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Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival debuts January 2027

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Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival

Announcing the first ever Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival, a celebration of comics art in an exquisite location, featuring world-class comic book artists, collectors, and fans. The inaugural event will take place January 15-17, 2027 in tropical Kona, Hawaii at the beautiful Outrigger resort and spa and will include an opening night reception overlooking the magnificent Pacific Ocean. The 3-day event is curated by Sal Abbinanti, making his debut as a co-founder of the Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival, Steve Morger, co-founder of The Lake Como Comic Art Festival, and Alika Seki, founder of Maui Comic Con and proprietor of Maui Comics & Collectibles.

The Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival offers laid back luxury with no convention floors and no crowds. It is an intimate, invitation-only gathering of renowned comic artists from around the world — set on the Big Island of Hawaii. It’s an opportunity to relax among the palm trees, bask in the sun, stroll in the sand, splash in the water, and immerse yourself in art all weekend long.

This new art festival offers fans and collectors an exceptional one-of-a-kind experience. Attendees have the opportunity to meet, converse with and purchase artwork from some of the most esteemed comic book artists in the industry in a luxury destination. Choose from pages of your favorite comics or commission exclusive artwork and pick it up in person. The guest list will be announced at a later date and will showcase a curated selection of the world’s top artists in the industry. 

Both the Lake Como Comic Art Festival and the Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival, offer a completely unique experience with a focus solely on the art of comics. The Hawaiian Islands Comic Festival logo was designed by superstar artist Bill Sienkiewicz in the same vein as the Lake Como Comic Art Festival logo that he designed a few years ago. 

Tickets for the The Hawaiian Islands Comic Art Festival January 15-17, 2027 will go on sale Thursday, April 1, 2026. Ticketing packages will be announced soon.

Sal Abbinanti and Andrew Dabb’s Atomika: God is Red Omnibus Edition Comes to Kickstarter

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Artist Sal Abbinanti and writer Andrew Dabb are bringing their cult classic comic Atomika: God is Red to Kickstarter, with an all-new, massive omnibus edition that includes rare and never-before-seen art by legendary illustrators Tim Bradstreet, Claudio Castellini, Gene Colan, Darwyn Cooke, Glenn Fabry, David Mack, Eric Powell, John Romita Sr., Alex Ross, Steve Rude, Bill Sienkiewicz, Michael Turner, and more! Originally self-published between 2005 and 2011, the cold war era sci-fi superhero comicfeatures Atomika, the modern god of the 20th Century Soviet Union, battling the old mythological gods of Slavic Russia. The Atomika: God is Red Omnibus Edition features more than 75 pages of new art, the entire 12 issue series, and a stunning wraparound cover by award-winning artist Alex Ross.

Atomika: God is Red is written by Andrew Dabb, a writer for CW’s Supernatural and Netflix’s upcoming Resident Evil series, and was dreamed up and illustrated by Sal Abbinanti, a Chicago native and the art rep for comic book superstars Alex Ross and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Abbinanti began working on Atomika more than a decade ago in his spare time, in airports, and at comic book conventions where he met many of the most celebrated artists in the industry, including Simone Bianchi, Simon Bisley, Tim Bradstreet, Claudio Castellini, Travis Charest, Gene Colan, Glenn Fabry, Gary Gianni, David Mack, Angel Medina, Eddy Newell, Alex Nino, Lucio Parrillo, Eric Powell, John Romita Sr., Steve Rude, Arthur Suydam, and Michael Turner, each of whom contributed pin-ups or covers to the series which can be seen in the book’s gallery.

In Atomika: God is Red, Atomika is the first man-made deity—the God of Technology and the 21st Century. One-by-one, the nations of the world have fallen before him. Now, with the Red Empire spanning the globe, Atomika has turned his attention to the ancient gods of his Russian homeland, the very beings he seeks to replace. Despite his multiple victories, Atomika begins to have doubts about his mission.

With the entire world broken at his feet, Atomika stands at the center of a global red empire, loved and worshipped by billions. But danger lurks in the shadows. Some believe Atomika has outlived his usefulness—that he’s a danger to the new world order—and they’ll stop at nothing to destroy him.  Atomika has defeated gods, armies and nations, but now he faces his most dangerous enemies…those closest to him. His friends, his family and for the first time, Atomika is forced to wonder: Is he truly a God or monster?

The Atomika: God is Red Omnibus crowdfunding campaign is live now with pledge tiers ranging from a digital edition to a signed print edition, those with original artwork by Abbinanti to a tier including a collectible trading card set featuring Atomika covers by classic Silver Age artists including Claudio Castellini, Ernie Chan, Gene Colan, Gary Gianni, Alex Nino, John Romita Sr., and Sanjulian to tiers featuring limited edition 7×10 prints showcasing artwork by many of the most celebrated artists in the industry including Alex Ross, Glen Fabry, Michael Turner, Darwyn Cooke, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Tim Bradstreet.

Sal Abbinanti Takes Us to Rio de Janeiro with The Hostage

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By day, Sal Abbinanti is the art rep for comic book superstars Alex Ross and Bill Sienkiewicz, but by night he, too, is an artist. For more than two decades, the Chicago native has been obsessed with creating a graphic novel inspired by a visit he made to Brazil when he was in his early 20’s. Now, Abbinanti is launching a Kickstarter campaign for his dream project, a 115-page full-color original graphic novel set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro titled The Hostage.

Loosely inspired by the culture and religions of Brazil like the Umbanda and the Candomblé, Abbinanti has been building the world of The Hostage in his studio for over 10 years—sketching characters, panels, and scripting pages. Abbinanti’s unique art style and vibrant color choices create a spellbinding effect. The Hostage tells the story of a group of street kids who are abandoned by society. Dying every day from poverty and gang violence, the kids join together and summon a mystical spirit—The Hostage—who will protect them and avenge the deaths of their friends.

The Hostage Kickstarter campaign includes limited edition lithographs from Alex Ross, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jeffrey Alan Love, Sanjulián, Geof Darrow, and Eric Powell, as well as tiers with original sketch cards, postcards, and bookmarks by Abbinanti.

The crowdfunding campaign is live now and concludes on February 25th, with pledge tiers ranging from a digital edition available in both English and Portuguese (translated by Kelsey Trotta), to The Complete Hostage Package, which includes an 11×17 original drawing by Sal Abbinanti and a complete set of lithographs by all guest artists.