Former Comic Retailer Turned Herald of Ethical Hackers and Cybersecurity Firm Launch REKCAH Comic

Famous Security Analyst John Strand and Eisner-nominated co-founder of A Comic Shop, turned herald of ethical hackers, Jason Blanchard, are on a mission to inspire the next generation of hackers. Their goal is to bring comic books to the cybersecurity industry and cybersecurity to the comic book industry.

Enter REKCAH Comics, the publishing arm of the cybersecurity firm founded by John Strand, Black Hills Information Security. Strand’s reputation is unrivaled in the infosec community; he was brought in to consult following the Colonial Pipeline hack and famously worked with his mother to break into a prison and hack the warden’s computer (Wired). Jason Blanchard, often referred to as Black Hills’ “Director of Excitement,” was nominated for the Eisner Spirit of Comic Retailing Award in 2011 with partner Aaron Haaland and would go on to help oversee Free Comic Book Day while working with Diamond Comic Distributors. Together, these two and their team have launched training courses and an 80,000+ member Discord where their hacker community gathers and shares tips and ideas.

With decades of both comic book and cybersecurity experience, REKCAH Comics is bringing the behind-the-scenes world of hacking to comics through a series of comic books and original graphic novels. Their first project, THE FUTURE IS ******, debuted on Kickstarter on April 4, 2024, as the #1 Comic Book campaign and was fully funded in only 46 minutes. “The passion and team that Jason has brought to this project have been inspiring for our whole company and are integral to the future of our mission to teach people about cybersecurity and the mechanics of hacking,” said Strand.

Click here to visit the THE FUTURE IS ****** from REKCAH COMICS on Kickstarter!

THE FUTURE IS ****** is an original graphic novel taking us to an all too plausible future that is a direct result of today’s technological decisions. The story introduces the “white hat” team Black Mountain as they infiltrate Tranquility, a moon-based casino turned dystopian fortress, by orchestrating an apocalyptic illusion to expose corrupt elites. Written by New York Times bestselling comics writer Fred Van Lente and boasting art from world-renowned artist Ennio Bufi, with colorist Andrea Meloni, and joined by Eisner award-winning letterer Taylor Esposito, THE FUTURE IS ****** is the hacking comic of the next generation.

But the story doesn’t end there. The pages of THE FUTURE IS ****** are filled with challenges to test your hacking skills. For those new to the world of hacking, REKCAH and the Black Hills team provide courses, training sessions, and valuable resources to help start your journey into cybersecurity. Having already produced the #1 educational card game on Amazon, Backdoors & Breaches: An Incident Response Game, thousands of hours of information security training, a comic about two hacking bears from Rob Guillory (Chew) and Joe Keatinge (Popgun), and having amassed a following of over 90,000 professionals, the team at REKCAH is helping to usher in new audience members to both comic books and infosec.

Partnering with REKCAH are comic industry veterans Prana Direct Market Solutions led by ATOM! Freeman (Valiant, BAD IDEA, Brave New World Comics) and Anthony Militano (MaximuM Comics, BAD IDEA), who will leverage decades of retailing and publishing experience as they prepare to bring THE FUTURE IS ****** to the world of comics through crowdfunding and, later, the Direct Market of comics shops.

Kickstarter Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rekcah/the-future-is-from-rekcah-comics?ref=4iyf2b

REKCAH Comics: https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/rekcah/

Author Profile

Al Mega

I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!