Comics
Amazon Studios Turns Supernatural Horror Tale ‘Blackburn Burrow’ Into Free Digital Comic!
Amazon.com’s newest creative branch, Amazon Studios, dives into the world of digital comics with a brand new original series, Blackburn Burrow. The digital comic is a historical supernatural horror tale set during the American Civil War. The story was originally submitted as a screenplay, written by Jay Levy, however it quickly turned into a comic book in order to test market reach to see if it could succeed as a film (a trend that is all too common these days).
“Blackburn Burrow” is produced by 12 Guage Comics who brought in the big name talents of Ron Marz and Matthew Dow Smith to adapt the screenplay to comic form. The book is available to read for free through Graphicly, as well as on AmazonStudios.com for a bunch of different platforms (including plain old internet browsers). If you dig the book, you can take part in a poll to tell them you’d like to see it as a movie, which will also get you a nice $5 gift card. This seems like a lot of loops to jump through to test its viability, but nonetheless the book does look good.
Official Press Release:
SEATTLE—September 12, 2012—(NASDAQ: AMZN) — Amazon Studios, the original content arm of Amazon.com, Inc., is introducing an all-new digital comic book today – Blackburn Burrow, a story set in Civil War America where supernatural horrors are infesting a small Appalachian town in Northern Georgia. Blackburn Burrow first came to Amazon Studios in the form of a feature film screenplay from writer Jay Levy. Community feedback, gathered from Amazon Studios’ crowdsourcing model, triggered the idea for the popular project to be adapted into a digital comic that would be shared with audiences for feedback and tested for viability as a major motion picture.
The Blackburn Burrow digital comic looks and reads like a traditional book and is available for free through a variety of sites and platforms including top digital comic provider Graphicly, as well as AmazonStudios.com, Amazon Studios Facebook page and the Kindle Store. For more information on how to get the comic, visit www.amazonstudios.com or search for Blackburn Burrow in the Kindle Store.
Amazon Studios’ Blackburn Burrow digital comic book is produced by 12 Gauge Comics, which teamed with renowned comics writer Ron Marz (Silver Surfer, Green Lantern, Marvel vs. DC, Batman/Aliens) and veteran illustrator Matthew Dow Smith (Doctor Who, X-Men Icons , Mirror’s Edge, Day of Judgment) to shape the story and look of the comic.
“This is a very exciting new venture for Amazon Studios. Beyond entertaining lots of comic fans, we see value in digital comics as a new way to test screenplays and learn more about fan engagement,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “The 12 Gauge team has done beautiful work on the Blackburn Burrow digital comic and we are thrilled to share it with audiences to see how they react to the story of Blackburn Burrow.”
Like movie and episodic series projects that exist within Amazon Studios, the public will have the opportunity to provide feedback and direction on Blackburn Burrow as the story continues to unfold. The entire Blackburn Burrow comic will be released over a period of four months with new issues coming out every four weeks. Each release will be accompanied by a poll (www.blackburnburrowsurvey.com) related to content in that issue that encourages readers to give feedback and provide comments.
About Blackburn Burrow
In Blackburn Burrow, Mister is a legendary fighter rumored to take on the strange and supernatural. When a Union general requests his help in investigating the disappearance of a group of his soldiers from a small town in the South, Mister initially declines, refusing to get involved in the politics between the North and the South. Mister’s interest, however, is piqued when the last contact with these soldiers referenced the walking dead and a man Mister has been tracking all his life, the man who brought him into this world. Mister teams with Merrin, a young female survivor, to stop an ancient uprising and discover the family secret that connects his past to the small town of Blackburn Burrow.
About Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is Amazon’s content development division that uses audience feedback to develop great, original entertainment customers will love. Since its launch in November 2010, more than 10,000 movie scripts and 1,800 series pilot scripts have been submitted to Amazon Studios. Currently, 17 film projects and nine series are in development. For more information about Amazon Studios, visit http://studios.amazon.com.
Comics
‘Curse of the Where Wolf’ Bites Into August Release With Trio of Werewolf Theatrical Screenings [Exclusive Preview]
Larry Chaney‘s hairy misadventures are continuing in the sequel graphic novel Curse of the Where Wolf from creative team Rob Saucedo, Debora Lancianese, and Jack Morelli, and its author is celebrating with a trio of horror’s greatest werewolf films.
The Curse of the Where Wolf hits shelves on August 7 from Encyclopocalypse Publications.
That coincides with the launch of a theatrical screening event in Houston, Texas, featuring a trio of seminal werewolf flicks turning 45 this year: The Howling on August 7, Wolfen on August 14, and An American Werewolf in London on August 21.
Each screening features a “werewolf in film” presentation as well as a book signing from Where Wolf author and River Oaks Theatre artistic director Rob Saucedo.
In the new graphic novel, “Being a werewolf sucks. Reporter Larry Chaney wanted to be a hero. Instead, he became a werewolf. Now, caught between incredible new powers and a desire to eat everything (and everyone) in sight, Larry must find a cure for his curse. Or die trying.”
“With Where Wolf, I wanted to tell a whodunit set in a furry convention, so the story was pretty contained within a very specific setting and genre. With Curse of the Where Wolf, I wanted to celebrate everything I love about the possibility of comic books. Curse of the Where Wolf is a funny book, in every sense of the phrase, but it’s also an earnest look at a person’s struggle to become a better version of themselves, especially when the alternative is to become a literal monster,” Saucedo says of Curse.
The original graphic novel was previously serialized as the first webcomic hosted on Fangoria before being collected by Encyclopocalypse Publications in 2023 and has already been optioned for film, podcast, and television development ahead of launch by producers James Fino (“The Freak Brothers” for Tubi, “Rick and Morty” for Adult Swim) and Charles Horak (First Date for Magnolia Pictures).
Expect Larry to find himself in even weirder situations in the 362-page full color sequel; Saucedo has provided Bloody Disgusting with exclusive art pages from the upcoming graphic novel that showcase lupine humor.
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