ARCHAIA, ISHINOMORI PRODUCTION INC., & COMIXOLOGY
TEAM UP TO DELIVER THE FIRST ‘TRULY DIGITAL’ VARIANT
COMIC BOOK COVER WITH ‘CYBORG 009: CHAPTER 000’

‘Cyborg 009: Chapter 000’ special cover and comic created in honor of legendary manga creator
Shotaro Ishinomori’s 75th birthday

New York, NY (Jan. 23, 2013) – Award-winning graphic novel publisher Archaia Entertainment has teamed up with Ishinomori Production Inc. and comiXology—the revolutionary digital comics platform boasting iTunes’ #3 top grossing iPad app of 2012—to deliver the first “truly digital” variant comic book cover! Created specifically for comiXology’s Guided View reading technology, the cover to Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 celebrates the 75th birthday of legendary manga creator Shotaro Ishinomori, known the world over for creating Go Rangers (the precursor to Power Rangers), Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider (a.k.a. Masked Rider), Kikaider, and Skull Man.
“We can’t think of a better way to celebrate the innovative work of manga legend Shotaro Ishinomori than debuting the groundbreaking ‘truly digital’ variant of Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 by Archaia,” said co-founder of comiXology John D. Roberts. “We knew that comiXology’s Guided View would play a big role in the evolution of comics storytelling but this ‘truly digital’ variant is an exciting leap into a whole new direction. Here’s to the first of many!”
“After changing the way people think about printed books the past few years, one of our missions at Archaia for 2013 is to change the way people think about digital storytelling,” said Archaia Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy. “What we’ve produced with comiXology for Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 is almost a digital ‘flip book’ cover for the 21st century, with Marcus To and Ian Herring brilliantly bringing to life a fight between Cyborg 009 and an unnamed agent of series villain, The Black Ghost. I can’t wait for comics fans around the world to see what Marcus and Ian have created.”
Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 previews Archaia’s full-length hardcover graphic novel, featuring a contemporary take on Ishinomori’s classic Cyborg 009 characters. It will debut at Comic-Con International in San Diego this July. Written by F.J. DeSanto (The Spirit, Insurgent) and Bradley Cramp (Gattaca), illustrated by Marcus To (Huntress, Red Robin), and colored by Eisner Award Nominee Ian Herring (Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand), Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 is available today exclusively across comiXology’s entire digital comics platform including the iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 and the Web
Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 features the first 17 pages of the forthcoming Cyborg 009 graphic novel from Archaia, as well as the first 61 pages of the original Cyborg 009 Volume 1 manga, which, along with other works by Ishinomori, are also available for purchase on comiXology.
Conceptualized and brought to life by Marcus To, Ian Herring, Eisner Award-nominated designer Jon Adams, Eisner Award-winning editor Stephen Christy, and comiXology co-founder John D. Roberts, the Cyborg 009: Chapter 000 cover is available exclusively through the comiXology digital comics platform.
The original Cyborg 009 manga has sold over 250,000,000 copies worldwide. A new animated movie adaptation produced by Production I.G was released this past October in Japan.
About Archaia Entertainment, LLC
Archaia is a multi-award-winning graphic novel publisher with more than 75 renowned publishing brands, including such domestic and international hits as Mouse Guard, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, Return of the Dapper Men, Rust Bolivar, Gunnerkrigg Court, Old City Blues, Awakening, The Killer, Tumor, Syndrome, Artesia, and an entire line of The Jim Henson Company graphic novels such as The Dark Crystal, The Story Teller, and Fraggle Rock. Archaia has built an unparalleled reputation for producing meaningful content that perpetually transforms minds, building one of the industry’s most visually stunning and eclectic slates of graphic novels. Archaia was named Graphic Novel Publisher of the Year by Ain’t it Cool News, Comic Related, and Graphic Policy, which honored the publisher two years in a row. Archaia was honored with nine 2011 Eisner Awards nominations and two Awards for Best Graphic Album and Best Anthology. In 2012, Archaia was honored with six Harvey Award nominations, two Harvey Awards, six Eisner nominations and three Eisner Awards, and both Gold and Silver awards from ForeWord Reviews. In addition to publications, Archaia has successfully emerged as a prolific storyteller in all facets of the entertainment industry, extending their popular brands into film, television, gaming, and branded digital media. For more information, visit the Archaia website at www.archaia.com.
About comiXology
Founded in 2007 with the mission of bringing comics to people everywhere, comiXology has revolutionized the comic book and graphic novel world. With the development of the comiXology digital comics platform - with buy-once, read-anywhere availability across across iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 and the Web— comiXology provides the easiest way worldwide for people to enjoy comics anywhere they happen to be! Regularly ranking as the top grossing iPad app in the entire iTunes App Store, comiXology is one of the leading drivers of the iPad economy. Providing the most digital comics on the most devices, comiXology will not stop until everyone on the face of the planet has been turned into a comic book fan.
About Ishinomori Production Inc.
Founded by the late Shotaro Ishinomori in the 1970s, Ishinomori Production Inc. continues to bring the properties of the legendary manga creator to the world via film, television, animation, publishing and other media. Born in 1938, Ishinomori made his debut in 1954 with “Second Class Angel” while still a student in high school. Ishinomori would go on to create classic manga titles such as CYBORG 009, GORANGER, KIKAIDER, and SKULLMAN as well as hundreds of others. He was a prominent figure in the Manga industry for decades, working in varying genres and using his chosen medium to spread a universal message of positivity throughout the world. Ishinomori’s creations have been produced in over 105 different movies and television series. His most successful creation, KAMEN RIDER (a.k.a. MASKED RIDER), was launched simultaneously as a manga and television series in 1971, making it one of the world’s first transmedia properties. Over the course of 42 years, more than a thousand episodes of KAMEN RIDER and 39 feature films have been produced. It is now the number one boys merchandise seller in Japan, having exceeded $325 Million U.S. in annual wholesales. Shotaro Ishinomori is also registered in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest number of comics published by a single author (770 titles and 128,000 pages of material), for his vast library of titles that cover a multitude of genres, including super heroes, sci-fi, drama, history, comedy, romance and countless others. Ishinomori Production Inc. is headquartered in Tokyo.