ELEPHANTMEN HEADING TO THE BIG SCREEN
Zucker Productions adapting ELEPHANTMEN for major motion picture

Berkeley, CA - 12 April 2010 - Comicraft/Active Images is proud to announce the option of their Image Comics series ELEPHANTMEN by Zucker Productions for major motion picture development.

The treatment for the movie is being drafted by Richard Starkings, creator and writer of ELEPHANTMEN. Starkings shares, "I'm very pleased to be working with producer Janet Zucker and everyone at Zucker Productions. Janet has a wonderful instinct for story and totally understands the more subtle tones of the ELEPHANTMEN series."

"Richard has created a world of implausible ideas and impossible characters, a world where transgenic animals and human beings come together in a dark, yet hopeful universe," says Janet Zucker. "Jerry (Zucker, Director of GHOST) and I can't wait to bring the stories of Hip, Horn and Sahara to life on screen in a way that will simply take your breath away

Starkings was approached by a number of companies and directors interested in optioning the project, but until recently he brushed them away, preferring to concentrate on putting out a good book. "On the road to the creation of ELEPHANTMEN, I talked to everyone else in the business and listened to their advice. It's taken a very long time to build the series -- I created these characters fifteen years ago -- and I'm very grateful for our loyal readers and the incredible professional support that the book has received." says Starkings. "I didn't set out with a movie in mind, but I am grateful that this opportunity has come along and allows me to continue to write something that is very dear to me."

ELEPHANTMEN is an Eisner Award winning series first published in 2002 under Starkings' Active Images imprint. In 2006 Image Comics approached Starkings to bring the book under their umbrella. The story of the Elephantmen takes place in Los Angeles in the not too distant future -- in a world where human/animal hybrids were created to fight a war between Africa and China. Scarred by their experiences in war and seeking to somehow find their own humanity, the Elephantmen are now scattered throughout the world amongst the humans they were created to kill. ELEPHANTMEN is a brilliant commentary on racism, miscegenation, global warming, stem cell research and warfare. Created and written by Starkings, the series features artwork by Ladrönn, Moritat and Boo Cook.

ELEPHANTMEN #25 (DEC090405), a 32-page full color comic book for $3.50, will be in stores on April 21, 2010. Collections of the ongoing series include ELEPHANTMEN 01: NO SURRENDER, ELEPHANTMEN 02: WOUNDED ANIMALS and ELEPHANTMEN 03: DANGEROUS LIASONS. Also available: ELEPHANTMEN: HIP FLASK: UNNATURAL SELECTION, ELEPHANTMEN: HIP FLASK: CONCRETE JUNGEL, ELEPHANTMEN: CAPTAIN STONEHEART AND THE TRUTH FAIRY and ELEPHANTMEN: ART OF LADRÖNN.

Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.