Press Release
Today Asylum Press launches Chopper, a gritty new five-issue horror comic book series with a tie-in to a live-action series on YouTube and BLIP.TV. Issue #1 of Chopper is available at comic shops nationwide or digitally through iVerse starting October 5, 2011.
Written by screenwriter Martin Shapiro and drawn by acclaimed Dark Horse artist Juan Ferreyra (Falling Skies, Rex Mundi), Chopper is a modern-day reimagining 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 biker 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 book will appeal to fans of Rob Zombie, Robert Kirkman, and Steve Niles.
Be sure to pick up your copy of Chopper #1 at your local comic shop this week while supplies last. To find a store near you go to www.comicshoplocator.com.
For those of you not familiar with Asylum Press books, the publisher is offering a free 6-page PREVIEW for anyone to read online at www.asylumpress.com/titles/chopper
If you’re on the fence about trying a new book from a smaller publisher, be aware that Diamond Comic Distributors gave Chopper #1 a “Certified Cool” in its August Previews catalog. Not only that, Chopper #2 also just received a Certified Cool in the current Previews!
The creator recently sold the movie rights to Chopper, and producer J.C. Christofilis is releasing a web 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. Visit www.chopperlives.com for more info.
You can view the Chopper teaser trailer on YouTube at the following link: 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 horror fans should really respond to. It’s like Breaking Bad meets Halloween with a dash of Sons of Anarchy for flavor. We are thrilled to bring this amazing new series to the world.”
Shapiro commented, “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 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.”
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-quality books from the industry’s top talent within the horror, fantasy, and action adventure genres, including 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 www.asylumpress.com.
2 Comments
Nice cover!
I tried to get the digital copy but it’s either not available yet or they’ve done a really good job of hiding it from everyone who might want a copy.