Comics
BREAKING: Robert Kirkman Announces ‘Skybound Publishing’!
Here we are just days away from the start of ComiCon San Diego and already the news is rushing in. Today “THE WALKING DEAD” scribe Robert Kirkman revealed that he will be starting his own publishing company for up and coming creator owned stories called Skybound Publishing. The publisher will be an offshoot of his current publisher Image Comics and inside you can get all the details from the massive press release as well as the first images from his first story from the company titled “WITCH DOCTOR”. Read on for the skinny.
Here’s What The Official Press Release Has To Say…
Los Angeles, CA (July 19th 2010) – Robert Kirkman announced today that he is launching and will helm SKYBOUND, a new division of Image Comics. The company will give a new generation of comic book artists and creators the opportunity to publish their works as SKYBOUND Originals.
With SKYBOUND, Kirkman will handpick up-and-coming creators and maintain an active role in promoting and expanding the projects of the growing talent pool. Artist and company alike will be fully vested in the development of their properties into new mediums (e.g. television, film) globally.
Image Comics, the publishing company that has published Kirkman’s original works (including the New York Times bestselling series The Walking Dead and Invincible), will provide publishing and distribution support to SKYBOUND. Kirkman will continue his duties as Partner at Image Comics, and use the SKYBOUND imprint to release his own titles as well as every Skybound Original to follow.
Robert Kirkman plans to preview the first SKYBOUND Original, Witch Doctor, during his spotlight panel at San Diego Comic-Con this Thursday. ”Witch Doctor is a perfect example of the material we’re looking to cultivate with SKYBOUND,” says Kirkman, citing the comic’s unique vision of a “sick world” where mythical creatures interfere with the natural order.
Kirkman himself found the creators of Witch Doctor online, and will continue to play a personal role in the ongoing search for a constant stream of new talent to sign under the SKYBOUND umbrella. SKYBOUND will focus on cutting-edge, creator-owned stories that are outside of the normal spectrum of mass-market genres.
Looking forward, Kirkman has recently secured the second exclusive SKYBOUND Original, Thief of Thieves, a collaboration between Kirkman and Forgetless writer Nick Spencer. Thief of Thieves tells the story of Conrad Paulson, the world’s greatest thief, who has set his sights on his own kind. He vows to steal only what’s already been stolen, in an effort to right the great wrongs of his life. But he may be too late for redemption.
Witch Doctor will hit shelves at the beginning of 2011 and Thief of Thieves will follow shortly thereafter. Kirkman has several other SKYBOUND Originals in the works but plans to focus on quality and the company will take its time to find unique projects that reflect SKYBOUND’s core ideals. For more on SKYBOUND please visit www.SkyboundEnt.com.
About Robert Kirkman: Robert Kirkman is a New York Times bestselling author known for being the cultural zeitgeist of the comic book industry. He maintains one prerogative in every undertaking: quality. It is Kirkman’s belief that good people who produce good writing and good ideas make comics people love. Kirkman was recently made partner at Image Comics, and continues to revive the industry with refreshing new characters. AMC is adapting his bestselling series, The Walking Dead, into a TV series (in production over the summer of 2010), and his books are among the most popular on the iPhone and iPad’s “Comics” app.
About Image Comics: Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
About Witch Doctor: Witch Doctor is a medical horror comic from Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner, a pair of Alaskans currently based in Portland, Oregon. Cover blurb: “It’s a sick world, and Dr. Vincent Morrow’s here to treat it. Headhunted into an exciting new career in the black arts after his excommunication from the medical community, Morrow serves the world with both hands — one in magic, one in medicine — as earth’s protector. Earth’s Witch Doctor.”
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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