Backbone Entertainment & Image Give More Life To Death, Jr.
Second series of critically acclaimed comic to hit stores in July
For Immediate Release
EMERYVILLE, CA - Feb. 2, 2006 - Backbone Entertainment and Image Comics today announced that Death, Jr. will return to comic book shelves later this year in a second 3-issue, full-color series. The series will feature the return of both Ted Naifeh as illustrator and Gary Whitta as writer.
"The first series of the DJ comic received an unbelievable amount of attention from critics and comic book fans," says Mike Mika, studio head of Backbone Entertainment's Emeryville location. "We're thrilled to have Ted and Gary back on board to further the world of Death, Jr."
Death, Jr. follows the teenage son of the grim reaper and his band of "unusual" friends as they always seem to find themselves in trouble. The first series of the comic generated impressive sales and attracted the interest of some of the top talent in the industry, such as Mike Mignola, who drew the cover for the trade paperback.
"Image Comics is very excited to once again be bringing the adventures of Death, Jr. and his pals to the printed page," says Jim Demonakos, Image Comics' PR & Marketing Coordinator. "Another series is just what the fans have been asking for - after the overwhelmingly positive response to the first series, we're happy to partner up with Ted, Gary and Backbone to oblige!"
After a tumultuous school year in which DJ and his friends had to band together to fight DJ's evil uncle Moloch, the second series will find the gang on their summer vacation. DJ gets his wish and starts working a summer job with his dad, but he's disappointed to learn he has to work his way up from the bottom, while the rest of the gang is headed for a less-than-savory summer camp experience.
Backbone Entertainment will be premiering the first new piece of art from the comic at this month's Wonder Con Convention in San Francisco, where the company will also be selling copies of the first trade paperback, the PSP game, and brand new t-shirts. In addition, Backbone will host a trade paperback signing at their booth with Naifeh, Whitta and Mignola.
The first issue of the second series is slated to hit shelves in July.
About Backbone Entertainment
Part of Foundation 9 Entertainment (www.F9E.com), the largest independent game developer in North America, Backbone specializes in developing original and licensed IP for all platforms and creating merchandising opportunities in diversified entertainment genres. Backbone is based in Emeryville, CA, and Vancouver, BC and can be found on the web at: www.backboneentertainment.com.
Backbone, along with The Collective, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, and Digital Eclipse make up Foundation 9 Entertainment. The company's studios have developed more than 300 titles, including more than 40 in 2005 alone. Foundation 9 Entertainment employs more than 325 employees, and has offices in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Emeryville, Vancouver, Boston, Eugene, and Honolulu. For more information on Foundation 9 Entertainment, please visit: www.F9E.com.
About Image Comics
Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently four partners in Image Comics (Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline and Image Central).
Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. Visit www.imagecomics.com for more information. Image Comics - Putting the NEW back in to New Comic Book Day!TM
Contact:
Nicole Tanner
Foundation 9 Entertainment
nicolet@f9e.com