Kevin Costner is an internationally recognized director, producer and actor. Costner has starred in memorable roles in films such as JFK, the Untouchables, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, No Way Out, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, The Bodyguard, and Wyatt Earp  among others. He recently starred in the dramas  Black or White and the Disney film, McFarland, USA.  

Jon Baird is a co-creator of The Explorers Guild and author/illustrator of the novels Day Job and Songs From Nowhere Near the Heart. Along with Costner, he has co-developed the Western miniseries Horizon.

Rick Ross is an illustrator and comic book artist. His credits include the graphic novelization of Spike TV’s 1000 Ways to Die, Femme Fatales (Cinemax),  the 3D motion comic, Deadtown (M2 Studios) and Urban Monsters (Image Comics). He is the creator of the weekly online graphic novel anthology, Agitainment Comics.

The Explorers Guild is a natural progression for Academy Award winner Costner since it combines his passion for history, adventure, and storytelling. It is an innovative, original illustrated adventure tale written by Costner and John Baird and illustrated by Rick Ross.  

Behind the staid rooms of an old world gentlemen’s club operates a darker, more mysterious organization, The Explorers Guild — a clandestine group of adventurers who seek out the places where light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth. The secrets of this unknown world are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, sunk to the ocean floor and lodged deep beneath polar ice. The aim of the Explorers Guild: to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world.

Set against the backdrop of World War I, with western civilization spiraling into chaos, The Explorers Guild: A Passage to Shambhala concerns the Guild’s quest to find the golden city of Buddhist myth.  Each member is driven toward the city for a different reason: one believes that finding it will save his brother’s life; another hopes that it will reveal a path to spiritual enlightenment. Some believe the power of the city can be used to restore peace, while others are certain that Shambhala is responsible for bringing mankind to the brink of apocalypse. The search will take readers from the Polar North to the Mongolian deserts, through the underground canals of Asia to deep into the Himalayas, before the city finally divulges its secrets and the globe-spanning journey plays out to its startling conclusion.