Newly formed Virgin Comics is collaborating with Tiger Hill Entertainment, film-maker John Woo and partner Terence Chang’s creative shingle, along with best-selling comic book writer, Garth Ennis to create Seven Brothers. The comic book series is set to debut in mid-October, it was announced yesterday by Sharad Devarajan, Virgin Comics’ chief executive.
John Woo created many top selling films in Hong Kong before moving to the United States where he has directed John Travolta and Nicholas Cage in Face/Off and Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible II, both for Paramount.
Author Garth Ennis is one of the best selling English-language comic writers. His work includes ground-breaking action titles Punisher and Preacher for DC Comics.
Yoshitaka Amano will be painting original cover art for each of the Seven Brothers comics. Mr. Amano is best known for his work illustrating the best selling Vampire Hunter D graphic novel series and the Final Fantasy video games. Superstar artist Greg Horn will provide a variant cover for the premiere issue.
“For me, working in comics is quite comfortable – it’s like the ultimate storyboard. Garth has taken a seed of an idea I had about famous Chinese folklore to a whole new level that creates a modern, global story. The depth that Garth brings to his writing and the visuals that the Virgin comics team and artists like Amano contribute creates an art form with comics that is unique and yet, clearly a brother to the film medium,” said creator John Woo.
Added Woo’s long time producing partner Terence Chang: “We are excited to partner with Virgin for our debut in the world of comics. Garth Ennis is an enormously talented writer and we look forward to exploring this title with him in the comic book medium and beyond. We see creating SEVEN BROTHERS as a comic book first, which is in turn the perfect springboard to take this title into film and games.”
“As an avid comic book collector for many years, it’s a dream come true to participate in the development of comic book history. We anticipate a long relationship with the comic book world and couldn’t have asked for a more perfect first date,” says Lori Tilkin, VP of Tiger Hill.
Indeed echoed Virgin’s co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Gotham Chopra, “we’re especially excited to work with John and Terence and their team at Tiger Hill because they understand better than most the brave new world of leveraging creative ideas across multiple platforms. It’s an honor for us to debut our Director’s Cut line of comics with their leadership. Garth’s take on John’s idea is awesome and we are thrilled to bring it to the world.”
Virgin Comics Director’s Cut line aims to launch comic titles in collaboration with iconic film-makers. Woo’s Seven Brothers is the debut comic of the Director’s Cut line. Virgin Comics plans to announce several more partnerships in the coming months.
“All they had to say was ‘John Woo’ and I was sold instantly,” added Garth Ennis.