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GROUNDBREAKING “TALISMEN” SERIES HAS COMIC BOOK FANS EXCITED
Second Issue of Innovative Series Available In November
First Issue Still Available Through Subscription
Franklin, MA – TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE, the groundbreaking new
comic book mini-series from Atlantis Studios, has American comics
fans and professionals excited in a way they have not been in ten
years.
“This is the first comic book series to unite the storytelling
elements of Japan’s shojo manga, the fastest growing segment of the
publishing industry in the United States, with America’s color comic
book,” said James Watson, Atlantis Studios’ publisher.
A recent USAToday article reported that most American comic books
concentrate mostly on action, but shojo emphasizes emotions and plot
as much if not more than action. So, too, does the story for
TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE. Marine Lance Corporal Ollie Steel is
captured by terrorists and interrogated. Ollie passes out and awakes
in a dreamland village called Donnelly. The village seems new to
Ollie, but folks there tell him that he has been there before, and
that he is destined to help save them from the neighboring realm of
nightmares. There is also a young Donnelly woman named Astrina who
insists she and Ollie are destined to fall in love.
“Comic book fans, fantasy fans and shojo fans really like this story
and the characters of Ollie and Astrina,” said Watson. “These fans
also like the way the TALISMEN creators, Barbara Jacobs and Steven
Philip Jones, are using different elements from both mediums to tell
their story.”
For example, the typical shojo manga is black and white, but
TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE features lush computer colors. The art
by rising superstar Jacobs is evocative of the famous “big eyes”
style of Japanese cartoons employed in most shojo manga, but Jacob’s
style is also reminiscent of Disney and Chuck Jones cartoons. And
while a single shojo manga can run 150 pages or more, TALISMEN:
RETURN OF THE EXILE is an 88-page graphic novel being published in
four limited-edition comic books for the U.S. direct market
beginning in October 2005 and as a graphic novel for the retail
market in the summer of 2006.
Comic book professionals are just as excited about what TALISMEN:
RETURN OF THE EXILE could do for the comic book industry, which has
been experiencing historically low sales since 1996. The USAToday
article stated that 2004 sales for shojo manga in the United States
were “estimated at more than $120 million, up 20% from 2003.” Most
shojo manga sold in the United States is produced in Japan, but if a
product like TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE is a success, it could
open the door for mainstream American comic books to enter the shojo
market.
“Comic book retailers and professionals and fans should be watching
TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE,” said Jones, the story’s
scriptwriter. “Retailers should be buying 12 copies of each issue in
the series, because people in America and around the world want to
read this story. This series could change comics forever.”
Orders for the second issue of TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE will be
solicited in Diamond Distribution’s November catalogue, but the
first issue as well as subscriptions for the entire series can be
ordered through the Atlantis Studios website at
www.atlantisstudios.net.
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Atlantis Studios develops, publishes, and distributes high-quality
science fiction, fantasy, superhero, and action-adventure custom
comics, comics based on licensed properties and strategic
partnerships. For more information on Atlantis Studios, visit
http://www.atlantisstudios.netFor more
information on Talismen, including exclusive promotional artwork,
preproduction sketches, and previews of issue #2, visit
http://www.atlantisstudios.net/talismen. |
