Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and Dark Horse Comics Team Up to Teach Tsunami Preparedness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SALEM, Ore. – Oct. 12, 2016 – Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and Dark Horse Comics team up to prepare for the Great Oregon ShakeOut on October 20 and introduce Without Warning: Tsunami, a new comic touting tsunami preparedness. The 16-page comic strip sequence chronicles a mother/daughter camping trip on the Oregon coast when an earthquake and resulting tsunami strike. The duo stays safe and helps others in danger. Without Warning: Tsunami is the second time that the partners have come together to collaborate on bringing preparedness messaging to youth. In 2013, OEM’s Geologic Hazards Program Coordinator Althea Rizzo approached Dark Horse with a proposal. An avid comic book fan herself, Rizzo knew that it was a good way to reach a new target audience. In August 2014, Without Warning was released, telling a story of an Oregon teen who reunites with her family after a major Cascadia Earthquake. “The events in Tohoku, Japan in 2011 brought new awareness to the reality of what could happen in Oregon in the aftermath of a Cascadia quake,” said Rizzo. “The first Without Warning comic helped to educate young people about what to do in the aftermath of a high-magnitude earthquake. This second comic about tsunamis is a logical follow up and story continuation.” Rizzo came up with both stories which were scripted and illustrated by Dark Horse team members Jeremy Barlow and David Hahn.  Oregon is located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 600-hundred mile earthquake fault stretching from offshore Northern California to Southern British Columbia.  According to scientists and other experts, a large 9.0 or higher earthquake could strike Oregon at any time. “Dark Horse is proud to support emergency preparedness and Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management with the Without Warning: Tsunami comic,” said Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics. “We enjoy partnering with an organization dedicated to making Oregon’s residents safe and prepared for a natural disaster, and are proud to contribute our talents and resources to the cause.” Without Warning: Tsunami will be released on October 12 and available online at http://bit.ly/2dWuS0G. Printed copies can be obtained through local county emergency management offices. About Dark Horse For thirty years, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, the company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent, such as Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Geof Darrow, Brian Wood, Gail Simone, Stan Sakai, and Guillermo del Toro, and comics legends, such as Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Kazuo Koike, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Miller, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties, such as The Mask, Ghost, X, and Barb Wire. Its successful line of comics, manga, and products based on popular properties includes Dragon Age, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Tomb Raider, Halo, The Witcher, Serenity, Game of Thrones, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers.