Asylum Press and Night Owl Productions announced today that Chopper, a gritty new five-issue horror comic book series with a tie-in to a live-action web series, will debut in comic shops nationwide on October 5, 2011, just in time for the Halloween season. The books will be distributed through Diamond Comic Distributors as a “day-and-date release” in both print and digital formats on the same day.
Written by screenwriter Martin Shapiro and drawn by acclaimed Dark Horse artist Juan Ferreyra (Falling Skies, Rex Mundi), Chopper is a modern-day re-imagining of the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow fame. After taking a strange new drug with supernatural side effects at a party, the rebellious teenage daughter of a police officer starts seeing ghosts and is stalked by the Reaper, a headless Hell’s Angel on a motorcycle who collects the souls of sinners in the afterlife.
Instead of being killed in your dreams like in Nightmare on Elm Street, you’re vulnerable while you’re high on the drug. The target audience for this book is horror hounds, heavy metal fans, and motorcycle enthusiasts. It will appeal to fans of Rob Zombie, Robert Kirkman, and Garth Ennis.
The creator recently sold the movie rights to Chopper, and producer J.C. Christofilis is releasing a live-action web TV series on October 18 to introduce people to the Chopper mythology and build awareness for an upcoming movie. The web series stars Tyler Mane (played Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake, and Sabretooth in X-Men) and Andrew Bryniarski (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Batman Returns). It will feature all-new prequel story material not in the comic book that will explore the origins of the Reaper and shine a light on the unknown pasts of several key characters.
You can view the Chopper teaser trailer on YouTube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xosUS87LI9Y.
“When Martin Shapiro showed me the first two issues of Chopper on the iPad, I was blown away. The artwork is the same high quality you’d find in a top-of-the-line Marvel or Vertigo book,” says Asylum Press President Frank Forte. “Martin is an enormously talented writer. He has created a dark, truly original world of drugs, outlaw bikers, and supernatural mayhem that hardcore horror fans should really respond to. We are thrilled to bring this comic book to the world.”
“For me, working in comics is very similar to movie making – it’s like the ultimate storyboard,” Shapiro commented. “With Chopper, I wanted the artwork to be cinematic with lots of attention to detail in the backgrounds and characters. That’s why I teamed up with Juan Ferreyra. I’ve been a huge fan of his for a long time. His pencils and inks are amazing – very dynamic with lifelike, expressive characters. I couldn’t ask for a better artist to bring the script to life.”
Shapiro added, “The idea for Chopper came to me when I was at the Daytona Bike Week Festival in Florida hanging out with a bunch of bad-ass bikers, getting stoned and telling war stories. I love custom choppers and I love horror films from the 1970’s and ‘80s, so I decided to combine the two elements into a hardcore, no-holds-barred, R-rated story. I wrote the script at UCLA Film School in a screenwriting class taught by Mike Werb, the writer of Face/Off. He helped me develop the emotional conflict of a troubled girl being pulled in two directions by two different father figures – one dead and one alive. He also encouraged me not to shy away from the controversy of having a drug-dealing high school cheerleader as the protagonist.”
Chopper #1, a 32-page full color comic book for $2.99, goes on sale in stores in early October. Fans should pre-order Chopper #1 at their local comic book shop (www.comicshoplocator.com) to ensure they get a copy before it sells out. Retailers can pre-order Chopper #1 from Diamond Previews August catalog (Asylum Press section – page #249). This title carries a Diamond Code of AUG110859.
Diamond Comic Distributors gave Chopper #1 a “Certified Cool” in its August Previews catalog.
Check out the special 6-Page Preview at https://www.asylumpress.com/titles/chopper
ABOUT ASYLUM PRESS Asylum Press is a Los Angeles-based comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1999 by artist Frank Forte. The Company publishes high-concept books from the industry’s top talent within the horror, fantasy, and action adventure genres via a bold new business model that focuses on digital publishing and new distribution outlets in both the American and international markets. Asylum Press maximizes the value of these branded properties by extending them across multiple entertainment platforms, including movies, TV, and video games, often using transmedia storytelling techniques. Its flagship titles include Fearless Dawn, The Bomb, Undead Evil, Black Powder, Warlash, and the popular horror anthologies Zombie Terrors, EEEK!, Asylum of Horrors, and Satan’s 3-Ring Circus of Hell. For more information, visit https://www.asylumpress.com.
