wildstorm-comics posts

The comic book industry is buzzing today on the news of major changes at DC Entertainment, the Warner Bros-owned subsidiary that includes both the DC Comics and Wildstorm Comics brands. Today it was announced that the comic book division will remain in New York while other aspects of DC Entertainment's business, including its PC and console game licensing group, will be moved to a new location in Burbank, California near Warner Bros' offices by the end of 2011.

One of the consequences of the changes is that the Wildstorm Comics brand will be shut down. The last comics under that brand will ship out in December. Wildstorm published and continues to release a bunch of game-related comic book adaptations. However those comics, which include current and near future titles based on World of Warcraft, Kane and Lynch, Assassin's Creed and End of Nations, will continue under the DC Comics brand.

Last December, DC Comics' Wildstorm division abruptly canceled their monthly comic books based on World of Warcraft and StarCraft. At the time Wildstorm said they planned to release original graphic novels based on Blizzard's big game franchises instead. Well it looks like plans have changed yet again as Wildstorm has just announced plans for a new World of Warcraft five issue mini-series title Curse of the Worgen.

Written by Blizzard's own writers Micky Neilson and James Waugh, the mini-series is aiming to explore the lore of the game's werewolf-like race the Worgen. The first issue of the mini-series, which will be drawn by Ludo Lullabi and Tony Washington, is scheduled for release in November which should be around the time the expansion pack World of Warcraft: Cataclysm ships out.

While Ubisoft announced earlier this year its plans to release a comic book mini-series based on its Assassin's Creed action game franchise, there was no word on who would actually be publishing the comic. Now DC Comics' Wildstorm division has been confirmed as the publisher for the comic which is now titled Assassin's Creed: The Fall.

As previously revealed the three issue comic will be co-written and co-drawn by comic book veterans Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart and focuses on Russian assassin Nikolai Orelov in 19th century Russia (with a modern day connection as well). The mini-series begins in November which is also the same month that Ubisoft's game Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is scheduled to be released.

Last month, publisher THQ went all out at the San Diego Comic-Con to promote the upcoming third person shooter Red Faction: Armageddon. One of its promotions was a give away of a free 0 issue of a Red Faction: Armageddon comic book created by DC Comics' Wildstorm line.

Unless you purchase the comic on eBay there's no way to get a physical copy of the free giveaway. However DC Comics has now offered the entire issues as a free download via its DC Comics iPhone app. The comic serves as a prequel to the events of the Volition-developed game which is due out in March 2011. There's no word yet if Wildstorm plans to release a full fledged Red Faction mini-series.

Developer Io Interactive's Kane and Lynch action game gets a sequel in August in Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days and a movie is scheduled go into production this year as well. Now it looks like the duo is getting to start in their own comic book mini-series. Publisher Square Enix announced that Wildstorm Comics, who has published many other game-based comic book series in the past, will release the first issue of the Kane and Lynch comic in August. There's no word yet on how many issues the series will last.

Comic book veteran Ian Edginton will write the comic book with Chris Mitten handling the interior artwork and Ben Templesmith illustrating the covers for the series. It will apparently examine some of Kane and Lynch's criminal past but there's no other details of the comic's storyline.

It's been a busy week for StarCraft II fans as some previews of the game's single player campaign hit the interwebs. But there's been some other related news for Blizzard's sci-fi RTS sequel. One is that the newly released map editor includes a feature that lets folks import and convert maps from the original StarCraft and WarCraft III and make them work for StarCraft II. StarCraftwire.net has a brief tutorial on how it works.

Also the game's official web site has been posting up excerpts from the recently released hardcover novel StarCraft: Heaven's Devils by author William C Dietz that serves as a prequel to the plot for StarCraft II. Finally Wildstorm Comics has released the hardcover collection of the seven issue StarCraft comic book series. While Wildstorm canceled the monthly series unexpectedly, the StarCraft II Collector's Edition will include an exclusive 0 issue of the StarCraft comic.

A while back we mentioned that DC Comics' Wildstorm division was going to end their current World of Warcraft monthly comic book series and then start again with not one but two new series, one for the Alliance faction in Blizzard's hit MMO and the other for the Horde. This week, via Comic Book Resources, we now have more info on both of the new World of Warcraft comic book series.

The all new Horde comic (you can see the cover for the first issue to the right) is written by Doug Murray and drawn by Pop Mhan. The Alliance-based comic retains the original World of Warcraft issue numbering (hence World of Warcraft: Alliance 26). It will be written by Mike Costa and drawn by Neil Googe. Both issues will go on sale in January.

This weekend word got out that DC Comics' Wildstorm division was going to be doing a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 mini-series. Now the comics publisher has revealed more info about the comic, confirming that the first issue will indeed ship to stores in November, around the time the Infinity Ward-Activision first person shooter will be released.

The six-issue mini-series will tell some of the back story behind "Ghost", one of the characters in the game, in a storyline that heads for the "United Kingdom to war-torn Afghanistan to the drug war in Mexico." David Lapham will write the series with interior artwork by Kevin West and covers by Federico Dallocchio (there's also plans to offer a "video game art" varient cover for the first issue. Meanwhile, Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Browning has "Twittered" an image of the second issue's cover.

DC Comics' Wildstorm division has been taking the lead on releasing a number of game-based comics lately including World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Prototype, Mirror's Edge, Gears of War and others. Now it looks like Wildstorm will be releasing a mini-series based on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The reveal comes from developer Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling who posted the news on his Twitter account along with a link to the first issue's cover. The comic will be titled Modern Warfare 2: Ghost and will apparently be written and drawn by David Lapham. The mini-series will be six issues long but there's no word on when the first issue will be released (although we are betting a November start day to coincide with Modern Warfare 2's November ship date is likely.

Fans of Wildstorm's World of Warcraft comics are going to get a bit of surprise later this fall. During the San Diego Comic-Con Wildstorm comics panel this fall (which Wildstorm recorded for a podcast) it was revealed that issue 25 of the regular ongoing World of Warcraft comic, due out this November, will be the last issue of the series.

However, fear not because Wildstorm plans to relaunch their World of Warcraft monthly comics in January 2010. Yep, we said comics. The panel revealed that there will be both an Alliance and a Horde regular monthly series that will have their first issues that month. The panel did not have any info on who will be writing and drawing the two series.