Energy Entertainment continued its charge into management of comic creatorsin Hollywood by signing the Devil's Due studio to a first-look managementagreement last week.
Devil's Due wasfounded by Josh Blaylock in 1999 and scored a runaway hit with G.I. Joein 2000. That title sparked a groundswell of interest in 1980s pop-culture, withmany publishers jumping on the bandwagon. It also cemented the studio'sreputation as one of the hottest creative outlets in comics.
The deal withEnergy won't pertain to licensed titles, but instead focuses on the studio'supcoming slate of creator-owned works.
"I'm a bigfan and avid reader of whole 80s revival trend," Daniel Alter of EnergyEntertainment said to Comics2Film. "Chart-topping licensedproperties are not only an extremely profitable venture for theirrespective publishing studios, but also a good business model as todominating market-share and building a brand name so that you have the abilityto concentrate on your 'babies'."
It's those"babies" that have Alter's interest piqued. "I know they've gottalent because I read their books and, like reading a spec screenplay as awriting sample, I can see the creativity inherent there.Then I talk to Josh and say 'what have you got creator-owned,' and theyshow me things that blow my mind."
C2F spokewith Blaylock about the deal. "We've been contacted by quite a lot ofpeople over the last year," Blaylock said of Hollywood interest in thework. "[Energy Entertainment] seems to really understand the comic industryand to know what they're doing. I feel confident that they're going to do a goodjob of shopping it around and I like the fact that they really make an effort toattach producers or writers that would work well with the project."
Alter told C2Fthat he sees an opportunity to marry Energy's ability to spot trends inentertainment and help the studio shape their creator-owned output. "Being successfulin literary management with regard to selling/setting up projects often timescomes down to having your finger on the pulse, your eyes on the ball, and yourears to the ground. There's a lot of counseling and advising as to thedevelopment of new material, and I don't rule out exploring that dynamic furtherwith Josh and company."
Interest ishigh in the titles that will be out next April and May from Image.
|
|
"I really love Misplaced," Alter said of one of the upcoming Devil's Duebooks. "It's kind of like Hi Fidelity meets Flash Gordon."
Blaylock tellsus the comic, which he'll write and draw, focuses on Alyssa, a girl from anotherdimension which houses an all-too-perfect world. Alyssa finds herself ostracizedfor questioning the status quo.
"She's notnecessarily rebellious but they make her out to seem that way. It turns outthere's actually an underlying conspiracy going on," Blaylock said. Whenshe's targeted for elimination, Alyssa escapes to our world and falls in withcollege-town slackers and punk rockers. However, her attackers follow her andshe begins to unravel the mystery of why she's being hunted.
"It's astory that anybody who's ever had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy, been stuckin corporate America or just frustrations in dealing with the school system, canall relate to," Blaylock said.
The initialfocus of deal with Energy will likely be on moving Misplaced intodevelopment as a movie or TV show.
Blaylock saysthat while he hopes to be creatively involved with any development efforts, hisheart is in the comic business. "We're serious about these characters.We're not just cranking them out so they can be movies," the comic creatortold us. "I look at this more as a way to get our characters out there andmake them more successful, but also be a help financially so I can just keepmaking comic books."
Other titles inthe Devil's Due library include the upcoming Kore, which Blaylocksummed up as "Lord of the Rings meets Incredible Hulk,"and Larry Hama's Oxido.
Of course, thestudio plans to finish what it started with the 80s trend when it publishes Voltron.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
