Now available
Kindle eBook through Amazon. Paperback through BookVault.
The chain
Joseph Mukendi · 67 · survivor
“Are you holding a smartphone? Look at it. Then look at me.”
He is one of the people the supply chain never names. The book gives him a page, a face and a question, and leaves the answer to you.
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Connect with Kingdom of LegendsThe Shadow of
Coltan
A journey from the pit to the device in your hand
The story
The world
Eastern Congo. Open pits, hand-cut shafts, and tunnels where the only light is a headlamp. Above ground, men with rifles. Far away, glass towers.
The people · 01
Alone with his thoughts, his hunger and a lantern that will soon go out. He strikes the rock again because if he stops, he does not eat.
The people · 02
67 years old. Survivor. Witness. He sits in front of his home and asks the reader to look, and not to forget.
Coltan
Sacked, carried, weighed and sold for a fraction of what it becomes.
The supply chain
The graphic novel moves along the route the ore takes: from the pit to the sacks, from the sacks to the trucks and ships, from the smelter to the warehouse, and into the boardrooms where a multinational electronics corporation decides what it is worth.
The people · 03
The headquarters of a multinational electronics corporation, thousands of kilometres from the pit, where the ore becomes a line on a balance sheet.
Themes
The human story
It is a story told in the miners' own words, in the moments they are alone with their hunger, their fear, and a lantern that will soon go out.
Why it matters
Coltan is in nearly every device with a battery. The people who dig it are almost never seen. This book puts them on the page, at full size, looking back.
See the book →Scroll or tap to continue
The book
A full-color graphic novel written and created by Gaylord Mali Ya Mungu. Inked in a dense, realist style, it follows miners, soldiers, traders and executives along the path coltan takes from the ground to the device in your hand.
Preview
The first ten pages · keep scrolling to turn them
Available now
Choose an edition, then buy the Kindle eBook or the paperback through Amazon, or order the paperback direct from BookVault. Links open in a new tab.
English edition
A full-color graphic novel written and created by Gaylord Mali Ya Mungu. Inked in a dense, realist style, it follows miners, soldiers, traders and executives along the path coltan takes from the ground to the device in your hand.
French edition
Un roman graphique en couleur écrit et créé par Gaylord Mali Ya Mungu. Dans un style réaliste et dense, il suit les mineurs, les soldats, les commerçants et les dirigeants tout au long du parcours du coltan, de son extraction jusqu'à l'appareil que vous tenez entre vos mains.
Kindle eBooks are sold through Amazon. Paperbacks are available through Amazon, or direct from BookVault, who print and ship them.
From book to screen
The Shadow of Coltan is being developed into an animated series. The immediate objective is Episode One: a 30-minute pilot that carries the book's drawn world, its voices and its silence to the screen.
Scroll · the pages come into register
The immediate objective
A 30-minute animated pilot. Script, design and production development underway.
The book is written, drawn and complete. Episode One is the first thirty minutes of it, moving.
The path
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Support the next step
Episode One is funded by the people who want to see it made.
Back Episode One →
Impact · Mission
Coltan leaves the ground in eastern Congo and ends up inside the technology the world carries every day. The Shadow of Coltan follows that line all the way through — and this page is where the book turns into the work: awareness, education, and a reason to ask where a material came from.
Follow the mineral
01 — The human cost
The book opens on Amani, a boy with a pickaxe, because that is where the material begins. Making those children visible — and supporting the efforts that move them from the pit to the classroom — is the first thing this project exists to do.
02 — The community
Around the pit there are families, markets, elders and children who have never left. Standing with those communities — their safety, their income, and their right to tell their own story — is the second.
03 — The mineral
Dull, heavy, unremarkable in the hand. Refined, it yields the tantalum used in the capacitors inside consumer electronics — which is why a rock dug out of a hillside by hand is worth carrying across the world.
The same piece of rock is at both ends of this page. Nothing about it changes. Only the distance does.
The pit
The sack
The road
The crossing
The tower
04 — The supply chain
Between the hands that dig it and the shelf it finally reaches there are buyers, borders, ships and smelters. Every step is legitimate on its own, and every step makes the one before it harder to see.
05 — Responsible sourcing
Traceability is not paperwork. It decides whether the money reaches the people who dug the ore, and whether anyone further up the chain ever has to answer for how it was dug.
The Shadow of Coltan does not certify or operate a supply chain. What it can do is give companies and consumers a human reason to demand traceable, conflict-free coltan — and make the question harder to put down.
06 — Education
The book is built to be read and then argued about: in classrooms, at screenings, and in community programs — a text for history, ethics, economics and art rather than a pamphlet about a crisis somewhere else.
07 — The consumer
It is a line on a map and a gap in what anyone is shown. The book closes it in the only way a book can: by putting both ends in the same frame, and then turning and speaking to the person holding the finished object.
That is the whole mission in one panel. Everything else here is in service of it.
08 — The human story
“If I stop, I don't eat.”
Spoken by a child in the book. Every section above leads back to this one.
Read it, follow it, or help put the first thirty minutes of it on screen.
Stories for a More Human Tomorrow
Kingdom of Legends LLC is a creative entertainment and intellectual property development company dedicated to bringing powerful stories to life through publishing, film, animation, and digital media.
→Explore KOLAbout the company
We believe storytelling has the power to educate, inspire, entertain, and create meaningful change. Our mission is to develop compelling original content that connects cultures, amplifies underrepresented voices, and reaches audiences around the world.
Through strategic partnerships with creators, artists, producers, and industry professionals, Kingdom of Legends transforms original ideas into enduring intellectual properties with the potential to expand across multiple entertainment platforms.
Our flagship project, The Shadow of Coltan, is a graphic novel and developing multimedia franchise inspired by the realities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It reflects our commitment to combining powerful storytelling with cultural awareness, education, and social impact.
Our Vision
To build a globally recognized entertainment company that creates unforgettable stories, develops valuable intellectual properties, and inspires generations.
Our Mission
To discover, develop, produce, and distribute original stories that entertain, educate, and connect audiences across cultures.
Our Philosophy
Every story has a purpose. Every legend begins somewhere.
Moments
Select a photo to enlarge
The property
The graphic novel is written, drawn and complete. It is the source material for everything that follows, and the reason the company exists: one property, held in one place, so that every form it takes next comes from the same work.
“Every smartphone contains a story. Some should never be forgotten.”From the book's introduction
The introduction also sets the book inside a committed graphic trilogy, spanning three eras of the same unchanging logic:
Take Exploit Leave
What the company does
Publishing, animation, education and partnerships are not four businesses. They are four forms of the same story, developed in order, each one resting on the one before it.
The foundation
The graphic novel and future editions, translations and companion volumes.
The graphic novel is complete.
The world moving to screen
Episode One and the animated series developed from the book.
Episode One, a 30-minute pilot, is in development.
The story becoming a tool for learning
Curriculum, screenings and programs with schools, universities and HBCUs.
Planned.
The property expanding through collaboration
Champions, sponsors and corporate partners who extend the story's reach.
Places open across champions, education, corporate and media.
Coming in 2027
2 days of Legends experience!
Charlotte, North Carolina|Coming in 2027
Get ready for an unforgettable two-day celebration of creativity, culture, entertainment, and legendary experiences!
The Kingdom of Legends Festival will bring together artists, creators, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and communities for an exciting experience designed to inspire, connect, and celebrate the power of storytelling and culture.
Two Days. One Kingdom. Endless Legends.
More details coming soon!
Interested in sponsorships, partnerships, or participating?
Connect with Kingdom of LegendsProtecting the property
The property is owned and stewarded by its creators. Every adaptation, edition and partnership passes through Kingdom of Legends so the story stays whole.
That is what protection means here. Not paperwork, but a single place where the decisions about this story are made — so that whatever form it arrives in next, it arrives as the same work, made by the people who made it.
What Kingdom of Legends is building
Team
Every name and role on this page is transcribed from the credits of the graphic novel. Nothing is inferred, and no one appears here until their involvement and title are confirmed.
Creative & production leadership
The craft
Four stages, in the order the pages were built, under the exact headings the book's credits spread gives them.
01
Author / Script Gaylord Mali ya Mungu02
Color / Inking / Illustration Reddy Ngoma Nzita03
Lettering Linda Mokanga Manzi04
Layout / Graphic Design Gaylord Mali ya MunguConsulting team of experts
Listed on the book's credits spread as its consulting team of experts. Titles beyond that are not published here because they are not confirmed.
Consulting expert
Counselor Global SolutionsConsulting expert
Mackenzie Bills Strategies, LLCCredits
The world begins with the people who build it.
Further creative, production and advisory names will be published as their involvement and titles are confirmed.
Partnerships
The Shadow of Coltan is more than a story — it’s a movement. Through strategic partnerships, we’re expanding its reach, deepening its impact, and bringing its message to new audiences around the world.
I
Individuals who help amplify the story and bring it to new communities and audiences.
Champions — partnership inquiryII
Bringing the story into classrooms, communities, and spaces where future leaders are shaped.
Education and HBCUs — partnership inquiryIII
Connecting responsible organizations with a mission that creates real, lasting impact.
Corporate partners — partnership inquiryIV
Helping the story reach broader audiences through trusted media platforms.
Media — partnership inquiry
Support the project
Every contribution goes toward producing Episode One and extending the book into classrooms and communities.
From the graphic novel · The Shadow of Coltan
What you are supporting
The graphic novel is written, drawn and complete. It is the source material for everything that follows. What is being built now is the first thirty minutes of it, moving.
Your amount carries over to Stripe's secure page, where you can still change it. Cards · Apple Pay · Google Pay · Cash App Pay.
The next stage
The book already exists.
Episode One is the next step.
The goal is to bring the story to the screen.
Episode One is funded by the people who want to see it made.
Choose your support →Contact · Partnership
Each inquiry type reaches the right person at Kingdom of Legends.
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