ABOUT US

AIC Comics was founded in April 2017 in Shenzhen, China when American expat Michael Kelley decided to self-publish comics & graphic novels based on his experiences & the people he's met in his host country. Initially our titles were available exclusively on digital comic platforms, including Amazon's Comixology & the now defunct ComixCentral online store. While publishing a physical comic is challenging, Kelley was determined to one day see his books in his local comic book shop. And so later that year, he printed his first comic - Shexie Meiren Issue #1.

Throughout 2018, AIC Comics continued to publish issues of Shexie Meiren, Agent Sparx: Defender of Glittera, & Tales from the Streets of Guangzhou, but doing so was costly for a small, indie publisher. After much consideration, Kelley decided to exclusively print graphic novels to reduce costs and simplify our library of titles. This was an easy transition, as all of our series up to then contained ongoing stories & each "issue" could be turned into a chapter of a longer book. Hence, the first four issues of Shexie Meiren were combined to create Shexie Meiren Volume 1 & the four-issue mini series of Agent Sparx: Defender of Glittera were printed together as a single novel. From that point on, Michael Kelley & AIC Comics would only create & publish full-length graphic novels. The first of these new titles was released in 2019 to great fanfare, called Um Khuzi: Origins.

We continue to create new & exciting stories during this difficult time. And while the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed production & caused us to cancel or reschedule public appearances, we are determined to not let nature stand in our way! Creating comics is too much fun to stop now!

Learn about the artists, models, and the writer behind AIC Comics. We periodically add new people to this page who help to bring our characters to life.