Red 5 Comics - Coming Soon

I love seeing a new publisher entering into the fray and I'm always curious to see what they will produce and see if they can become a player or not. We have seen BOOM and IDW both become raising starts in the comic publishing game and they have been producing some of the best comics around (Left on Mission, Wormwood Gentlemen's Corpse, 30 Days of Night, Hero Squared, etc). Also we have seen Image act as a packager of various studios books that have led to Alien Pig Farm, Meltdown and Ward of the State to just name a few. Dark Horse of course has been around for many years and has thrived, but they seem to still be reluctant to back a lot of the more adventurous ideas.

So here is hoping that Red 5 will produce some great books.

They are starting with books coming out in October of this year.

First up is Abyss. The official hype : RED 5 COMICS PREEMPTIVELY KILLS ABYSS CHARACTER
AWARD-WINNING COMEDY TEAM OF RUBIO AND MARANGON REUNITED

Calgary, AB – July 2, 2007 – The untimely death of a beloved comic book hero can be a shocking event for long-time fans – be it Jason Todd’s Robin at the hands of the Joker, Superman’s demise facing Doomsday, or the recent assassination of Captain America.

To avoid any similar pain and outcry, Red 5 Comics has decided to kill ABYSS – the lead character of a series by the same name – before the first issue of the comic even comes out this October. Right from the first page, the oblivious billionaire son of ABYSS (Eric Hoffman) is already attempting to move on with his life.

ABYSS is written and created by Kevin Rubio – recipient of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Fan Film Pioneer Award for his acclaimed internet-phenomenon parody film “TROOPS”.

“I didn’t want the death of ABYSS to be used as some kind of gimmick to boost sales years down the road,” Rubio said. “Frankly, none of you have ever heard of ABYSS, so we need that sales gimmick now… before the series gets started. Trust me, you would have really loved to hate him.”

ABYSS reunites Rubio with artist Lucas Marangon, partners on the sharply satirical and best-selling Star Wars: Tag and Bink comic series. The duo’s reverent whit and colorful exploitation was recently honored by the American Library Association.

Rounding out the team are renowned creator Nick Schley (Abiding Perdition) on inks, colorist Andrew Dalhouse (Garth Ennis’ Wormwood), and 2007 Harvey Award nominee letterer, Troy Peteri (Necromancer).

Savvy fans have become wary of publicity deaths and claim that editors plot a path to resurrection in advance. Is ABYSS really going to stay dead? “I’m not going to sit here and say he’s completely dead,” Rubio replied. “But fans are going to have to wait until page 8 or so before they find out those kind of big answers.”

ABYSS begins its four-issue bi-monthly dose of comedic, dysfunctional and heroic adventures this October 2007 from Red 5 Comics. Be sure to contact your favorite comic shop and ask them to order your copy from the August issue of Diamond Previews catalog.

About Red 5 Comics
Red 5 Comics creates and produces cinematic-style comic book entertainment, with first issues debuting in October 2007. It was founded by Paul Ens, former director of Lucasfilm’s Lucas Online, and Scott Chitwood, co-founder of TheForce.net. Red 5 is proudly presented by ComingSoon.net and SuperHeroHype.com.

For updated information on Red 5 Comics and their titles, visit http://www.red5comics.com/

This sound like some great irreverent fun. The limited artwork I can find on their website shows a cartoon like style, but watching the Star Wars / Cops film that the writer made, with the solid art at the website and given it is some new blood in the industry I'm signing up for this title.

Next up is Neozoic - Dinosaurs and a beautiful kick ass woman on the cover is a good start. The official hype: DINOSAURS BECOME PREY IN NEOZOIC FROM RED 5 COMICS
FATE SPARED THE DINOSAUR RACE. IT’S UP TO LILLI TO SAVE THE HUMAN RACE.

Calgary, AB – July 10, 2007 – In NEOZOIC, a debut title from publisher Red 5 Comics, there’s nothing special about an 80-foot-long brachiosaurus lumbering past a group of human travelers. It’s been going on for millions of years.

However, if those same humans hear the blood-thirty roars of a T-Rex, then it’s time to call the professional super-hunters of the Predator Defense League. Armed only with swords, arrows, warrior cunning, ruthless precision and a lifetime of training, these exceptionally skilled athletes keep the citizens of the walled city of Monanti from becoming a dinosaur’s breakfast.

NEOZOIC is the creation of Lucasfilm-veteran Paul Ens, writer of the fan-favorite “Star Wars: Evasive Action” series. Like most boys, at an early age Ens was inspired by dinosaurs. “And like most comic writers,” he adds, “my childhood influences never left me. Dinosaurs thrilled me first from the pages of science books, then in entertainment like Land of the Lost, Godzilla and Jurassic Park.”

Unlike most dinosaur-themed fiction, where ill-prepared and unsuspecting modern-day humans are thrust together with pre-historic beasts through some contortion in time, NEOZOIC imagines an Earth where the dinosaurs escaped extinction altogether. As a result, the entire history of the human race unfolded side-by-side with the giant beasts, leading to a society greatly different than the one we know today.

While the kinetic pencils of J. Korim and the rich colors of Jessie Lam deliver on the promise of epic evenly-matched human / dino battles like never seen before, the complex heart of NEOZOIC is in its ensemble cast of characters.

“Just as the war with cylons is merely a backdrop for multi-textured drama in Battlestar Galactica,” Ens explains, “the epic struggles in NEOZOIC are human conflicts stemming from the different approaches to survival from such formidable natural predators.”

NEOZOIC is a bi-monthly comic series debuting October 2007 from Red 5 Comics. Be sure to contact your favorite comic shop and ask them to order your copy from the August issue of Diamond Previews catalog.

So this book will also be added to my list. The cover looks solid, the premise is great and again a new publisher.

Check out their website and order one of the books to try out. To be a sucessful launch for me the books have to actually show up in October and the subsequent issues need to be published as announced. So Abyss #2 in December 2007 is fine, in December 2008 who cares.