RIAN HUGHES LEADS SCI-FI BRITISH INVASION TO IMAGE

Image Comics to Publish Short Story Collection With Mark Millar & More

Berkeley, CA – 22 September 2011 – This December, Image Comics will present an outrageously pulpy collection of science fiction short stories all drawn by Rian Hughes (YESTERDAY'S TOMORROWS) and written by some of Britain’s finest comic writers, including Mark Millar (Kick Ass and WANTED), Alan McKenzie (The Harrison Ford Story) and John Smith (Devin Waugh), all together in one colorful oversized hardcover, specially designed by Rian.

"I worked with some great writers on these stories," said Hughes. "And it's nice to be bringing all these tales together in one beautiful volume, with all-new material, via Image."

TALES FROM BEYOND SCIENCE HC will invite readers to follow Hilary Tremayne on eight surreal journeys into the unknown, where they may discover the truth behind the mysteries of spontaneous human combustion, the Bermuda Triangle, the lost 13th month, and the real reason men have nipples.

TALES FROM BEYOND SCIENCE HC (OCT110500, ISBN: 978-1-60706-471-8), an 88-page full-color sci-fi mystery and suspense hardcover for $16.99, will be on sale in stores December 21, and is available for order in the upcoming October issue of Previews.

ABOUT RIAN HUGHES

Londoner Rian Hughes began his career as a designer working for Smash Hits, i-D magazine and a series of record sleeve design companies. His early comic strip work appeared in the alternative press magazine Escape, and this led to work for Belgian art-house publisher Magic Strip. His first mainstream UK comic work was Dan Dare with Grant Morrison for Fleetway’s short-lived Revolver title, and from there he moved to 2000AD, illustrating such series as Really and Truly, again with Morrison, and Robo-Hunter with Peter Hogan. Dividing his time between illustration and design, he has provided design, custom type and illustration for advertising campaigns, CD and record sleeves, book jackets and graphic novels, and numerous comic book logos for mainstream comic publishers such as DC Comics and Marvel. Recent publications include Cult-ure: Ideas can be Dangerous (Fiell) and Yesterday’s Tomorrows, a collection of his comic work which was recently launched at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and is now available from Image. 

ABOUT MARK MILLAR

Scottish writer Mark Millar is known for his work on bestselling titles The Authority, The Ultimates, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Civil War. He tackled his first job as a comic book writer when he was still in high school, writing indie publisher Trident’s Saviour with Daniel Vallely providing the art. This led to work for mainstream titles 2000 AD, Sonic the Comic and Crisis in the 1990s. Millar’s British work brought him to the attention of DC Comics, and in 1994 he started working on his first American comic, Swamp Thing, the first four issues of which were co-written by Grant Morrison. From there he worked on various DC titles, co-writing JLA, The Flash and Aztek: The Ultimate Man. In 2000, Millar replaced Warren Ellis on The Authority for DC’s Wildstorm imprint, leading to an increase in sales and earning him many awards at home and abroad. In 2004 Millar launched his creator-owned line Millarworld and released the books Wanted, Chosen, The Unfunnies, Kick-Ass and War Heroes from four different publishers. Wanted and Kick-Ass have both been adapted into succesful feature films. In August 2007 he won the Stan Lee award at Wizardworld, Chicago.

ABOUT JOHN SMITH

John Smith’s earliest work was for D. C. Thomson’s science fiction comic Starblazer in the mid-1980s. He wrote his first script for 2000 AD in 1986, and the long-running political superhero series New Statesmen for Crisis in 1988.

Series for 2000 AD with creative credits to his name include A Love Like Blood, Devlin Waugh, Firekind, Holocaust 12, Indigo Prime, Pussyfoot 5, Revere, Slaughterbowl, Tyranny Rex, Leatherjack, Dead Eyes and the fan-favourite ‘hoodie horror’ strip Cradlegrave. He has also written Tharg’s Future Shocks, Heavy Metal Dredd, Judge Dredd, Judge Karyn, Pulp Sci-Fi, Robo-Hunter, Rogue Trooper, Tales of Mega-City One and Vector 13. For DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint he has written Hellblazer, and an eight-part series called Scarab which originally began as a reboot of Doctor Fate. John has also written Vampirella and Pantha for Harris Comics.

ABOUT ALAN MCKENZIE

Alan McKenzie began his career in the field of publishing by becoming an Editorial Assistant for Top Sellers, who published the British Edition of MAD magazine and the fondly-remembered comic House of Hammer/Horror. He then moved to Marvel Comics, where he edited science fiction movie magazine Starburst and a comic devoted to the adventures of TV favourite, Doctor Who. Two years of freelance writing resulted in books on Harrison Ford (Zomba Books, London 1984), Hollywood Tricks of the Trade (Gallery Books, 1985), How to Draw and Sell Comic Strips (North Light/Titan, 1987, 1998 & 2004) and numerous magazine articles. In the area of comic strips he wrote ninja stories for IPC’s Battle Action Force, a monthly comic adventure for Doctor Who and a two-page adaptation of the entire opera Carmen. After a marathon eight-year stint as initially a freelance deputy editor then on-staff as editor of the UK’s best-selling 2000AD, to which he contributed the occasional script, he moved into computer magazine publishing and now divides his time between online communications technology and updating his earlier best-sellers.

ABOUT IMAGE COMICS

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 five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound 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.