EPIC POWER STRUGGLES IN RAVINE

New graphic novel series takes fantasy to new heights

Longtime collaborators on the Image Comics/Top Cow series ARTIFACTS, Ron Marz and Stjepan Sejic have taken their creative partnership to a new level — a creator-owned graphic novel series, RAVINE, starting in February 2013. Epic fantasy at its highest with dragons, magic, and political machinations, is set in the kingdom of Palladia, a world that Sejic has been developing for the past eleven years.

"Ravine originated from my desire to make a fantasy comic series that was a full-blooded fantasy tale with rich character development, layered, well-motivated villains, and a deeply detailed world," said Sejic in a December 20 interview with Comic Book Resources.

The world is one where intrigue and power struggles have so dominated the lives of those who rule — royalty and religious leaders alike — that they are blind to the gathering forces that threaten all of them.

While the story, world, and characters are Sejic's, Marz acts as scripter and editor. Both creators cite the nature of an epic fantasy as the reason for releasing the series as graphic novels rather than individual issues.

"This story kind of demands to be told in large chunks," said Marz. "We want this first release to be read as one big story, not serialized, so we're going straight to the collection. It's a bigger risk this way, but I think there's a bigger reward creatively."

RAVINE: VOLUME ONE (DEC120509), a 160-page graphic novel for $14.99, will be released on February 13.

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.