The Hammer Falls at Alias

Screenwriter/Creator Kevin Grevioux brings his comic book imprint, Astounding Studios, to Alias Comics with a series of new releases, beginning in February with THE HAMMER KID!

THE HAMMER KID #0, coming this February by writer Kevin Grevioux and artist Jack Lawrence, tells the story of a 12-year old named Kevin Erikson, who accidentally inherits the power of Thor’s hammer and must now use it to save Asgard and Earth from the evil schemes of the Trickster, Loki! How will a mortal boy from Minnesota go from juggling algebra and bullies to the awesome responsibility of wielding the hammer of Thor?

Grevioux is perhaps best known as the creator/associate producer and original screenwriter behind the popular UNDERWORLD film and franchise - as well as playing the role of Raze in the first film. He has also appeared in a variety of comic book themed acting roles, including MEN IN BLACK II, STEEL, BATMAN FOREVER, THE MASK, and recently as the voice of Solomon Grundy in The WB’s animated series, THE BATMAN!

Now having jumped from screen to print with two all-new comic book imprints, Astounding Studios and DarkStorm Studios, Grevioux says making the move to Alias Comics wasn’t a hard decision to make.

"Alias is a company that has a little something for everyone: it's not just superheroes, it's also action, horror, all-ages, spiritual and just all-around fun that really stokes the imagination. They have a very eclectic taste and style to their books and I just wanted to be part of that,” said Grevioux.

Here’s how Alias describes THE HAMMER KID #0:

THE HAMMER KID #0
Written by Kevin Grevioux, with art by Jack Lawrence
Screenwriter/actor Kevin Grevioux, Co-Creator and Star of the blockbuster movie UNDERWORLD, makes his comic book debut as a writer in January with Alias! Somewhere over the rainbow takes on a new meaning when young Kevin Erikson finds himself pulled across Bifrost, the rainbow bridge leading to Asgard, home of the Norse Gods, only to become the heir to the most powerful weapon in the universe...the Hammer of Thor! Can a teenage boy grow up fast enough to become the hero both Earth and Asgard need? The adventure of a lifetime begins here, illustrated by fan favorite Jack ‘Lions, Tigers and Bears’ Lawrence!
-- 24-pages, full-color one shot -- $3.50

Future books coming from Astounding Studios include VALKYRIES, GUARDIAN HEROES, VINDICATORS and more! Grevioux is also preparing titles such as DARKSTORM, LEGIONS, ALIUS REX, and THE PALE HORSEMEN for his DarkStorm Studios imprint – all to be published under Alias Comics in 2006!

"Coming from the film industry, I like high-concept stories - and I want to try and bring that sensibility to my comic book work,” said Grevioux. “I wanted to throw my hat into the ring and try to create cool and interesting stories like the ones I watched when I was growing up."

THE HAMMER KID #0 (DEC052754) is a full-color 24-page one-shot shipping this February from Astounding Studios and Alias Comics for only $3.50!

RUNAWAYS WINS TOP LIBRARY AWARD

The critically acclaimed series RUNAWAYS continues to win over fans and critics alike, and now has another award under its belt! The RUNAWAYS Vol. #1 HC, collecting all of the issues #1-18 of the series’ first volume, has made the Top Ten list for Best Books for Young Adults for 2006, as named by the American Library Association. It is worth noting that Runaways is the only graphic novel to make the Top Ten! As part of this year’s Free Comic Book Day offering from Marvel, the new X-Men/Runaways story is sure to attract many new fans to these teens on the run! Marvel would like to congratulate Runaways creators Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona on their achievements and encourage readers everywhere to check out this great series today!

To see the entire list of winners, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/06topten.htm

"The Hills Have Eyes" and "Near Dark" arrive on UMD for PSP from Anchor Bay Entertainment March 7th

IDT Entertainment’s Anchor Bay Entertainment proudly announces the next horror classics available on the UMD™ format: Wes Craven’s cult classic The Hills Have Eyes and Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire epic Near Dark. Arriving March 7th, 2006, these titles also feature Dolby® Headphone for the ultimate in personal surround sound. Each disc carries an SRP of $19.98.

Designed for the PlayStation Portable™ handheld entertainment system, UMD™ provides a picture that is crisp and clear as well as being portable. Dolby® Headphone allows listeners to experience simulated 5.1 audio playback from ordinary stereo headphones. Anchor Bay Entertainment has committed to releasing all future UMD™ titles with Dolby® Headphone encoding.

THE HILLS HAVE EYES – Wes Craven’s Cult Classic – Uncut and Uncensored! The Carters are an all-American family on their way to California when their car breaks down far from civilization in the remote southwestern desert. But they are not alone: Watching from the hills is a clan of marauding inbred cannibals with an unspeakable taste for human flesh and brutality.

NEAR DARK -- In the dusty heart of the American southwest, innocent country boy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) is seduced by a beautiful girl (Jenny Wright) into joining a roving pack of drifters led by the enigmatic Jesse (Lance Henriksen). Caleb is now trapped in a nightmare of evil that waits in the shadows, hellish mayhem that thrives on blood and horror that begins NEAR DARK.

"Demon Hunter" finds its prey on DVD February 7th from Anchor Bay Entertainment

From prolific producer Stephen J. Cannell, the creator of “21 Jump Street,” “The A-Team,” and “Profit,” comes a startling vision of the struggle between the profane and the sacred – “Demon Hunter!” Starring Sean Patrick Flannery (“Suicide Kings, “Boondocks,” “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones”), William Bassett (“House of 1000 Corpses”) and Billy Drago (“The Untouchables,” “Masters of Horror” and the upcoming 2006 remake of “The Hills Have Eyes”), “Demon Hunter” enters our world on DVD February 7, 2006 from Anchor Bay Entertainment, an IDT Entertainment company. SRP is $14.98 and the DVD boasts enough bonus features that its guaranteed to possess viewers for hours!

The “Demon Hunter” is Jacob “Jake” Greyman (Sean Patrick Flannery), a member of a covert Church-authorized society dedicated to fighting Satanic forces. Greyman searches the urban underworld, slaying the unholy spawns, while burdened with the knowledge that demons walk among us and the Church has given him a license to kill.

When archdemon Asmodeus (Billy Drago) embarks on a plan to impregnate Los Angeles teen prostitutes with his evil seed, Jake teams with an unorthodox novice (Colleen Porch of “Starship Troopers 2”) to rescue mankind from eternal damnation. Yet Jake must first grapple with the demons within if he is to save his own soul…

Produced by IDT Entertainment and Stephen J. Cannell, “Demon Hunter” on DVD comes packed with the following value-added supplements:
Widescreen Presentation, enhanced for 16x9 TVs
Audio commentary with Writer Mitch Gould and Actor Nancy Yoon
“Demons Among Us” featurette
Fight Sequence Rehearsal
Theatrical Trailer

ZOOM SUIT CONTINUES WORLD TOUR

Award-Winning Animated Film to Appear at Six More Film Festivals

Continuing its successful trip around the world, the award-winning animated short film, Zoom Suit, written and directed by John Taddeo, has scheduled appearances at six additional upcoming film festivals during February, March and April. Zoom Suit will make stops at the Gem City Film Festival, the Golden Star Shorts Fest, the Sundays in the City March Movie Marathon, the Delray Beach Film Festival, the Omaha Film Festival and then finally the Fort Myers Beach Film Festival.

The Inaugural Gem City Film Festival occurs in Palatka, Florida with Zoom Suit airing on February 18 during Indie Film Day. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the Larimer Arts Center, Palatka’s historic former public library building. The building was constructed 75 years ago.

The First Annual Golden Star Shorts Fest premiers February 24-26 at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California smack in the middle of the Winter awards season. The festival is committed to generating exposure for short movies, providing film makers with access to industry professionals, distribution partners and audiences worldwide.
This year marks the second Sundays in the City March Movie Madness Marathon. The event takes place over the course of five Sundays in March and is held at the Monster Gallery in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, New York. Last years’ series attracted over 1000 people for the four day event including celebrities Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld) and Vinny Vella of the Sopranos.

March 8-12 marks the first-ever Delray Beach Film Festival and filmmakers Roger Corman and Julie Corman will be the recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards during the event at venues in and around historic downtown Delray Beach, Florida.

The first Omaha Film Festival takes place in Omaha, Nebraska on March 23-26. Screenings will take place at the Joslyn Art Museum, Blue Barn Theatre and the Hilton Garden Inn with Zoom Suit appearing in the Animated Short Film category.

Zoom Suit will be featured during the “Shorts Program” at the sixth annual Ft. Myers Beach Film Festival in Ft. Myers Beach, Florida on April 27- 30.

“The amount of fests that have accepted Zoom Suit is staggering,” said Taddeo. “Usually a successful run for a short indie film is being accepted into five or six fests. Zoom Suit has been accepted into over 50 now. It’s amazing what our little superhero Cinderella story has accomplished.”

Veteran comics creator Brian Augustyn joins Narwain as Publishing Consultant

Veteran comics creator Brian Augustyn has joined Narwain Publishing as its U.S. publishing consultant, lending some 23 years of comics publishing experience to the recently launched international comics publisher.

"We're thrilled that Brian has agreed to bring his considerable expertise to Narwain," said publisher Mauro Di Pede.

Augustyn entered the business in 1983 as an intern at First Comics and went on to hold various editorial posts for small publishers during the black and white independents boom. DC Comics courted him in 1987 and went to work for the publishing giant for nearly a decade, eventually becoming a senior editor.

In 1996 he left DC to become a freelance writer—and to devote more time to helping raise his young daughters--but has remained a major presence in the industry, writing for virtually every publisher, and also serving as a freelance editor with Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti's startup Event Comics.

"As the publishing consultant I plan to work with Narwain to help them improve their presence and operations in the U.S. which has a very competitive comics market," said Augustyn. "I'm hoping my years of experience will lend some navigational value to their endeavors."
Augustyn will provide a point of contact in the U.S. for Narwain, which is headquartered in Spoleto, Italy. This will include being available to retailers and distributors to help smooth the domestic publishing operation, and also to facilitate publicity opportunities between Narwain talent and U.S. journalists.

"Narwain is an exciting publisher for several reasons. They're committed to bringing a real diversity to the marketplace, a diversity that's very apparent when you look at their initial releases," said Augustyn who, in addition to his consultancy, is writing two books for the publisher, including the upcoming "Un-Human".

"The other point of excitement with Narwain is the global aspect of the business plan. They're opening up the comic book marketplace by publishing books in several countries and languages all at one. Their books can thrive even if they don't do 'big two' numbers domestically."

Nextwave #1 Sells Out Quicker Than Your Favorite Underground Band

Nextwave #1 has sold out at Diamond but don’t worry about beating yourself up if you missed out; after all, Nextwave is all about healing America by beating people up.
The creative team of Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen are doing the unthinkable with Nextwave, but that’s only because no else has thought to question why Fin Fang Foom wears underwear. Plus, anyone who has read the first issue loves it more than their own mother.
Drew Sheneman of the Newark Star Ledger says, “The concept combines humorous elements from his work on comics like Transmetropolitan and bizarre touches from his soon-to-be-completed run on Planetary. Ellis himself describes the series as ‘People get kicked, things explode.’ Who wouldn't like that?”
Kelvin Green of SilverBulletComicBooks.com says, “Ellis seems to be playing with the absurdities of the Marvel Universe…and it makes for a wonderful read, with every page having at least one eminently quotable moment. This is the Warren Ellis comic I’ve been waiting for.”
Drew Harmon of SilverBulletComics.com gives Nextwave #1 a "5 out of 5. You should jump on Nextwave now, so you can say I was reading that since before it was cool, and cool is definitely what Nextwave is. Nextwave will be the Next Big Thing."
Nextwave is the newest ongoing series from Marvel bringing you action, explosions, and people getting kicked in easily digestible 1 to 2 issue story arcs. No antacid needed!
There are currently no plans to go back to press so retailers are advised to check their orders for issue #2, which features “Live Gill on Grill Action” as Machine Man takes on the legendary Fin Fang Foom. Oh yeah, and even more explosions and people getting kicked than the first issue.
NEXTWAVE #2 (DEC052025)
Written by WARREN ELLIS
Pencils & Cover by STUART IMMONEN
32 PGS./PARENTAL ADVISORY ...$2.99
FOC - 2/2, On Sale - 2/22/2006