Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls is, by all measures, Legion M’s most ambitious project to date and we are meticulously laying the groundwork to carve the best path to an Academy Award winning film or Emmy Award winning TV series.

Every project at Legion M represents a swing at a pitch, but this one….this is like Babe Ruth stepping up to the plate in the ninth inning. The crowd is silent, the bases are loaded, and the lights are blazing. A home run here doesn't just win the game; it changes the entire season. That's the kind of swing we're taking with this project.

Hence, we're pulling out all the stops to ensure the best possible story hits the widest audience and sets the stage for the film or TV series. This involves establishing a reliable foundation for the successful production of the film and cementing Robert Smalls' place as a household name.

Our plan with the graphic novel is simple: make it unputdownable and land a spot next to John Lewis’s "March" series in the Best Sellers section. We want these books to become the go-to read in schools, libraries, book clubs and under every hidden flashlight at bedtime across the country. And these best-sellers won't just be entertaining reads - they're our golden ticket to make the film or series, our underlying intellectual property (IP). Developing and owning this IP is like holding Excalibur going into a sword fight. It gives us power and leverage when we're pitching the project to major studios, ensuring we can tell our version of the story the way it deserves to be told. These books will also serve as preliminary storyboards to develop and fine tune the story, allowing our investors and backers of the book to provide feedback to the creative team along the way.

Speaking of the creative team, the team we have assembled is our very own band of superheroes. We've got multi Academy Award nominee Rob Edwards weaving the tale, celebrated Black Panther artist Nikolas Draper-Ivey creating epic covers, Marvel's one-and-only Ray-Anthony Height crafting the captivating interiors, and Black Panther editor Chris Robinson making it all come together. And to keep things legit, we've even got Robert Smalls' great-great-grandson, Michael Boulware Moore, flying the family flag and working alongside notable historians and professors to ensure authenticity and historical accuracy.

Let’s not forget our all-star producing team which includes industry titans Bill Duke, Marvin Jones, and Chris Cooper, along with award winning author Robert Blake Whitehill. We can’t wait to harness the collective power of our Legion M community to refine the narrative, finesse the story, and assist with making the story of Robert Smalls go viral.

We need your help and that starts with this Kickstarter campaign. We understand the strength of our Legion community, and while we're mindful of the numerous Legion M projects we have going on, we're flashing our bat signal extra bright for your help on this one. The goal?

Kickstart our way to bestseller glory and create a groundswell of support that could rival any superhero franchise. The folks at Kickstarter are already on board, with some of their top execs personally backing it and complimenting us on the significance and importance of this project!

Also, we just added some new benefactor tiers that enable backers to sponsor a classroom, school, or library with books plus a professionally developed Robert Smalls teacher's guide to assist in creating a curriculum around the topic.

We've got a journey ahead of us, but when we reach that finish line, Defiant has the potential to be the best possible example of what a fan-owned entertainment company can achieve. So grab your popcorn and get ready for a wild ride. And we hope to see you on one of our future development calls.

Onward & Upward!