Comic Book Site

LANGHORNE, Pa., Dec. 28, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Casual games publisher and developer eGames, Inc. (Pink Sheets:EGAM – News) announced a free digital copy of the first issue of Dynamite Entertainment’s The Complete Dracula series will be bundled with downloadable trials of The Dracula Files hidden object adventure on multiple casual game portals. eGames and Dynamite previously collaborated on a contest featuring the physical comic book.

“We are pleased to continue teaming with Dynamite to provide extra value to casual game and vampire fans across the Internet,” said eGames Product Manager Greg Zesinger. “Through the digital comic, we are excited to provide everyone who downloads The Dracula Files with an illustrated look at Bram Stoker’s famous novel, along with his lesser-known short story, Dracula’s Guest.”

Following the adventures of a new generation of vampire hunters, The Dracula Files finds its reluctant heroes facing werewolves, vampires, and dark spirits in a globe-spanning search for cursed objects and holy relics. Launch of the game across the major game sites is ongoing, with distribution on the top three portals expected by early 2010. The boxed version of the game begins shipping to retailers in January, along with popular storybook adventure Enlightenus and match-3 puzzler The Lost Inca Prophecy.

Written by John Reppion and Leah Moore, The Complete Dracula retells the tale of the villainous count through five fully-painted issues courtesy of artist Colton Worley. With covers created by modern master John Cassaday and a seamless incorporation of Stoker’s short story “Dracula’s Guest” into the miniseries, The Complete Dracula provides new insight into the vampire legend. A graphic novel compilation of the five-issue set is scheduled for release in early 2010.

“We’re excited to work on this with eGames,” said Dynamite Entertainment President Nick Barrucci. “This is a great opportunity to create awareness for our best selling comic series featuring “The Complete Dracula” by Leah (Moore), John (Reppion), Colton (Worley) and John Cassaday on covers. Fans new and old can read the story of Dracula, Complete, the way it was meant to be read.”

About eGames, Inc.

eGames, Inc., headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, develops and publishes casual games for the PC, Nintendo DS and Wii, iPhone, and the Internet including The Dracula Files, Burger Island(R), Burger Island 2: The Missing Ingredient, Defender of the Crown: Heroes Live Forever(R), Purrfect Pet Shop(R), and more. Additional information regarding eGames, Inc. can be found at http://www.egames.com.

About Dynamite Entertainment

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT, the publishing division of DYNAMIC FORCES, INC., was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including Red Sonja, Project Superpowers, The Boys, Army of Darkness, Battlestar Galactica, The Lone Ranger, Zorro and more!

In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and best selling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Reed, Mel Rubi, Marc Guggenheim, Stephen Sadowski, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner and a host of up and coming new talent and fan favorite creators!

DYNAMITE is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their more recent launches — including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s PROJECT SUPERPOWERS — have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005 Diamond awarded the company a “GEM” award for Best New Publisher and another “GEM” in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%). The company has also been nominated for several industry awards, including the prestigious “Eisner” Award.

For more information on Dynamite Entertainment, please check out www.dynamiteentertainment.com.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) –
Before “Sherlock Holmes” was a movie opening on Christmas Day, it was a comic.

Sort of.

Lionel Wigram, one of the film’s producers, wanted to do a modern retelling of the classic detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “I wanted to present Sherlock Holmes not as fuddy duddy, ‘Masterpiece Theatre‘ guy,” said the British native.

Wigram came up with a story treatment but “realized that wasn’t going to be enough.” He decided to give his story some comic book pizazz to convey the atmosphere and the attitude. It’s one thing to write that the new Holmes has a Bohemian or rock-and-roll attitude, as Wigram was going for, but it’s another to show a piece of art that embodies it.

Wigram called DC Comics executive Gregory Noveck and asked him for assistance in finding an artist, and Noveck pointed him to John Watkiss, another Brit. Watkiss is a comic artist who’s drawn for “Sandman,” “Deadman” and “Savage Sword of Conan.” He also worked on Disney’s “Tarzan” and “Treasure Planet” movies.

Wigram used his own money, $5,000 of it, to have Watkiss draw up scenes. Wigram then bound them in a comic-book form and published a small number to pitch his take.

The final product is not exactly a comic book. There are no sequential panels or word balloons but rather beautiful, moody splash pages with occasional story notes along the borders.

Wigram showed the book to Warners exec Dan Lin (who later became a producer on the movie) and then to Warners’ president Jeff Robinov, who ultimately gave the movie the go-ahead.

“What he drew was what I imagined, but better,” said Wigram, who is surprised that more Hollywood types don’t prepare these style of pamphlets when pitching ideas. “And if you compare Guy Ritchie’s screen version to the images, there’s a direct connection. Watkiss deserves a lot of credit and recognition for this.”

There was talk of DC making a “Holmes” comic, maybe using the images, maybe not, but the movie project found itself fast-tracked and swept away once Ritchie and then Robert Downey Jr. came on board, and Wigram never had a chance to revisit the idea.

The semi-annual Comic Market comes to Tokyo in the last days of December. Coming in early 2010: Winners of the Costa Book Awards are announced in London, and comic books are back in the spotlight during the International Comics Festival in Angoulême, France.

Comiket 77
December 29-31
Tokyo, Japan

Comiket, also called the Comic Market, is held twice a year in Tokyo to promote sales of doujinshi, or self-published Japanese works. Since the market began in 1975 attendance has grown to more than half a million people, making it the world’s largest handmade comic book fair. The main attractions at the fair are doujinshi focused on manga, anime, and video games. Held at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center, Comiket is open to the public each of the three days from 10:00am to 4:00pm. First-time attendees are advised to arrive in the afternoon to avoid the famously long morning lines.
http://www.comiket.co.jp/index_e.html

‘Cook This, Not That!’ by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
December 29
International

In late December, Rodale Press will publish the follow-up to Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution, Amazon.com’s sixth bestselling title of 2009. Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide includes recipes for healthy versions of chain-restaurant dishes, strategies for cutting calories and saving money at the supermarket, and cooking tips such as 37 Ways to Cook a Chicken Breast and A Dozen 10-Minute Pasta Sauces.

‘The Happiness Project’ by Gretchen Rubin
January 1 (December 29 in the US)
International

In the vein of memoirs such as The Year of Living Biblically and Eat, Pray, Love, Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project: Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun follows the author’s year-long project test-driving techniques for how to be happier. Rubin looks at happiness from the perspective of science, religion, and popular lore, testing the advice of guides ranging from Plutarch to Ben Franklin to the Dalai Lama. Rubin’s previous books include Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill and Power Money Fame Sex.

‘Committed’ by Elizabeth Gilbert
January 5
International

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the widely popular 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, which is due to be released as a film featuring Julia Roberts in 2011. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage is a memoir that picks up where Eat, Pray, Love left off, following the heroine into the next chapter of her life.

Costa Book Awards
January 5
London, UK

The Costa Book Awards, previously called the Whitbread awards, are given annually to authors based in the UK and Ireland. Launched in 1971, the awards recognize the “most enjoyable books of the year,” and are a more populist version of the Booker Prize. Winners are chosen in five categories, and each receives £5,000 (€5,500); an overall winner for Costa Book of the Year (to be announced January 26) is given a further £25,000 (€27,700). The 2010 shortlists, announced November 24, are posted on the Costa Book Awards website.
http://costabookawards.com/

Blio unveiled
January 7
Las Vegas, US

The Blio e-book platform will be unveiled January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The platform is being released through a partnership with Baker & Taylor (B&T), the world’s largest distributor of books, which has committed 180,000 titles to Blio (50,000 will be available when the product is launched). Blio software will reportedly work on any device with an operating system, including computers and iPhones. The platform will handle text-to-speech, e-publishing, and multimedia functions including videos, graphics, and web links. The Blio was developed by voice-recognition inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil in partnership with the National Federation for the Blind.

International Comics Festival in Angoulême
January 28-31
Angoulême, France

The International Comics Festival in Angoulême is the largest event of its kind of Europe. The 37th edition, which begins January 28, will feature a Manga Building, an exhibition of Russian comics, and an International Encounters Forum. An annual highlight is the 24-hour Comic Strip Contest, in which contestants create 24-page comic books in the 24 hours before the festival begins. General entrance fees are €14 per day, or €30 for all four days.
http://www.bdangouleme.com/

New Delhi World Book Fair
January 30 – February 7
New Delhi, India

India’s publishing industry, the third largest for English books after the US and UK, has been featured in recent years as guest of honor at the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair, 2006, Market Focus of the 2009 London Book Fair, and guest country at the 2009 Moscow International Book Fair. The National Book Trust of India has organized the New Delhi World Book Fair since 1972 to integrate the Indian publishing world with the global market. The theme of the 2010 fair, in honor of the Commonwealth Games, is “Reading Our Common Wealth: An International Rights Exhibition of the Books on Sports in India.”
http://www.nbtindia.org.in/

‘);
} else {
document.write(’