It seems in the past couple days that when we have something Dynamite-related to talk about, its in the properties that they are acquiring en masse. Some of it has just been old pulp heroes and comics of that sort, as made popular in their line over the last few years, but this year it seems that they’re taking television properties and bringing them to comics as well. Yesterday saw the announcement of a Heroes comic, and today? Well. You’ll have to see it to believe it.
First up, Dynamite is bringing Rod Serling’s famous Twilight Zone into comics, written by J. Michael Straczynski. We’ll take a moment for you to let that sink in.
The Twilight Zone is perhaps one of the best shows of all time, if not the best show of all time. It’s creative beyond belief with an unparalleled imagination, thanks in part to the different writers each episode half ranging from well-known sci-fi and horror writers. Now JMS takes the reigns of the series, one that was famous for its one-and-done parables, and it’ll be interesting to see if this works as a comic. I know I’m fascinated by the concept.
Next, FOX’s Bobs Burgers makes its way from the animation slots on Sunday nights and into comic stores with the first ever “Bobs Burgers” comic. While no creative team is announced for the comic, I can verify that the show is uh-mazing. It’s so amazing I don’t even want to bother spelling amazing correctly just to emphasize the point.
Of course, part of what makes Bobs Burgers work is the voice cast, especially Dan Mintz’s role as Tina. I’ll be curious to see if the comic can capture that voice just as well, because half of what makes that show funny is the delivery the cast provides — and with H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schall, Eugene Mirman and John Roberts you’ve got quite a voice to capture.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how these two series fit into comic books. Heroes makes sense as the show was left open-ended and, y’know, it was always comic book-y. Where Twilight Zone and Bobs Burgers fit into all this is up in the air — but how long until we get the Twilight Zone/Bobs Burgers crossover, eh? I ask you that!
The press releases are as follows:
Twilight Zone Dynamite Entertainment Press Release
Dynamite signed a deal with CBS Consumer Products to create a comic book series based on one of the most captivating television shows of all time, The Twilight Zone, featuring all-new tales of science and superstition as written by acclaimed author and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, one of the privileged few celebrated as a Special Guest of San Diego Comic-Con International 2013.
“One of the most deeply satisfying and creatively exciting experiences I’ve had in 25 years of writing for television and film was my stint on the new Twilight Zone television series,” says Straczynski. “I’ve been a fan of the original series since I was tall enough to reach for the TV tuner. So I was profoundly excited when Nick Barrucci came to me with the possibility of doing the new Twilight Zone comic to come out from Dynamite.”
The Twilight Zone took millions of television viewers on a weekly journey to another dimension, starting in 1959. The enduring success of The Twilight Zone spawned three revival series (one of which featured episodes written by J. Michael Straczynski), a feature film, novels, comics, and other related merchandise.
Regarding the unique nature of The Twilight Zone series, Straczynski says, “The immediate creative question to be resolved was: how do you transplant or adapt the TV anthology format into comic form? Individual stand-alone issues don’t give the issue-to-issue continuity you need to consistently bring in modern readers, and if it’s a year long arc, it’s not an anthology. The solution: three four-issue arcs that are connected by theme, character, and location… so that in reading one arc you get one side of the story, with its own supernatural or science-fiction elements, then you turn the character around to another character in that sequence who has his or her own story for the next four issues… and then at the end, you connect all of these individual stories into one overlapping tapestry, so you could literally view the book as individual stories as initially published, or layer the pages to create one big story. It’s a cool structure that I’m not sure has been attempted before, so this will be an awful lot of fun. I’m very excited to be working with Nick and his team on this book, and hope folks will check out the books when they come out.”
Continued belowJ. Michael Straczynski is the perfect choice to reinvent a television icon for the comics medium after spending many successful years straddling both media. In television, Straczynski has written over 300 produced episodes and six TV movies. In film, Straczynski’s credits include five produced movies in six years: Changeling for director Clint Eastwood, Ninja Assassin for the Wachowkis, Thor for Kenneth Branagh, Underworld Awakening, and World War Z for Paramount and Brad Pitt. He has written nearly 400 published comics for Marvel, DC and Image, including The Amazing Spider-Man for seven years, followed by Thor, The Fantastic Four, Before Watchmen, and others.
“It’s a thrill, an absolute thrill, to not only develop new tales for Twilight Zone, but to welcome J. Michael Straczynski as our honored host,” says Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of Dynamite. “We’ve wanted to work with him for years, and it’s finally materializing with this perfect combination: Straczynski and Twilight Zone, together again! The energy and enthusiasm behind the scenes is going to yield some truly mind-blowing science fiction.”
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To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/.
For art and more information, please visit: http://ww.dynamite.com/.
About Dynamite Entertainment:
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, Purgatori, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
Bob’s Burgers Dynamite Entertainment Press Release
Dynamite Entertainment is proud to announce a partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products to develop comic book series content based on the popular cartoon series, Bob’s Burgers. An animated comedy, with new episodes debuting Sunday nights in September on FOX, Bob’s Burgers features a unique visual style in addition to an engaging, family-fun dynamic that will undoubtedly translate into a high-quality and successful comic book series.
Bob’s Burgers follows the ups and downs of Bob, who runs the Bob’s Burgers restaurant with the help of his wife and their three kids. Bob has big ideas about burgers, but his family falls short on service and sophistication. The show debuted in 2011. Numerous critics have applauded the series’ offbeat sense of humor. The show was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, and was also a Critics’ Choice Television nominee for Best Animated Series.
“We could not be more pleased to add Bob’s Burgers to the our line of comics,” says Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of the comic and graphic novel publisher Dynamite. “It’s stylish and hilarious, a feel-good concept that can be both heartwarming and mischievous at the same time. When we told our team that we were approaching Fox for the license, everyone lit up at the opportunity. We look forward to working with our partners at Fox to put out a fantastic product that will appeal to readers of all ages.”
“LIKE” DYNAMITE’S FACEBOOK PAGE TODAY!
http://www.facebook.com/dynamitecomics
Join the conversation on Dynamite Entertainment’s twitter page at http://twitter.com/DynamiteComics.
Continued belowTo find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/.
For art and more information, please visit: http://ww.dynamite.com/.
About Dynamite Entertainment:
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, Purgatori, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
About Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products:
A recognized industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products licenses and markets properties worldwide on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Twentieth Television and Fox Broadcasting Company, as well as third party lines. The division is aligned with Twentieth Century Fox Television, one of the top suppliers of primetime entertainment programming to the broadcast networks.
