Phineus is a 30+ year Modern Epic Graphic Novel in Webcomic form.
Phineus and his wife Sara combine firearms and fireballs to protect the people of Pittsburgh from the forces of Darkness! Phineus is set in the modern word where magic, monsters and all manner of the paranormal exist. Phineus is a Mage and his wife Sara is an archaeologist and ex-superhero and they are in a never ending battle against the darkness.
Our Heroes live in Pittsburgh, while Phineus acts as Mage-Protector of Cleveland & Pittsburgh for the International Council of Mages. Phineus and Sara have battled zombies, vampires, mummies, aliens, Lovecraftian evils and demons in their time.
The 25th Anniversary Issue, Family Secrets is a great recap of the whole story.
The New adventures starts with The Kali Saga, a soft reboot of the series and a great place to start. Most episodes are self contained and you can jump in and read anywhere! The New Phineus archives can show you what stories are available. There is also an extensive archive of all the Classic Phineus: Magician for Hire that can be read, but they’re not necessary to enjoy Phineus.
More info on the world and the characters in it, we have SPELLBOOK.
There is also a TIMELINE of the events in Phineus’ life past, present and future.
First off, i have a lot of pages of Phineus and related comics, but there are many starting points to get into it, you absolutely do NOT have to read it all to enjoy Phineus. You CAN if you want to, though.
The History of Phineus
My relationship with Phineus began way back in 1987, as a senior in high school, when Phineus first became a thing in my head. I fiddle a bit for a while, doing things with Phin and Sara that were way too much of a rip off of Matt Wagner’s “Mage”. So he sat in the back of my head through college. I had a few false starts with themes, so partial stories drawn, but didn’t be come THIS Phineus, until 1991, when “Dismember” became a final project in a college comic drawing class. That remains the true beginning of the series.
Phineus Volume 1 (1991-1997)
Out of college, I was encouraged by Tom DeFalco of Marvel comics, to self-publish (IE “Kid you need more practice”), so I self published and distributed in comic stores, the first Volume of Phineus from 1991-1998. I also started a comic strip in a local Pittsburgh music magazine, “Gil: The Walking Dead: Or Vamires Suck.
Strumhaus (1996-2000)
I took a long break from Phineus after a messy divorce, but kept drawing. It was during this time I met a good friend, and new comic collaborator, Brian Babyok. While I wasn’t drawing Phineus, I was drawing stories by Brian, Khosyian Protocol & The Creators. Brian ended up getting me back on track with Phineus by writing a follow up prequel to Phineus, “The Glamour” and the first issue of Phineus Volume 2, “Ruins on a Moonlit Landscape”.
Phineus Volume 2 (2000-2005)
Volume 2, ended up being con sold comics, and some pretty cool experimental stuff. Volume 2 ended in 2005, when I started to post my comics online, first at LiveJournal, then on ComicGenesis and Drunk Duck, posting all the old comics and ongoing Phineus regularly. Phineus became fairly popular on Comicgenesis and featured on Drunk Duck during this time.
Weirdlings (2006-2009)
During May of 2006, Brian Babyok and started a new webcomic called, “Weirdlings” based on the idea of a webcomic sitcom about living next door to Cthulhu. We did 3 strips a week over the next 3 1/2 years, while I kept drawing Phineus. Thus started the webcomic era of Phineus. The new Volumes became defined by when I had enough content to fill a collected Trade paperback.
Phineus Volume 3 (2006-2008)
Volume 3 comics included the webcomic issues and ran through 2008, including Sara: One Shot (written by Noeland Collins and Marshall Dillon), my first failed and still completed 24 hour comic, “Radon Farting Bastard Aliens from Hell” and the introduction of the new recurring character, the dwarven warlord, Kris Kringle.
Creephunter (2008,2010,2012)
During this run, I also started working on a comic with fellow Pittsburgh artist and writer, Mike Wood, “Bobby Carter: Creephunter” starting in 2008. I would work on Creephunter, intermittently, when I needed a break from Phineus, in 2010 and 2012.
Bobby, then became a part of the Phineus universe when I did a 24 hour comic, “San Diego Goat Sucker Incident”, he had a cameo in “Zombiehaus” and Mike wrote a Phineus issue, guest starring Bobby and Dimitri in “The Quick and the Undead”.
Gaslight Tales (2009)
In 2009, after Weirdlings ended, Brian Babyok and I started work on a new Steampunk comic, Gas Light Tales, Brian wrote and colored, I pencilled and inked. We completed 2 issues of Gaslight during 2011 & 2012.
Phineus Volume 4 (2008-2009)
During this volume I signed and moved Phineus to the Rampage Network and Phineus’ own URL, Phinmagic.com. This is when I started incorporating color into Phineus and the idea of bonus conent for pay came about. I did a few comics that were exclusives, for Wevolt, that became part of the canon. I really started thinking about my mythology in “Really Big Head”, that carries on, today.
Bastard Who (2011-2012)
During the years, I’d become good friends with “The Path’s” James Riot and during some of our epic Twitter exchanges, we came up with our joint Doctor Who parody comics, “Bastard Who” & “Bastard Who: The Gentleman’s Chronicles”. Epicaly stupid Doctor Who parodies, that are a lot of fun. I’ve even worked BW into Phineus’ canon.
Phineus Volume 5 (2009-2011)
During this volume, Phineus moved, briefly to Outland Entertainment, which split off to Wevolt, where Phineus was one of the featured comics along side James Riot’s “The Path” & Adam Black’s “Locus”. The seeds for the yet unstarted, but still planned three way crossover, “Trinity: At The Mountains of Madness” were planted. Phineus remained here until Wevolt’s parent company, Platinum Studios destroyed both Wevolt & Drunk Duck. James came to the rescue and hosted Phineus on Old Dying Kitty, along with William Feist until 2014, when I began to self host. During the ODK time, “Should I Stay or Should I Migo” was begun as a community project, written by Vaughn Reynolds and art by myself and Calvin Garcia. I didn’t finish this until 2017, bcause reasons.
Phineus Volume 6 (2011-2012
Volume 6 has a decidedly darker tone, Sara is pregnant with their daughter, Nikki and the baby is marked by Sub Niggarath, Cthulhu Cults are cropping up all around and Phineus & Sara are almost torn apart by infidelity with a Vampire vixen. This where some of my favorite stuff began.
The Kali Saga (2013)
My most ambitious story line, a year long, daily updated story that acts a soft reboot, or easier place for new readers to start. It was a long slog, but still, I am very happy with how it all turned out. Mythology has become what Phineus is about, this story really fleshed out my mythos, incorporating classic myth, Lovecraftian Mythos and my own spin. During this story, I intruduced bonus stories, available only for sale or for patrons.
Start Here / Print / Kindle
Phineus Teen Wizard (2014-)
I introduced a new series, based on the mildly popular, super cartoony “Zombie Rat Uprising”. This series is very light-hearted and fleshes out Phineus’s past. It’s set in the 80s while Phineus attends Fourier University for the Mystical Arts.
Phineus Volume 8 (2014-2015)
This showed the aftermath of the brutally dramatic Kali Saga, as well as world-building and setting up, yet more mythology for the next big arc, The Hollow Earth. This volume introduced Nikki Beam and the tattoos that she and her mother have for protection.
Start Here / Print / Kindle
The Hollow Earth (2015-2016)
The Hollow Earth was a fun dive into yet more mythology, into a bit of scifi and I got to draw lots of dinosaurs. It was loads of fun, but these long stories do tend to drag on my creativity, but all in all a very fun ride.
Phineus Volume 10 (2016-2020)
This volume kicked off the year of the chosen one and her mother. It showed how special Nikki is, commemorated the 25th anniversary of Phineus and completed “Should I Stay or Should I Migo”. It also sets up the new series, featuring Nikki “Cole” Beam as the lead, in the future.
Magician for Hire (2018-)
The current series follows the path of Cole Beam, Phin and Sara’s daughter in 2036. She assists the now Mage Proector, Phineus in patrolling Pittsburgh from evil. In the wake of the magical awakenings that came about from Kali Saga & Hollow Earth, Phin needs all the help he can get. This story has been planned since aound 2006, and am finally getting to it.
Phineus + Magician for Hire 
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