Press Release
Eisner-nominated artist M.K. Perker and award-winning writer Ken Kristensen announced today that their comic book Todd, The Ugliest Kid On Earthlaunches January 16, 2013 via Image Comics. Todd, a collision of comedy, sex, and violence, follows the misadventures of America’s most dysfunctional family as they go head-to-severed head with an Oprah-loving ax murderer, a cult-crazy soap opera star, and a neo-Nazi prison gang. The full-color four-issue mini series will hit comic stores January 16th in both digital and print formats.
An ensemble comedy, Todd follows the misadventures of a dysfunctional small-town family caught in extraordinary circumstances.
The heart of the story is son Todd – a good-hearted kid who wears a paper bag on his head because he’s so ugly. Or is he? He’s never actually seen without the bag. Relentlessly bullied, Todd’s efforts to make friends get him imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit. As prison gangs close in on Todd, his fate hinges on inept cops, a tough jailhouse ally, his mother’s promiscuity, and a celebrity Scientologist who makes Todd’s father a very creepy offer he may not be able to refuse.
“In my career, I’ve had the pleasure of creating crazy characters, but with Todd we’ve tapped into the most insane parts of our imaginations,” says Perker. “Political correctness has no place in this book. Our goal is to create a wholly original world that will make you laugh and break your heart, by any means necessary. We make a solemn promise to our reader: no good deed will go unpunished.”
“Though the world and characters in Todd are a hyper-real version of small town America, like all satire it deals with important real-world themes,” says Kristensen. “Todd explores the idea that we all live in a prison of some kind – whether it’s schoolyard bullying, a bad marriage, shitty job, oppressive religious doctrines, gang membership, or actual prison walls.”
This creative team previously collaborated on Dark Horse’s Escapist anthology and have several project in the works including a feature film Playground, with writer-producers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah (Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, Freaks and Geeks TV series).
About Image Comics :
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visitwww.imagecomics.com.
About co-creator M.K. Perker:
Eisner-nominated comic book artist and writer whose work includes Cairo (Vertigo/DC), Air (Vertigo/DC), Insomnia Café (Dark Horse), as well as runs on Fables (Vertigo/DC), and most recently The Unwritten (Vertigo/DC). He is a member of the Society of Illustrators.
About co-creator Ken Kristensen:
Award-winning writer and comic book junkie. One of the greatest moments of his writing career was working with his hero Pulitzer-prize winner Michael Chabon on The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist (Dark Horse). He is a member of The Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
