The gift & the curse of Comic Con is that when actors and celebrities go there they encounter a gang of dedicated, rabid, diehard fans of various comic book, graphic novel, cartoon & video game properties. They also get a bunch of face time with the giants of the comic book & graphic novel world as well. Eventually, they may decide to dive into that world as well themselves. Here are a few examples of actors or celebrities and their own comic book and or graphic novels. Enjoy (or don't):
Back in June 2006, Rosario Dawson (Kids, Sin City, Death Proof) and writer David Atchison got together with artist Tony Shasteen to produce "Occult Crimes Taskforce", a comic book about a special agency that investigates occult & supernatural crimes that occur in Manhattan/New York City. Rosario Dawson serves as the template for Investigator Sophia Ortiz, an agent of often wrangles and takes down extradimensional magic practicioners and the like. The film rights were acquired years ago with Dawson attached but no firm date has been set for release as of yet. The title publishes sporadically but is now produced by 12 Gauge in association with Image Comics.
After a few trips to Comic Con, "Heroes" star Milo Ventimiglia and his partner Russ Cundiff (It's a Mall World) decided to put their heads together and make a graphic novel about an idea how was developing about a future where pharmaceutical companies & the US government have the entire populace sleep deprived. Mike O' Sullivan came up with the idea but rather than try to shop it to studios with Milo attached on some "Entourage" shit they just went to Devil's Due Publishing and decided to make it there. Milo's likeness was used for the main character. The first 99¢ promotional issue for the 4 part mini series hit stands last Summer & did surprisingly well after Mark Powers was brought in to do further writing.
Following the success of "Rest", Milo & Rusty decided to use an idea from Rick Loverd, who was a staff writer on the TV series "Friday Night Lights" and hook up with Top Cow to create "Beserker". "Beserker" follows the story of two families descended from the old Viking days and draws from Norse mythology heavily. These men have tendacies to fly into murderous rages where their strength & speed increases and they become so entraced that they destroy or kill everyone and everything around them. The book will be available soon in comic book stores everywhere.
So as not to be left out, Zachary Quinto (Heroes, Star Trek) decided to release a few graphic novel in association with his production company (Before The Door Pictures) and Archaia Studios. The first being the Victor Quinaz penned project "Mr. Murder Is Dead" and next comes the Michael McMillian mini series titled "Lucid". Zachary Quinto & his partners are billed as editors but he merely chooses the projects and unlike Rosario Dawson has very little input as far as the actual storylines go.
Tyrese Gibson (Transformers, Death Race, Transformers 2, Legion, Luke Cage) decided to join the fray and jump into the comic book world as well. Difference being is that he aligned himself with Image Comics from jump and then recruited Mike Le & Will Wilson to write his book and tapped Tone Rodriguez to do the artwork. The story centers around a concerned citizen who decides to become a masked vigilante in order to take down a crime boss known as Big X. The title hits store shelves August 5th and has already made a splash in pre-sales numbers and has generated a gigantic buzz so don't expect this trend to die any time soon.
Brea Grant (Heroes, Halloween 2) has also decided to team up with her brother Zane Austin Grant to create the zombie themed comic book series set during the Roaring 20's titled "We Will Bury You". The series will be released by IDW Publishing and is expected to hit comic book stores & newsstands (provided you can find any still in operation by then) in the 1st quarter of 2010.One.
1 comment:
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