HYBRID: Building The Beast

If you're reading this, then somehow, some way, you know that a comic book named "Hybrid" is debuting on June 27, that a feature film is scheduled to be made from it through Myriad Pictures, and you're intrigued to learn more. You've also probably guessed that I am the friendly, neighborhood writer responsible for it, so if you're expecting this blog to be critical and clear eyed, then you should just keep moving. Nothing to see here.

You see, I'm in love. Creature love. Have been ever since I was a kid and spent many a Saturday afternoon watching any number of Ray Harryhausen movies. Ever since those damn flying monkeys in "Wizard of Oz". And, yeah, ever since Luke Skywalker walked into a dive bar in Mos Eisley. When writing "Hybrid", as both comic book and screenplay, I reached back to those kinds of stories that originally fired my imagination: the creature feature. These monsters didn't just take up screen space, but seemed to be lifted from the dreams of every child who was ever afraid of the dark. The great monsters were primal, sensual, and yeah, not unlike us. They had needs as deep as any Shakespearean character. Would King Kong be as memorable if he weren't in love (or lust)? Frankenstein didn't just destroy, it hungered for human connection. And Godzilla didn't just destroy Tokyo, it was taking revenge on those whose power lust for weapons of mass destruction messed up his nap time.

The creature in "Hybrid" was conceived in this spirit. Is it a killing machine? You bet. But it's also a whole lot more. It thinks. It hides. It learns. And, as is apparent early on, it's not too crazy with those of us who litter, don't recycle, and drive SUV's. Are you going to see it in issue one? Better. You'll feel it, in every panel, every page. The dread, I hope, will be unnerving. And when you do see it, you'll think twice the next time someone invites you out for an afternoon of smooth sailing.

My other approach was to write the kind of horror story that had been MIA for some time. As a fan of the genre, I feel disenfranchised by the current, and ugly, obsession with "torture porn". Social commentary readings aside, there hasn't been anything particularly frightening about this sub genre. Since when does gore and bodily mutilation equal scary? For me, it's a lazy plot device, and I'm glad it appears to be playing itself out. No. "Hybrid" is classic monster movie stuff. It was done in the great spirit of other maritime adventures like "Jaws", "Dead Calm", and even "Knife In The Water". These movies all taught me the same lesson: Atmosphere, character, suspense, action, gore, and sincere humor can all fit into one movie, even one scene, and even onto one small, claustrophobic schooner, adrift and lost at sea, with no help in sight.

So come aboard. Dramamine to your left, life jackets to the right. Don't play with the spear gun if you've been drinking. Still, it should be fun. Just don't expect to see anyone tortured.

More Coverage of Night & Fog

Some more excellent write-ups on more of our favorite horror sites...

Screamstress

Shock Till You Drop

Everything Scary

Goblinhaus

Fangoria

That last link features an interview with Alex and myself about writing Night & Fog.

407 Titles in the April Previews

That is to say, Studio 407 titles in the April Previews in general, not that we actually have four-hundred-and-seven individual titles in the issue! One day, but not yet. Right now we've got about eighteen in the pipeline, so we're on our way! But I'm babbling.

What was this post about? Oh, yes! That we have two titles listed in the April issue of Previews, that great tome of wonderful books and objects that comic shops order from. The one with the jaw-droppingly awesome Indiana Jones cover this month. Indy might be published by Dark Horse (oh how I hope their new series is as awesome as the Indy miniseries they used to put out back in the nineties!), but it's still cool to share pages with him in previews. (Indiana Jones? Dark Horse? "Why are you promoting other companies???" they're yelling at me. I better stop.)

The point is, we've got something just as awesome. If you like Indiana Jones, then you should definitely check out Tiger & Crane, written by my good buddy Randy and my own Night & Fog collaborator Alex, and illustrated with a furious gusto by Mark Louie Vuycankiat. It's Indy meets Bond with Kung Fu. Try it; you'll like it! Just to confuse things, it's solicited in the Bluewater section of Previews rather than the Studio 407 because they're publishing it. But I swear it's a 407 book! Under Studio 407, you'll find another comic: Hybrid. Hybrid is an incredibly creepy new maritime horror story by Peter Kwong & Pablo Churin. The full solicitation copy for both follows, along with covers. I have to say, that Tiger & Crane one with the rising sun is probably my favorite cover on any of our books yet! Isn't it a thing of beauty?

Tiger & Crane #3

Baron Akashi and Force 777, Japan’s infamous secret service, leave a swathe of terror in their wake as they continue their search for the mythic Staff of the Monkey King. Meanwhile, Agent Foster Dulles races to find the Black Tiger and enlist the martial arts hero in his cause to find the Staff before the Japanese can get their hands on it.

Hybrid #1

When four friends decide to rent a schooner for the day, everything is smooth sailing until they encounter a derelict ship adrift in the ocean--a massive trawler that looks as if it had been dragged from the bottom of the sea. When they spot a frightened little girl waving at them from the bow, they have no choice but to investigate. As they get closer to the ship, they discover that the girl is not alone.

Making Headlines

Now that our press release is out for Night & Fog, and the book is in Previews, coverage is starting to pop up all over the web. I've gotta say, it's kind of a thrill to see something I've been a part of creating getting mentioned on some of my favorite websites! Here's a sampling so far:

InOut Star

Bloody Disgusting

Oh My Gore

Previews (Review)

I'll post some more mentions as I see them. But I won't find out about all of them. If you've given any of our comics any coverage on your site and want it linked, I'd love to hear from you!

Official Press Release For Night & Fog

STUDIO 407 PULLS THE TRIGGER

For Immediate Release

Santa Monica, CA – March 13, 2007 – Studio 407, the newly established Santa Monica-based writer-driven creative lab, will publish its first comic book title NIGHT & FOG, hitting comic book stores on May 27, 2008. The scrappy creative house, which made news recently when they announced their first-look deal with film indy Myriad Pictures, are the creators of Bluewater Productions’ smash series TIGER & CRANE.

NIGHT & FOG is a six-issue miniseries that takes its cue from classic horror literature and turns it on its head, reinventing the monster comic for a new generation. On an island off the coast of Canada, a military science experiment, linked to a terrible secret from the past, infects a nearby village, turning the inhabitants into bloodthirsty, rampaging creatures. Even armed with the state-of-the-art weaponry, the military personnel on the island are helpless against creatures who are almost impossible to destroy and can adapt under almost any attack. They’ve created the perfect killing machine that can survive under any conditions, but they no longer have the means to control them. For the small band of survivors, it’s one terrible, endless night, which they must somehow survive until an elite rescue team can arrive to save them.

NIGHT & FOG is written by Alex Leung and Matthew Bradford, with stunning artwork by Argentine artist Roberto Castro. Castro’s gritty, realistic style, hearkens back to the classic look of ’70s horror magazines Eerie and Creepy. Colorist JM Ringuet, whose evocative, painted coloring style adds to the sense of dread and excitement, rounds out the creative team.

Leung cites James Cameron’s seminal Aliens as a primary inspiration, saying, "I’ve always loved the idea of creatures so potent they render even the most cutting-edge military technology utterly useless. I like putting the most highly-trained, elite commandos in situations even they cannot comprehend."

Bradford compliments Leung by taking his cue from another generation of fear. "I listened to wall-to-wall Hammer soundtracks while writing NIGHT & FOG. Nothing sets the tone for spine-tingling terror like the music of James Bernard."

After NIGHT & FOG, Studio 407 will be coming out with three more books in the summer including HYBRID and THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST, and have ten more books in various stages of production. "This book will set the standard for the kind of quality that we represent," promises 407 Editor-In-Chief Chad Jones. "We tell stories we love and hope others feel the same way about them."

Earlier this year, Studio 407 and Myriad Pictures, helmed by President and CEO Kirk D’Amico, formed a firstlook partnership to make full-length live-action motion pictures. The first project, HYBRID, is scheduled to begin shooting later this year.

NIGHT & FOG #1 (of 6) hits shelves late May. It’s featured as a Staff Pick on page 338 of the March 2008 issue of Diamond Previews. The Diamond Code is MAR 08 3955. Retail support for NIGHT & FOG includes a fold-out poster featuring the cover on one side, and a preview of interior pages on the other, which will be included in the March 19 issue of retailer newsletter Dateline. A nine-page preview can be viewed at: http://www.studio-407.com/nfpreview/
ABOUT STUDIO 407


Short for "40 Guns and 7 Swords," Studio 407 is an East-meets-West company that brings together the imagination and talents of writers and artists from North America and Asia to generate distinct and kinetic stories. In addition to developing its own in house material it will also be publishing graphic novels from Europe and manga and manwha titles from Asia. For more information about Studio 407 and its titles you can check out their website at studio-407.com.

A Staff Pick In Previews!

Our first official* Studio 407 comic book, Night & Fog, is solicited in the current issue of Previews... and they made it a staff pick! We couldn't be more thrilled. In a beautiful quarter-page box on page 4, staffer Shelly says:

Okay, where is Night & Fog issue #2? I can't wait to read it! There is so much going on in this comic, and there are so many small stories building up into something huge, that I literally could not stop reading it! And then guess what? It wasn't over! I have to wait for
the next issue to have my questions answered! This book has left me in a state of frenzy because I yearn to read more about these characters and their predicaments!

Shelly later concludes her review with some of the kindest
words we could hope for:

Night & Fog is an excellent first offering by newcomers (to Previews, anyway) Studio 407. The writing is amazing, as is the artwork. Take a chance with someone new and give Night & Fog a try - you won't be sorry.

Well, as one of the writers on the book, all I can say is... Aw, shucks. Thanks, Shelly! I do hope readers take her advice and give the book a try. I'm blown away by Roberto Castro's artwork, and though I may be biased, I can't help but agree with Shelly that the book makes a damn good read. Read her whole review here.

*Tiger & Crane was published by Bluewater

A Bumpy Start

Are we up and running? Is anyone there? I suppose the answer to the first one is yes, but the second has yet to be revealed...

Well, I mentioned that we'd be sharing the trials and tribulations of getting a new comic book company up and running, and that's all it's been so far! We're learning some lessons.

We all waited with baited breath for our first book, Tiger & Crane, to drop on February 27 via Bluewater, and then the big day came... and it didn't. Co-writer Randy Zamcheck hit the local comic shops, excited, found nothing, and started calling us. But we didn't have any answers. Turns out there was a shipping delay (let's hope that's not fortuitous!) and our big debut would be put off a few weeks. Word came through that the new date would be March 19. Then the book turned up this past week, out of the blue! Maybe that's just on the West Coast, but it is out there, and it should definitely be in your local store, wherever you live, by this coming Wednesday. So go out and pick it up! The delay may have created some brief anxiety, but we're pretty damn happy with the way it came out.

So what other lessons have we been learning? Communication is key. I guess that probably goes for all small companies, but it's certainly true in the comic biz. We've got a fulltime staff of three right now, running the office, and several part-timers (including myself) with other fulltime jobs, and some very diligent interns who come in when they can. But since we don't all see each other that regularly, it's easy for lines to get crossed. Luckily, we're working on this one too, and like the delayed release date, it will soon be nothing more than a past mistake. The fact that this blog is now live (for real) is proof of that. Like we promised, we're sharing the highs and the lows.

And if this post focuses a little too heavily on the lows, stay tuned for the highs in the next post...

Welcome to the Studio 407 blog...

If you're here, I'm sure you've already been to the Studio 407 website, poked around, and presumably liked what you saw. The first issue of our first book, Tiger & Crane, comes out next week on Feb. 27, so we're pretty excited around here, and just a little scared. You see, we're pretty much all learning this comic book publishing business as we go along, and a big reason for the blog is to bring readers in on the ground floor, to share with everyone the trials and tribulations of getting a company like this off the ground, getting books in stores, and--hopefully!--getting the books into the hands of readers.

Instead of waiting till each cover is finalized, we'll share rough cover designs with you, including rejected ones. We'll put up art from comics in progress, both finished and unfinished. We'll post script pages. Writers of the various books will chime in with insight into their processes, and artists will share sketches. Those writers and artists will also probably vent a little about the weight of marketing their own books, and learning how to do so on the fly. Yes, it's true: we don't have a marketing staff... yet. We're doing it ourselves, so as we go, we'll share our failures as well as our successes, our mistakes as well as our... Is there an opposite of mistake? See? We're still learning! Stick around for the ride.