Angelo Collazo Comics

12/17/2023

My Blackbeard comic is now available for you to read for FREE on the GlobalComix platform. I highly recommend the reading experience on GC over just a PDF (especially if you try out their panel-to-panel view). Enjoy!

Read Blackbeard's Treasure: A Ghost Pirate Legend [One Shot] [Black & White] Online. The year was 1717 and Blackbeard the pirate had a problem: Where should he bury his...

10/07/2023

Weird NJ - Weird New Jersey magazine has published an article, written by me, about the Blackbeard in Burlington legend. You can read my article on page 51 of issue #61. You can buy a copy nearby at Antiques Market On High. You can also read my comic book for free at BlackbeardComic.com.

07/27/2023

Want to see some hard evidence that Blackbeard the pirate was in our area? Well, behold maties!

What you’re looking at here is the personal journal of Philadelphian merchant Jonathan Dickinson. (I took this video today at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.) On October 21, 1717, Dickinson complained: “Captain Thatch alias Blackbeard” and his “130 men” have been menacing “our Capes & taken six or seven Vessels”. Another entry mentions, “thus is our River Blocked Up Until he goes hence.”

But Dickinson wasn’t the only merchant who complained about Blackbeard. James Logan, whose journal is also held at the HSP, wrote on October 24, 1717: “We have been very much disturbed this last week by the Pirates. They have taken and plundered Six or Seven Vessels bound out or into this river. Some they have destroyed, Some they have taken to their own use & Some they have dismissed after Plunder. ... The Sloop [ship] that came on our Coast had about 130 Men all Stout Fellows all English without any mixture & double armed ... their Comander is one Teach who was here a Mate from Jamaica about 2 years agoe.”

Photos of these 2 journals can be seen here in my previous post: https://www.facebook.com/100063618577056/posts/769354005195212

Why am I so interested in Blackbeard the pirate? Legend has it, he buried treasure just two blocks from my house in Burlington City, NJ. Although you can read the legend in the 1846 history book "Historical Collections of the State New Jersey", you can also read its retelling in my comic book entitled Blackbeard’s Treasure. Learn more at: BlackbeardComic.com

07/27/2023

Today, I visited the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and looked at 2 journals (written by colonial merchants Jonathan Dickinson and James Logan) which contain October 1717 entries complaining about Blackbeard the pirate. I was amazed that I was actually allowed to read, photograph, and touch these artifacts with my bare hands. (Thank you to the scholarly paper “Blackbeard Off Philadelphia” for pointing me to these primary sources.)

06/18/2023

Ahoy maties! My comic book about the Blackbeard in Burlington legend is now ready for you to read online (right here on Facebook)! Thank you for your patience. (Please note a few things: A. I decided to make it all black and white, B. This is a self-contained 24-page story, C. It's rated T for Teen due to piratey violence.) If you are interested in buying the print edition / hard copy (which isn't ready yet), then please fill out this form, and I'll add you to the waiting list: https://forms.gle/bWX2K41gptdja7QJ6

Thanks for your continued interest in my comic!

06/16/2022

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 23 of my 24-page comic book about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ. For more information, visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

***PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Due to the violence depicted in this story, which is about pirates and their evil deeds, only individuals age 18 and older will be permitted to receive this comic book from me when finished.***

06/05/2022

Great to see other local comics creators succeeding! Congratulations on the WHYY interview Ryan Brady of Camden's Comics !

05/20/2022

Cow bones on Wood Street...

Lately, there has been home renovation work going on at 223 Wood Street, just three doors down from 217 Wood Street where a human skull was unearthed in 1926 and subsequently made national news. In fact, this entire plot of land (specifically the odd-numbered side of the 200 block of Wood Street) used to be a tannery, where leather was produced, according to the 1844 Blackbeard legend (which I'm making a comic book about).

As you can see in my video, a pipe trench was recently dug by construction workers, and on the pile of dirt are some cow bones, which is consistent with our understanding of this land previously being used as a tannery.

I wonder what will be unearthed next. If the construction workers find anything resembling a pirate treasure chest, I hope they save me a gold doubloon to help me pay my property tax bill. 😂

05/15/2022

***WARNING: SPOILERS***

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 22 of my 24-page comic book about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ. For more information, visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

***PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Due to the violence depicted in this story, which is about pirates and their evil deeds, only individuals age 18 and older will be permitted to receive this comic book from me when finished.***

03/19/2022

On this day in 1930, a human skull was discovered by Burlington City resident Ralph Abdill. This skull---different than the one found by school children in 1926---was thought to be that of the Spanish sailor who Blackbeard the pirate shot point-blank and buried along with his treasure on Wood Street in 1717. The skull was found in an alley called Hunter's Alley, which is (somewhere) in the vicinity of Wood and Pearl.

According to one of several newspapers which reported on the event, “Now Abdill is a quiet-going and peaceful citizen of Burlington. In fact he was engaged in the prosaic business of digging a hole in his backyard ... when his spade chanced upon crumbling bones. He ignored them, but when he went further and found a human skull, then there was wafted back to him the old tradition of Blackbeard.” Although there was a hole in the skull, there was no way of telling if this was indeed the Spanish sailor’s skull. Subsequent digging by a multitude of neighbors revealed no treasure, however the legend lives on.

In fact, I’m in the process of creating a 24-page comic book which retells the Blackbeard legend as described in the 1844 book Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey. If you'd like to follow my progress, then simply Like my page: Angelo Collazo Comics

P.S. Want to learn more about the human skull found by school children in 1926? If so, then read my previous post here: https://www.facebook.com/angelocollazocomics/posts/139552154515724

P.P.S. Want to read the original legend? If so, then you can find it here: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics/posts/113077920496481

Sources:

Camden Evening Courier “Skull Dug at Burlington Mute Proof of Foul Play” https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97265718/courier-post/

Trenton Evening Times “Placid Burlington Digs for Gold As Find of Human Skull is Linked With Story of Pirate Blackbeard" (NewsBank[dot]com)

03/15/2022

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 21 of my 24-page comic book about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ. For more information, visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

Want to be the first to know about major announcements? Sign up for my newsletter: https://bit.ly/blackbeardwashere

02/10/2022

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 20 of my 24-page comic book about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ. For more information, visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

12/27/2021

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 19 of my 24-page comic book about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ. For more information, visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

12/18/2021

First panel of Page 19 :)

12/12/2021

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 18 of my 24-page comic book. It's about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ.

At this point in the story, Blackbeard and the crew have shot someone with a magic bullet. If you'd like to see the events leading up to this point, then visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

11/25/2021

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 17 of my 24-page comic book. It's about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ.

At this point in the story, Blackbeard has shot one of his crewmembers with a magic bullet. If you'd like to see the events leading up to this point, then visit my Page: facebook.com/angelocollazocomics

11/13/2021

Prior to coloring, I've finished inking page 16 of my 24-page comic book. It's about Blackbeard the pirate who, legend has it, buried his treasure just two blocks down the street from my house in Burlington, NJ.

At this point in the story, Blackbeard has just shot one of his crewmembers with a magic bullet. If you'd like to see the events leading up to this point, then visit my Page: Angelo Collazo Comics

11/10/2021

On this day in 1718, Stede Bonnet (AKA "The Gentleman Pirate") was tried and convicted of piracy. But what was his connection to Blackbeard and therefore Burlington City history?

Well, Bonnet and Blackbeard were partners in crime. In fact, when Blackbeard was in the Philadelphia / Delaware River area, it was Bonnet's ship which Blackbeard captained --- a sloop ship known as the Revenge, which likely docked here at Burlington City.

So how did this odd couple meet? It turns out that Bonnet used to be a straight-laced, wealthy plantation owner in Barbados. But at some point, perhaps spurred on by an unhappy marriage, he decided to use his wealth to build a pirate ship (the Revenge), employ pirates, and become a pirate captain. But, lacking proper pirating experience, he proved to be incompetent.

That's why, upon meeting Blackbeard in the Bahamas in 1717, Bonnet agreed to make Blackbeard captain of the Revenge. Subsequently, Bonnet experienced success as Blackbeard and the crew embarked upon pirating expeditions. To make a long story short, eventually the two pirates would part ways, and both men would eventually be apprehended and die for their crimes. As for the ship the Revenge, its name would later be changed (to the Royal James), and eventually it would run aground during a battle with colonial authorities.

If you'd like to know what the Revenge may have looked like, then I've included an illustration from my comic book (entitled Blackbeard's Treasure) which retells the legend of when Blackbeard buried treasure in Burlington City. If you'd like to follow my progress as I continue to illustrate my comic book, then Like my page: Angelo Collazo Comics