IDW Announces Smoke And Mirrors
Wednesday, Oct 12th, 2011
All-new series incorporates magic to revolutionize the comics experience
San Diego, CA
(October 12, 2011)—Leading into New York Comic-Con, IDW
Publishing today announced the all-new, creator-owned SMOKE
AND MIRRORS. Kicking off in March 2012, this five-issue
series will set a unique standard for comics. Created by
award-winning writer Mike Costa (GI JOE:
COBRA, Blackhawks) and acclaimed indie-artist Ryan
Browne (God Hates Astronauts, Blast
Furnace), SMOKE AND MIRRORS is also the
first comics project for Jon Armstrong who is one
of the finest sleight-of-hand artists in the world and a consulting
Imagineer for Disney Entertainment. This innovative team has
incorporated engaging, mind-bending illusions and mentalism
principles into SMOKE AND MIRRORS, creating an
amazing magical experience using only ink and paper.
“I’ve been with IDW for almost four years now, and in
that time they’ve taken some really crazy risks with me in
terms of the stories I wanted to tell and the storytelling devices
I used to tell them. After showing so much good faith, I decided it
was time to return the favor and start taking those risks on a book
of my own,” said Costa. “SMOKE AND
MIRRORS is my first creator-owned book, and I am immensely proud to
have it published by this company that has given the industry some
of the greatest creator-owned books of the last decade. The only
thing I’m more proud of is the fact that I get to do it with
Ryan Browne, a ridiculously talented artist who has been my best
friend for literally 20 years, and Jon Armstrong, one of the finest
magicians I've ever seen, and my friend and mentor.”
Armstrong, Browne and Costa revolutionize the comics experience by using magic as a storytelling technique in SMOKE AND MIRRORS. SMOKE AND MIRRORS is the story of stage magician Terry Ward, who finds himself transported to a world where Magic is real and he must use trickery and illusions to survive.
“This is my first major finished project with Mike and is the culmination of a lifetime of working on plots and ideas together,” said Browne. “I’m really excited to bring my art and storytelling abilities to the amazing narrative that Mike and Jon have created and fans of my work on God Hates Astronauts will not be disappointed. We will be experimenting with new ways of telling a story and making the reader a part of our adventure–breaking new ground and pushing the medium in directions that it has never gone before. We urge you to keep a second pair of socks handy since the ones you're wearing are about to be blown off!”
Armstrong adds: “As a life-long comic fan, I’ve always wanted to create in this medium. Being able to apply my unique skill set to comics and working with creators I admire was just way too exciting to pass up. Because of how I related to our magician and protagonist Terry Ward, I wanted an especially innovative way to use magic as more than a gimmick. Magic is an essential component of propelling Terry’s story forward, while allowing the reader to have the same engaging and amazing experiences our characters are having. I’m trilled to that IDW is letting me play in the world that we are creating.”
Click here to watch an exclusive interview with
Costa and Armstrong discussing
SMOKE AND MIRRORS.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS #1 (of 5, $3.99, 32 pages, full color)
will be available in stores in March 2012.
Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its
top-selling books.
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels
and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for
its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW
publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the
industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS
and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star
Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO;
Toho’s Godzilla; and comics and trade collections based on
novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is
also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which
publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with
Yoe! Studio.
IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was
launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures
and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information
about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.
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