Black Mask Studios
| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | Los Angeles, California |
| Key people | Brett Gurewitz Steve Niles Matt Pizzolo |
| Publication types | Comic books, books |
| Official website | www |
Black Mask Studios is a comic book and graphic novel publishing company formed by Matt Pizzolo, Steve Niles and Brett Gurewitz, designed as a new infrastructure to support comic book creators and a new pipeline for transgressive art.[1][2]
History
On March 20, 2012, it was announced that Occupy Comics, the charity comic book inspired by and raising funds for Occupy Wall Street, organized by Pizzolo, would not be released through an existing comic book publisher, but through a new company called Black Mask Studios.[3]
Niles and Gurewitz joined with Pizzolo to found Black Mask.[4][5] Pizzolo has explained that Black Mask will operate under the mottos "to create you must destroy" and "Inspire, never meddle".[6]
On June 12, 2012, Black Mask Studios opened its webstore and officially released Occupy Comics #1 with the announcement that Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegelman, Bill Ayers, Ryan Alexander-Tanner, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Matt Bors had joined the book's roster.[7]
On September 17, 2012, the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Comics #2 was released to the project's Kickstarter backers and via the Black Mask Studios website. The cover featured a new and iconic illustration by V For Vendetta artist David Lloyd pitting his seminal character V against the Wall Street Charging Bull.[8]
Nearly a year later, on February 14, 2013, Black Mask Studios unveiled its first slate of comics with a two-pronged distribution strategy of supplying comics to traditional comic book shops as well as direct-to-fan through digital-physical hybrid subscriptions.[9]
The following year, in October 2014, Black Mask Studios announced its second slate of 15 new series, a major expansion for the company, flagshipped by Sinatoro from Grant Morrison and Vanesa Del Rey and Disciples from Steve Niles and Christopher Mitten. [10]
Also in October 2014, Black Mask Studios announced its first two non-comics productions: a TV adaptation of Five Ghosts by Frank Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham, executive produced by Pizzolo and Gurewitz for Syfy and Universal Cable Productions with a pilot by Evan Daugherty; [11] and an animated feature film trilogy of Godkiller by Pizzolo, Anna Muckcracker Wieszczyk and Ben Templesmith. [12]
Titles
The first slate of titles was scheduled to launch on May Day 2013 with Occupy Comics #1. The list announced by Black Mask includes:[13]
- Occupy Comics, in a new configuration for comic book stores but still with all revenue received by organizers and creators (past hard costs) being donated to Occupy-related efforts,
- 12 Reasons To Die, a transmedia concept project masterminded by Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah, producer Adrian Younge, and executive producer RZA that spans across an album and comic book series of the same name, the comic to be written by Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon with interiors and covers to be illustrated by a rotating team of artists including Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), Riley Rossmo (Cowboy Ninja Viking, Bedlam), Breno Tamura (Pigs), Gus Storms, Paolo Rivera (Daredevil), Ramon Perez (Jim Henson's Tale of Sand, Wolverine and the X-Men), Ronald Wimberly (Prince of Cats), Garry Brown (The Massive), Christopher Mitten (30 Days of Night), and more,
- Ballistic, a psychedelic, transreal, hard sci-fi adventure by Darick Robertson (Happy, The Boys, Transmetropolitan) and Adam Egypt Mortimer (director Grant Morrison's upcoming Sinatoro),
- Liberator, a gritty vigilante series about two young heroes avenging the torture of animals by writer and real-life animal rescuer Matt Miner and artist Joel Gomez (with 30% of the project's profits going to animal rescue efforts).
The second slate of titles began debuting in late 2014 with new series scheduled to launch through mid-2015, including:[14]
- Sinatoro written by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Vanesa del Rey
- Space Riders written by Fabian Rangel Jr., illustrate by Alexis Ziritt
- Our Work Fills The Pews written by Vita Wong and Matthew Rosenberg, illustrated by Yasmin Liang
- X'ed written by Tony Dreannan, illustrated by Ayhan Hayrula
- Young Terrorists written by Matt Pizzolo, illustrated by Amancay Nahuelpan
- The Disciples written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Christopher Mitten
- Last Song written by Holly Interlandi, illustrated by Zoe Chevat
- Mayday written by Curt Pires, illustrated by Chris Peterson
- Toe Tag Riot written by Matt Miner, illustrated by Sean Von Gorman
- We Can Never Go Home written by Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon, illustrated by Josh Hood
- Transference written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Ron Salas
- Godkiller written by Matt Pizzolo, illustrated by Anna Muckcracker Wieszczyk, covers by Ben Templesmith
- Critical Hit written by Matt Miner, illustrated by Jonathan Brandon Sawyer
- Pirouette written by Mark Miller, illustrated by Carlos Granda
- Last Born written by Patrick Meaney, illustrated by Eric Zawadzki
References
- ^ aubin (February 15, 2013). "Brett Gurewitz helps launch Black Mask Studios". Punknews.org.
- ^ MacDonald, Heidi (February 15, 2013). "New publisher/distro Black Mask Studios debuts with Moore, Lloyd, RZA and more". Comics Beat.
- ^ "Black Mask Studios; New Comic Publisher". ICv2. March 22, 2012.
- ^ Thill, Scott (March 20, 2012). "Black Mask Studios' 'Old Punks' Occupy Comics, Creators Rights". Wired.
- ^ "Black Mask Studios to distribute Occupy Comics anthology". Robot 6. Comic Book Resources. May 20, 2012.
- ^ Kit, Borys (February 14, 2013). "'Watchmen,' 'Walking Dead' and '30 Days of Night' Creators Help Launch Black Mask Comics". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Thill, Scott (June 12, 2012). "Maus Creator Art Spiegelman Joins Occupy Comics' Growing Chorus". Wired.
- ^ Thill, Scott (September 17, 2012). "See David Lloyd's Ballsy, Bullish Cover of New Occupy Comics". Wired.
- ^ Webb, Charles (February 15, 2013). "Black Mask Studios: Two Comic Creators And A Punk Musician Announce Their Own Comic Company". MTV.
- ^ Kit, Borys (October 7, 2014). "Grant Morrison's 'Sinatoro' Getting the Comic Book Treatment From Black Mask Studios". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ White, Brett (October 7, 2014). "Image's "Five Ghosts" In Development At Syfy". Comic Book Resources.
- ^ Yamato, Jen (November 6, 2014). "'Godkiller' Post-Apocalyptic Comic Bound For New Animated Trilogy". Deadline.
- ^ Pizzolo, Matt (February 15, 2013). "Black Mask: The Spring Collection". Black Mask Studios.
- ^ Pizzolo, Matt (October 7, 2014). "Welcome to Black Mask 2.0". Black Mask Studios.