VIZ MEDIA UNLEASHES THE TERRIFYING RESIDENT EVIL MANGA SERIES

AND OFFERS A SPECIAL FREE PREVIEW FOR HALLOWEEN COMICFEST 2014

Discover The Source Of The Outbreak Of The Deadly C-Virus In The Gritty Manga Prequel To CAPCOM’s Popular Resident Evil^® 6 Game Property

San Francisco, CA, October 16, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, gives gamers and action fans a special FREE sneak preview of its forthcoming RESIDENT EVIL: THE MARHAWA DESIRE manga (graphic novel) series as part of the company’s participation in 2014 Halloween ComicFest. 

The terrifying 5-volume apocalyptic action thriller was created by Naoki Serizawa and serves as a prequel to the storyline of CAPCOM’s bestselling Resident Evil^® 6 game property. The manga series is rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers and will launch on November 18^th under the VIZ Signature imprint. RESIDENT EVIL: THE MARHAWA DESIRE Vol. 1 will carry a print MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $14.99 CAN.

Held each year, Halloween ComicFest is celebrated at scores of comic shops and retailers nationwide on the Saturday before Halloween. On this day, participating shops offer fans and visitors a special FREE Halloween ComicFest sampler filled with previews of scores of exciting upcoming titles. For additional information and a list of participating retailers, please visit: www.halloweencomicfest.com.

The highly virulent C-virus became a global disaster, but where did the outbreak start? In the series’ opening volume, at the prestigious and elite Marhawa Academy in Singapore, a female student suffers a horrifying transformation. Called in to investigate, Professor Doug Wright and his nephew Ricky find themselves caught up in a deadly and growing tragedy. As things get rapidly out of hand, Chris Redfield and his team from the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance arrive on the scene, while behind it all a mysterious figure looms.

“Discover the sinister beginnings of the Resident Evil story in the first-ever manga series based on the smash hit game property,” says Michael Montesa, Editor. “Along with tracing the source of the deadly viral outbreak, the manga series also presents the debut of Piers Nivans, who appears in the Resident Evil 6 video game as Chris Redfield's new partner. Readers will not want to miss a special advance preview of RESDIENT EVIL as part of Halloween ComicFest. Catch the full launch of this spine tingling new series from the VIZ Signature imprint next month!”

Since the landmark release of Resident Evil in 1996, the CAPCOM franchise has firmly established itself as a truly worldwide entertainment brand and mainstay of contemporary culture with a series of live action movies, CG anime, manga, novels and numerous merchandising lines. To date the Resident Evil series of videogames has achieved global sales of over 50 million units, while the live action movies starring Milla Jovovich have grossed in excess of $525 million dollars at the box office.

RESIDENT EVIL artist/author Naoki Serizawa is a multi-talented photographer and cinematographer as well as a manga artist and writer. His other series Saru Lock was developed into a TV drama in Japan in 2009.

For more information on RESIDENT EVIL: THE MARHAWA DESIRE or other manga and/or anime titles published by VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and ONE PIECE, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

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RESIDENT EVIL © CAPCOM © 2012 NAOKI SERIZAWA / AKITASHOTEN

Marvel Comics & Wizard World Reveal 'Superior Iron Man #1' Exclusive Variant Cover By Ty Templeton For Reno Comic Con

VIP Attendees Receive Free Copy At Reno-Sparks Convention Center, November 21-23; Concludes Year-long Series In Which Marvel Offers Exclusive Books At All 16 Wizard World Shows

NEW YORK, October 17, 2014 – Marvel Comics and Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB: WIZD) today revealed the latest and final edition of the 2014 series of exclusive variant covers of the best Marvel titles with the unveiling of Superior Iron Man #1, drawn by noted Canadian artist Ty Templeton. VIP attendees at the inaugural Wizard World Reno Comic Con, November 21-23 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, will receive a free copy of the limited-edition book at registration.

Templeton is scheduled to be on site at the event to sign copies of Superior Iron Man #1 (autograph fees may apply). Leading professional comic grader CGC will also be on hand to accept books for grading and Signature Series.

The exclusive version of Superior Iron Man #1 will be limited to 3,000 copies and provided free at registration to all Wizard World Reno Comic Con VIP attendees, including any celebrity VIP packages.

Templeton's work follows the first 15 entries in 2014: Miracleman #1 and Miracleman #2, both drawn by Eisner Award Hall of Famer Neal Adams for Portland Comic Con (Jan. 24-26) and New Orleans Comic Con (Feb. 7-9), respectively; Wolverine #1, illustrated by noted cover artist Greg Horn, for Sacramento Comic Con (March 7-9); Daredevil #1 by Michael Golden for Louisville Comic Con (March 28-30); Wolverine & The X-Men #1 by David Mack for St. Louis Comic Con (April 4-6); Hulk #1 by Mike Grell for Minneapolis Comic Con (May 2-4); John Tyler Christopher's Amazing Spider-Man #1 for Atlanta Comic Con (May 30 – June 1); Amazing Spider-Man #1.2 by J.G. Jones for Philadelphia Comic Con (June 19-22); 100^th Anniversary X-Men Special #1 by Jorge Molina for San Antonio Comic Con (Aug. 1-3); Guardians of the Galaxy #17 by Alvaro Martinez for Chicago Comic Con (Aug. 21-24); Death of Wolverine #1 by Christopher for Richmond Comic Con (Sept. 12-14); God of Thunder #25 by Tom Raney for Nashville Comic Con (Sept. 26-28); and Captain America #25 by Julian Totino Tedesco for Austin Comic Con (Oct. 2-4). Carlo Barberi has also completed a variant of Death Of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #1 for Ohio Comic Con (Oct. 31-Nov. 2), as has Grell for Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1 for Tulsa Comic Con (Nov. 7-9).

“Superior Iron Man is going to be a thrill from page 1, panel 1,” says Marvel SVP Sales & Marketing David Gabriel. “Tony Stark is going to be put through the wringer and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have Ty Templeton commemorate the first issue with this exciting variant cover!”

A newly-minted member of the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, Templeton has worked on such characters as Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, The Simpsons, the Avengers, among many others. The Shuster Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated writer and artist has hundreds of credits, including his own graphic novel, Bigg Time and cult favorite Stig's Inferno.

“Ty Templeton's Iron Man is a striking, bold way to complete this popular Marvel limited edition series,” says John Macaluso, Wizard World CEO. “These books have been a big hit all year and having such a talented artist and new Hall of Famer create the final issue is a great bonus for our VIP attendees.”

Be Superior! How much would you pay for perfection? Beauty? Immortality? Tony Stark knows, and he’s ready to give it to you in Superior Iron Man #1! But at a terrible price. Spinning out of Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, the old Tony Stark is back, only this time he’s SUPERIOR! More stylish, more confident, and more cunning than ever before. And he’s ready to lead you into the future! San Francisco is about to become the prototype for his new world concept. The first step? Release Extremis upon the entire city! Only Daredevil isn’t down with Stark’s new vision of the future. Does the Man Without Fear have a place in the city of tomorrow? A bold new direction for the Armored Avenger begins this November from the all-new creative team of Tom Taylor (Injustice: Gods Among Us, Earth 2) and Yildray Cinar (Supergirl).

Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead, Boondock Saints), William Shatner (“Star Trek,” “Boston Legal”), Jewel Staite (“Firefly,” “Stargate: Atlantis”), Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness, Evil Dead), Billy Dee Williams (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Brian's Song), Adam West and Burt Ward (“Batman”) and WWE® Superstar Roman Reigns™ and Divas The Bella Twins™ are among the celebrities scheduled to attend Wizard World Reno Comic Con. It is the final of 16 events scheduled in the 2014 series and will also feature a variety of activities, exhibitors and special attractions.

In addition to Templeton, superstar comics creators scheduled to attend include Eisner Award Hall of Famer Neal Adams (“Batman,” “X-Men”), Phil Ortiz (“The Simpsons,” “Muppet Babies”), Kevin Maguire (“Justice League,” “Batman Confidential”), Michael Golden (“Hulk,” “Star Wars”), Arthur Suydam (“Marvel Zombies,” “Army of Darkness”), Ken Kelly (KISS album covers, “He-Man”), Pop Mhan (“DC Universe vs. The Masters of the Universe,” “Gears of War”), Greg Horn (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Avengers”) and many others.

For more on the 2014 Wizard Reno Comic Con, go to www.wizd.me/RenoPR.

About Marvel Entertainment, LLC

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information, visit www.marvel.com.

About Wizard World

Wizard World (OTCBB: WIZD) produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, television, cosplay, comics, graphic novels, toys, video gaming, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. A first-class lineup of topical programming takes place at each event, with celebrity Q&A's, the Wizard World Film Festival, comics-themed sessions, costume contests, movie screenings, evening parties and more. Wizard World also produces socialcon featuring social media stars and will be launching ConTV, a digital media channel in partnership with leading independent content distributor Cinedigm™ (NASDAQ: CIDM).

Wizard World Remaining 2014 Schedule

October 31-November 2 – Wizard World Ohio Comic Con

November 7-9 – Wizard World Tulsa Comic Con

November 21-23 – Wizard World Reno Comic Con

Wizard World 2015 schedule available at: wizd.me/PRSchedule2015.

DRIFTER REVEALS EARLY ARTWORK
The new dark sci-fi series has the industry abuzz

“Before their untimely deaths, the great Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein produced one final, amazing comic.” —Jonathan Hickman

Image Comics is pleased to reveal early artwork from writer Ivan Brandon (Wolverine, Men of War) and artist Nic Klein (Captain America, Thor), from their new, dark sci-fi series, DRIFTER. The ongoing series will launch with issue #1 on 11/12 and final order cutoff deadline for retailers is 10/20.

In DRIFTER, mankind has spread across the universe in a frantic rush to survive and has colonized and strip-mined countless planets in the process. Abram Pollux barely survives a crash landing on Ouro, a lawless backwater world where life is cheap. This world’s unique properties set the stage for a story that combines the dark wonder of a strange and alien landscape with the struggles of an abandoned and lawless frontier town.

Praise for DRIFTER:

“Crazy good and super gorgeous sci fi. Can't wait for more.” —Jason Aaron

“Fantastic.” —Dennis Hopeless

“Like if the cast of Alien settled Deadwood. Gorgeously executed stuff.”
—Jason Latour

"Phenomenal." —Fàbio Moon

"SO good!" —Phil Noto

"Strong hard-edged survivalist sci-fi with a western tinge." —Kieron Gillen

"Great stuff!!" —Cameron Stewart

"Drifter is really fantastic original sci-fi. Don't miss out." —Gerry Duggan

“Gorgeous.” —Kelly Sue Deconnick

DRIFTER #1 will be available on 11/12, the Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is 10/20.

Cover A by Klein can be ordered with Diamond Code SEP140546.
Cover B by Esad Ribic can be ordered with Diamond Code SEP140547.
Cover C by Cliff Chiang can be ordered with Diamond Code SEP140548.

 

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, fantasy, 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.

Crack the Code with Justin Jordan's
First Original Series with BOOM! Studios, 'Deep State'

   

Deep State #1 Main Cover by Matt Taylor

Deep State #1 Retailer Incentive Cover by Artyom Trakhanov

October 16, 2014 - Los Angeles, CA - Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory. Whether you want to believe it or debunk it, stories of the faked moon landing, government-sanctioned assassinations, and brainwashing have been around for generations. This November, award-winning publisher BOOM! Studios asks: What if those conspiracy theories were planted to cover up an even darker truth? Discover the conspiracy behind the conspiracies with Deep State, a new ongoing series that kicks off the first of three original series from one of the emerging voices behind hard-hitting and intelligent stories, Justin Jordan (Spread, The Strange Talent of Luther Strode), and talented artist Ariela Kristantina (Death of Wolverine).

 

“Justin is a writer we’ve been dying to work with,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “His stories are visceral, smart, and they just bleed cool. With Deep State, Justin is setting up a little patch of land for himself at BOOM! and we’re excited to have him. Ariela Kristantina is teaming up with Justin and turning in some spectacular artwork on this series—she’s definitely an artist on the rise. Get ready for them to introduce you to John Harrow in November.”

 

In Deep State, John Harrow doesn’t exist, and his job is to make sure that other things don’t exist, too. At any given time, the government is running dozens of black book operations, experiments that aren’t on any official record and are never acknowledged to exist. Some of these are innocuous. Some of them are monstrous beyond reason. And most of the time, they go as expected and the public is never the wiser. Most of the time. John Harrow’s job is to handle them when things go wrong, and do anything to make sure the government’s secrets stay just that—secret. If you’re interested in conspiracy theory stories from comics like Planetary and Sleeper to films like Enemy of the State and Three Days of the Condor, you’ll be gripped by Deep State!

Deep State #1 arrives in comic book shops on November 12th with a main cover by Mondo print illustrator Matt Taylor and a retailer incentive cover by Artyom Trakhanov (Undertow), with a cover price of $3.99 under Diamond order code SEP141117. The Final Order Cutoff Date for retailers is October 20th. Not sure where to find your nearest comic retailer? Use comicshoplocator.com or findacomicshop.com to find one! It’s also available for pre-order directly from boom-studios.com.

 

ABOUT BOOM! STUDIOS

Founded by Ross Richie in 2005, Diamond Gem Award-winning “Best Publisher” BOOM! Studios (boom-studios.com) generates a constellation of best-selling Eisner and Harvey Award-winning original and licensed comic books and graphic novels with the industry’s top talent. BOOM! Studios is comprised of four distinct imprints. The original Studios imprint is home to Mike Carey's Suicide Risk; James Tynion IV's The Woods; Mark Waid's Irredeemable; Sons of Anarchy; and Big Trouble in Little China. Steven Grant’s graphic novel 2 Guns was released as a feature film from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. BOOM!’s all-ages imprint KaBOOM! publishes Charles Schulz’ Peanuts; Jim Davis’ Garfield; Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Steven Universe; Mike Kunkel’s Herobear and the Kid; and Natasha Allegri's Bee and PuppyCat. BOOM!'s experimental imprint BOOM! Box publishes The Midas Flesh and Lumberjanes. In June 2013, BOOM! acquired Archaia Entertainment (archaia.com). Archaia is the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning graphic novel publisher of Mouse Guard, Cow Boy, Gunnerkrigg Court, Rust, and Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand. In October 2013, BOOM! Studios entered into a unique first-look relationship with 20th Century Fox, giving the studio access to its library of titles and giving the publisher access to Fox's vast catalog of films. In August 2014, BOOM! Studios began a similar first-look relationship with 20th Century Fox TV to develop properties for the small screen.