeishas (female samurai warriors) the Yamarii had to offer.
After a brutal betrayal during the obliteration of the Yamaran Empire, MIYU was transformed into a post-human abomination, a DARK KONQUESTOR.
TATSUMI knows nothing of this, however, as MIYU'S post-human transformation happened outside of TATSUMI'S view. For all Tatsumi knows, every person in the Yamaran Empire was murdered, or used as consumables for the SOUL RIPPERS to feast on. She has no idea that some form of MIYU forges on, amongst the demonic horde that she's sworn to eradicate from their world.