Tag Archives: awbw

Phantom of the Opera: the Graphic Novel

By Featured Graphic Novels, , , ,
phantom

Published by A Wave Blue World

ISBN: 9781949518092
Price: $16.99
Genre: Literary Adaptation
Ages: 13+

On Sale: October 20, 2020

Everyone has heard the whispered tales of the phantom who lives beneath the opera house, the mysterious trickster behind all the little mishaps and lost things. But no one has ever seen the monster . . . until now. When the promise of blossoming love lures him out from his intricately constructed hideaways in the labyrinthine building’s walls and cellars, a hideously disfigured artist trains the lovely Christine to be the opera’s next star for a steep price. Does she choose her newfound success or her beloved Count Raoul? This doomed love triangle threatens to combust when a tragic death, a series of betrayals, and increasingly dangerous accidents cast the players of The Palais Garnier into a heart-wrenching horror story that will echo through the ages.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the iconic gothic romance, is retold with all the spectacle its legend demands in this devoted graphic novel adaptation that marries stunning artwork with Gaston Leroux’s haunting prose.

Bookshop
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indigo
Comic Shop Locator

Key Selling Points

Creator(s) Bio

Advanced Praise

  • UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION: A pop culture phenomenon for over 100 years, Phantom of the Opera has thrilled multiple generations through several classic film adaptations and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic stage musical that has netted $6 billion in gross receipts over its 30-year run. The book is perfect for fans looking for a new take and newcomers looking for an accessible way into the story for the first time.

  • CHILLINGLY FUN CLASSIC HORROR: Ideal for “monster kids” who appreciate old fashioned classic horror films from Universal and Hammer Pictures, Leroux’s monster sits proudly in that pantheon. Tomi’s faithful adaptation recreates the time period for gothic treat that’s macabre and atmospheric without gore or outright terror.

  • LAVISH ARTWORK: With its impeccably detailed linework, readers can get as hopelessly lost in each panel as the characters do in the labyrinth below the opera house. Tomi’s goal is to give fans of Gaston Leroux’s prose a visual spectacle on par with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical in book form.

  • DEVOTED ADAPTATION: A devoted lifelong fan of both the musical and the original novel, Tomi is the perfect artist for a graphic novel adaptation. He spent years researching the costumes and settings for the story and painstakingly drawing these details into his labor of love.

  • INTRO TO CLASSIC LITERATURE: With its commitment to accuracy and authenticity, this PHANTOM OF THE OPERA adaptation is a great gateway book to classic literature for kids and students, and an entry point to graphic novels for literature readers who may be new to the medium.Broken Frontier anthology ( A Wave Blue World).

Varga Tomi is a Hungarian artist and colorist. He graduated from The Kubert School in Dover, NJ in 2015. Since then he’s worked with a number of publishers and high-profile creators, most notably IDW and Kevin Eastman on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and A Wave Blue World and Marguerite Bennett on the Broken Frontier Anthology and Ghastly Tales.

“This adaptation proves a faithful and attractive enough version that die-hard Phantom fans will likely pick it up.”
– PUBLISHER WEEKLY

AWBW’s ‘Disturbing’ And ‘Thought Provoking’ New Title THE KILLING JAR

By Industry News, Interviews, ,

Interview, as told to Troy-Jeffrey Allen

A small Colorado town. Three drug runners with a van filled with product. Two police officers investigating suspicious activity. A heroic young woman with a violent past, an innocent little brother and her dead father’s .38 police special. And a throng of ravenous townspeople out of their minds with drug lust. This is THE KILLING JAR.

A Wave Blue World’s THE KILLING JAR is a wild ride. So wild that Don Murphy, the producer of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies (a pretty wild ride in their own right) deemed it “the most fun you can have legally.” That’s a bold statement. And writer Justin Zimmerman and artist Russ Brown are here to back it up. In the following discussion, the creative team behind The Killing Jar explains why their cross between Preacher, La Femme Nikita,  and Dawn of the Dead is a senses shattering experience! Keep reading.

9780982453971_70a5b

Justin Zimmerman: I was working on a feature length adaptation of a Stephen King piece and Transformers producer Don Murphy challenged me to write something from scratch. I came up with THE KILLING JAR, and decided to tackle it as a sequential comic. I “Brian K. Vaughaned” every chapter, leading up to a crazy cliffhanger. I would not recommend your first indie comic experience to be an over 200-page original graphic novel, but it was what the story needed to be. And fortunately, I met Russ.

Russ Brown: I’d never dedicated any real time to comic book art. I’d been a reader, and had dabbled in character creation, but for something this ambitious, I had to learn a whole new skillset. We BOTH did, and we dove in headfirst January, 2008. Three screaming freeway hours away from each other, workshopping Justin’s creation into the beautiful and terrifying book that exists now.

Justin Zimmerman: It took YEARS. I wanted an old-school black and white film look, so we shot from the pencils. I digitally inked and toned every page, and lettered to boot. And every page was something we learned from. I wanted a strong but fallible female lead. I wanted survival-horror. I wanted neowestern. I wanted blood.

Russ Brown: 1,479 individual email threads over years of collaboration. No stone remained unturned with Justin. He was both wide-open to creative suggestions and madly specific when it counted. He didn’t simply learn how to write a comic book script, he learned how to design, edit, print, distribute, and advertise a book. And man, they are beautiful books.

Justin Zimmerman: It is pretty remarkable that after all of this time, it’s finally been remastered and readied for the direct market thanks to A WAVE BLUE WORLD. It’s been out in the book market for a bit, but a graphic novel isn’t real to me unless it’s on a comic book store shelf, and on August 26th, that’s where THE KILLING JAR will finally be! I’m so excited people are going to be seeing Russ’ art the way it was always meant to be seen.

245160_1415015_1

Russ Brown: It’s a hand-made labor of love, and after 12 years, still alive and delivering its vicious, mindless mobs and the horrors of small-town secrets with the meanest of kicks. It’s always had a strange resonance with its readers, and it always manages to catch passing eyes on the shelf or the convention tables. Now everyone gets to find out why.

Justin Zimmerman: I’ve been so careful with THE KILLING JAR. It has such an important place in my heart. It’s always circled as a property, but I’d never let it happen unless I was involved to help shepherd the production along. To me, it loves on the page, first and foremost… and it’s worth fighting for to keep that original vision – and Anna and co. – intact. I love each and every single one of those characters – even the worst of ‘em – but it’s Anna’s story, period.

Russ Brown: It’s a hard day to come to the realization that there is sickness inside your home. It’s harder still when you know that you might be the only one to see it, that you might have to fight your way out, or be a shield for your loved ones. Anna is that person in THE KILLING JAR. She is neither hopeless nor cynical. She is someone who is constantly underestimated, and in spite of everything she endures, is strong and willful. And while surrounded by corruption, brutality and desperate addiction, she is utterly capable.  

Justin Zimmerman: What’s next for THE KILLING JAR? That’s up to the readers. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do to this day. It’s in their hands, literally, now!

THE KILLING JAR will be available anywhere you buy books on August 18, 2020. For more information, click here.