Zenescope's next event, "Unleashed"

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abysslord
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Zenescope's next event, "Unleashed"

Post by abysslord »

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... /index.htm

Zenescope Entertainment has announced Unleashed, a multi-series event that begins in April.

The event will include six mini-series and a total of 24 issues (some oversized) that tie directly into the Grimm Fairy Tales Universe. The story delve into the world of horror monsters while following those with the skills to hunt them.

Grimm Fairy Tales Unleasshed is the main seven-issue mini-series that begins when hundreds of formerly trapped vampires, werewolves, demons and zombies are all released on Earth by a very powerful entity known as "The Being." Four separate monster hunters (who readers will get to know in separate Unleashed mini-series) join forces along with Grimm's kick-(bleep) heroine Sela Mathers in order to stop them.

Three are five other mini-series will tie into Unleashed, including: The Eternal (Vampires), The Unseen (Demons), The Hunger (Werewolves) and The Cursed (Zombies). The fifth series, The Hunters: Shadowlands, will follow those who are chosen to hunt the creatures, including Zenescope's reimagined Van Helsing.

"Unleashed crosses several genres with a blend of horror, fantasy and action," said Zenescope's EIC, Ralph Tedesco. "We've wanted to bring classic but updated horror monsters into the Grimm Universe for a while and we came up with an all-encompassing event that would allow us to introduce a lot of great new characters in a captivating way. A couple of examples include a reinvented female version of the classic Van Helsing character and Elijah, a freed slave from the 19th century who kicks zombie (bleep). Fans are in for something they never would have expected to see in Grimm and they're going to absolutely love it!"
This could be really good. My only fear is Zenescope seems to spread themselves thin in the artist department. They have good ones, but a couple series I've read from them .... wow. I think if they could have the interior art match the cover art a little more they'd sell more copies.[/quote]
torchsong
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Post by torchsong »

I *want* to like Zenescope, but they have a history of not paying their artists unless they get bullied into it, and a few of my artists friends have had less-than-pleasant run-ins with some of their staff.

Can't support that, no matter how pretty you wrap it up.
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boshuda
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Post by boshuda »

torchsong wrote:I *want* to like Zenescope, but they have a history of not paying their artists unless they get bullied into it, and a few of my artists friends have had less-than-pleasant run-ins with some of their staff.

Can't support that, no matter how pretty you wrap it up.
Really? I haven't heard anything like that before. Not that I've looked or spend much time on comic 'news' sites.
torchsong
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Post by torchsong »

Bleeding Cool pretty much reports on it enough that they ought to have a regular column on it. :)

Generally the cycle seems to be: Hire freelance artist, negotiate fee, delay payment, get work, delay payment, publish work, delay payment, tell freelancer payment is coming, delay payment, hear from freelancer threatening litigation, delay payment because freelancer can't afford lawyer if they're working in comics ( :) ), Bleeding Cool gets wind of it and reports on it, suddenly payment magically appears (in whole or in part).

Had an artist friend of mine go through this very situation with an added bonus of one of the people saying she could get her comps if he could get a hug (she's female). Classy act.

It's happened enough times to enough different people that it's no longer a coincidence. At least in my book. Amazing covers...like I said I *want* to like them...but they make it pretty hard to.
Last edited by torchsong on Wed Jan 16, 2013 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"That...that HAIR!!!" - Deadpool, Deadpool #11
BobBretall
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Re: Zenescope's next event, "Unleashed"

Post by BobBretall »

abysslord wrote: This could be really good. My only fear is Zenescope seems to spread themselves thin in the artist department. They have good ones, but a couple series I've read from them .... wow. I think if they could have the interior art match the cover art a little more they'd sell more copies.
Taking the payment of artists out of the loop, I read the last Zenescope event like this that wove through all their books ("The Dream Eaters Saga" that was 12 parts) and was unimpressed with the storytelling and about half the art. Which leads me to another Zenescope 'problem', which is that I wish they'd put as much care into the standard of art on the interiors of their books instead of having 5 or 6 flashy T&A variants for every book.
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Re: Zenescope's next event, "Unleashed"

Post by BadDeacon »

BobBretall wrote:Taking the payment of artists out of the loop, I read the last Zenescope event like this that wove through all their books ("The Dream Eaters Saga" that was 12 parts) and was unimpressed with the storytelling and about half the art. Which leads me to another Zenescope 'problem', which is that I wish they'd put as much care into the standard of art on the interiors of their books instead of having 5 or 6 flashy T&A variants for every book.
You would ask them to fundamentally change their business plan?!?
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BobBretall
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Re: Zenescope's next event, "Unleashed"

Post by BobBretall »

BadDeacon wrote: You would ask them to fundamentally change their business plan?!?
The T&A variants are what keep them in business, apparently, so I wouldn't ask them to change, I just wish they would ;-)

Maybe if they put as much care into the insides as they do into the flashy covers they'd have a more sustainable reader base.
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