EPIPHANY ENGINE UNITES 43 BLACK COMICS PUBLISHERS FOR A MASSIVE CROSSOVER

Wepa! This is the kind of project that makes you stop and look twice. EPIPHANY ENGINE is bringing together more than 43 Black-owned comic publishers for a 224-page crossover graphic novel, with Joseph P. Illidge serving as Editorial Director and Co-Art Director on a story designed to connect decades of independent characters, creators and universes under one massive roof.

The project originally launched on Kickstarter in June 2024 and raised $62,785 from 765 backers. Now the finished book is moving into fulfillment, with Advent Comics also bringing a limited number of copies to Baltimore Comic-Con from September 25 through 27. For a project this ambitious, getting from pitch to printed book is already a statement on its own.

At the center of EPIPHANY ENGINE is a family of adventurers thrown into chaos when a threat from beyond reality emerges with the power to wipe out everything in its path. The story pulls heroes from across this shared independent comics landscape into one multiverse-spanning conflict, giving the project the scale of a major crossover event without pretending the indie world needs permission from anybody to go big.

The creative roster backs that ambition up. The cover is illustrated by ChrisCross with colors by Wil Quintana, while interior art comes from Sean Damien Hill, D.C. Alonso, N. Steven Harris and Walt Barna. That is a strong lineup on its own, but the larger draw is seeing so many publishers and characters sharing one event instead of staying boxed into separate corners.

Illidge described the book as a love letter to comics and the Black Independent Comics Community, and that description fits what makes this interesting. The point is not just that a lot of characters are standing next to each other on a page. The bigger win is collaboration across dozens of Black-owned publishers, creators and properties that have spent years building their own audiences and worlds.

Advent Comics publisher Tony Kittrell said fans have asked for a crossover like this for years, and he specifically pushed back against the idea that the Black comics community could not come together to make something this large work. With fulfillment now underway, the book is no longer a theory or a promise. It exists, and that alone gives the project some weight.

Illidge will also be appearing at Baltimore Comic-Con at Booth #1710 alongside Griot Enterprises and Second Sight Publishing, where fans can learn more about EPIPHANY ENGINE, Advent Comics, Illuminous and his latest projects. Advent Comics also plans to release a special comic-book edition collecting the graphic novel’s first chapter at a later date.

For readers who have been watching independent comics expand beyond the usual lanes, EPIPHANY ENGINE feels like one of those projects worth paying attention to. Forty-three publishers coming together is not small, and if this crossover lands the way its creators intend, it could become a real reference point for what collaboration in the Black independent comics community can look like at scale.