Shaggy-Inspired Graphic Novel The Port Reimagines Port Royal With Ghost Pirates

A new graphic novel channels the charisma of reggae star Orville Richard Burrell, known as Shaggy, into a swashbuckling, supernatural adventure set in Port Royal, Jamaica. The Port centers on pirate captain Artemis Slay, a swaggering, music-infused antihero modeled on Shaggy, and follows a revenge-driven ghost crew through a world that mixes the 1692 earthquake’s real history with fantasy elements.

Writer Rodney Barnes and artist Jason Shawn Alexander lead the creative team, with production by Zombie Love Studios. The project marks the start of a creative alliance between Barnes, Shaggy, and Martin Kierszenbaum of CherryTree Music. Barnes and Alexander previously collaborated on Killadelphia, a credit that signals the team’s taste for dark, kinetic storytelling. The novel is scheduled for publication in 2026 through Zombie Love Studios. Shaggy described the project as "scary and fun."

The Port’s premise will resonate across reggae circles because it places Caribbean historical trauma and maritime lore at the center of a sound-heavy character concept. Port Royal’s 1692 earthquake devastated the city and turned it into a symbol of loss and reinvention; placing a music-infused antihero amid that history bridges the island’s lived past with contemporary performance culture. For fans, the idea of a captain who carries dancehall swagger and musical identity into ghostly confrontations brings a familiar vibe to the comics medium - imagine a buccaneer riddim backing supernatural showdowns.

Practical value for the reggae community includes new storytelling that can amplify Jamaican stories in global pop culture. The collaboration with CherryTree Music suggests industry know-how that could lift the project beyond niche comics into broader creative channels. Rodney Barnes’ screen and comics background combined with Jason Shawn Alexander’s gritty art style promises a visually bold take that reggae-focused audiences are likely to discuss at record stores, sound-system nights, and comic conventions.

The Port also opens opportunities for cross-community conversations about how reggae icons are represented in visual narratives and how historical events like the 1692 earthquake are dramatized. Readers who follow Shaggy’s career will find a new facet of his persona translated into fiction, while comic readers get a Caribbean-rooted myth with a musical anchor.

Publication is set for 2026 via Zombie Love Studios, so expect more information on release dates, editions, and possible appearances as the year unfolds. For now, Artemis Slay’s ghost crew joins the lineage of reggae-inflected characters reclaiming island history and turning it into high-energy storytelling.