Baltimore Comic-Con: LEGENDARY starts up comics company

By pghhead -

 

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - - AUGUST 20, 2011:

Comic-Con attendees were given a preview of the initial offerings from LEGENDARY COMICS during a panel/presentation on Saturday afternoon.

LEGENDARY COMICS is  a new division of the rapidly growing LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT who with LEGENDARY PICTURES has produced 25 feature films since 2004.  These include fan favorites BATMAN BEGINS, BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT, INCEPTION, 300, WATCHMEN, THE HANGOVER  as well as upcoming BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT RISES,  MAN OF STEEL (Superman), PACIFIC RIM and MASS EFFECT.  LEGENDARY COMICS hired veteran comics industry professional Bob Schreck as editor and has assembled some award-winning creative talent for their debut books.

schreck Baltimore Comic Con August 20, 2011 006

Schreck served as moderator of the presentation at Comic-Con, and along with assistant editor Greg Tumbarello highlighted the initial three books.  As Schreck spoke about the premise behind LEGENDARY COMICS he explained that chief executive officer Thomas Tull “knows comics and how to bring properties to the screen that portray them accurately” and will do justice to the subject material.  According to Schreck, Tull is a huge comics fan and wants to create a “Tiffany line of books” that are solid and diverse with leanings towards science-fiction and fantasy.  As a comics company, they don’t have to offer a set number of properties - - they don’t have to rush to market - - and they are able to take the time to develop them properly.  “We don’t have to put out 40 books a month,”   Schreck commented.

Holy Terror ad_n

The first LEGENDARY COMICS offering will debut at the end of September:  HOLY TERROR written and illustrated by the renowned Frank Miller.  As a hard cover graphic novel one-shot, HOLY TERROR is reverential of those Americans who lost their lives on September 11.   Schreck described it as kind of “Frank’s  modern version of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS”, a let’s get ‘em revenge tale set in Empire City, a fictional version of NYC which has also been devastated by a terroristic act of destruction.   The project was started eight years ago by Miller and is finally finished.

A trailer of HOLY TERROR with more previews of art/images can be found here:  http://www.legendary.com/blog/holy-terror-trailer/

towerChronicles

The second title will be released in April or May of 2012 and is based on an idea by CEO Thomas Tull.  TOWER CHRONICLES is an action/adventure piece centered around a supernatural bounty hunter and will be scripted by Matt Wagner with art by Simon Bisley. Format will be either a monthly mini-series or a 64-page prestige format book. 

hopetest

Also debuting in 2012 will be PULP HOPE 2012, the third title to be published as a large art book with text.  A sequel to PULP HOPE, it’s a retrospective of the career of highly talented and sought after  writer/artist/designer/creator  Paul Pope, who Schreck describes as the “Jimmy Morrison of comics”.  Paul Pope is best known in the comics world for BATMAN YEAR 100 which earned awards for best writer, best artist and best story of the year when it was first published.

The Comic-Con presentation helped put to rest some rumors that LEGENDARY COMICS was started to develop comics into movie properties, or fear that it would use comics to generate interest in upcoming films and help sell tickets.  “We know there is a concern out there that we’re getting into comics for the wrong reason . . . . but we’re not” Schreck assured the audience.

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