Fangoria comics

[Carnage]

www.fangoriacomics.com/

I visit Fangoria.com regularly and I'm thinking about subscribing to their new comicbook line-up. I'm a realy big fan of horror movies & novels, so it seems like a good choice for me. Plus, some titles realy caught my interest. Like Shifter, a brand new take on the werewolf mythos, following the brutal life of a mob hitman who is much more than human. He can be or look like almost any beast or man, and never be stopped. At least, that is, until a rival boss calls in something even worse than he is. And Bump, a supernatural tale of extreme horror, where even the confines of the grave aren’t able to contain the brutal spirit of serial killer Edgar Dill, and his legion of monstrous Treehuggers.

[t0xin_ven0m]

Press Release

Scott Licina, newly former executive editor of Fangoria Comics, was informed on August 22nd of the August 17th closing of the comics line at Fangoria Entertainment by parent company Creative Group. He, the staff and the creators would like to thank their readers and are excited to announce that creator-owned projects like BUMP, BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE RAGE and SHIFTER will continue, with details coming soon.

Regarding the closing, Licina noted, "To be honest, we’ve anticipated this possibility for quite some time, long before we finally launched on June 13, 2007 after almost a year of delays on Creative Group's part; that was after we announced the line in July of 2006 at the San Diego Comic-Con International. It became more and more apparent with the recent closings of several divisions and the lay-offs that accompanied them, other announced projects like VAMPIRELLA that failed to materialize and the fact that we received virtually no marketing or promotional support in any way, not even in the company's own FANGORIA or STARLOG magazines, that there may be trouble ahead. But I couldn’t have imagined, after already soliciting and selling subscriptions for titles that ran well into the beginning of 2008, that it would be only two months and four days after our first book hit the shelves that we would be closed down. And on top of it, we were informed about the closing via a three sentence e-mail, and invoices are still outstanding.”

Robert Kurtzman, legendary special effects artist, director and co-creator of BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE RAGE had this comment: “The worst part of it from my perspective is that the RAGE mini-series wasn’t allowed to finish, even with only one issue left to print, and that the issue (#4) was already completed and sitting there ready to go to the printer to fulfill orders that were already placed. Simply unbelievable. But I’m happy to announce we will be getting the fourth issue out to fulfill demand and make sure our readers have the chance to get the complete series.”

Mark Kidwell, creator of BUMP, added, "It's a shame really, that things were handled the way they were on the Fangoria Entertainment corporate level. All of the staff and creators at Fangoria Comics are amazing and there were (and are) some incredible stories being produced. Most of these will still be published, albeit by a different and more focused company with an eye toward the same long-term goals."

Film producer Patrick Durham and film star Michael Madsen, co-creators of SHIFTER, made this statement: “This comes as little surprise, after we’ve seen what Scott has had to go through to get these great comics out and to let people know about them. The SHIFTER comic and crew are looking forward to the positive move we’re making, and can’t wait to start on the new endeavor. After all, it’s the same production house, where the comics are always on time and always look fantastic. We know that the extremely high quality demands we have for SHIFTER will be exceeded by Scott and the team as always, so naturally we’re thrilled to be apart of this new, exciting leap forward. Comics to film, we’ve got some exciting announcements ahead for SHIFTER!”

Licina closed with this remark- “The bottom line on Fangoria? This was fallout from major franchise-wide downsizing by Creative Group. The upside? The creators own their respective properties, series and books, and will be continuing and finishing material that’s already started. Everyone is looking at 2008 with a fresh perspective. And again, we thank the readers, retailers and distributors for all their support, and look forward to releasing more info soon.”

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That's a damn shame. I like seeing indie publishers do well.