Electronic Arts comic book imprint in partnership with IDW Publishing
This was a fantastic opportunity for me. I conceived and managed all business, strategic and creative aspects of this program. Elements included (but were not limited to) building the business case and gaining executive buy-in, branding and strategic positioning, evaluating all of EA's wholly-owned IPs to determine which would work well as comics, negotiating with all major comic book publishers, defining the user experience (in the comics and online), identifying and securing the creative teams for each title, and developing the online destination (marketing and community hub).
Note: some of the comic pages contain adult language.
Note: some of the comic pages contain adult language.
Brand identity was created in partnership with Civil Engine (http://cv-en.com/)
I worked with the game development team (the de facto "owners" of the IP) to determine the best visual and story direction for the comic series. It was important to reflect the style and attitude of the game series, while also creating something that would appeal to fans of modern mainstream comics.
For anyone unfamiliar with mainstream comics, the creative process is like an assembly line: writers, pencilers, inkers, colorists, letterers, and quite often, separate cover artists. For most of the disciplines, we were able to find well established and respected comic book veterans. For the penciler, which is generally a more difficult role to fill as most of the top pencilers are under contract with the 2 largest comic publishers, I scouted out exceptional up-and-coming talent.
Writer: Peter Milligan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Milligan)
The game team for Dragon Age requested that we try to get writer Orson Scott Card for the series, and we were fortunate enough to bring him on board. In addition to being an award-winning novelist, he also had prior experience in the comics medium, having written Ultimate Iron Man for Marvel Comics. Again with this series, a team was assembled for their electrifying imagery to bring the sword and sorcery of the game to the comics medium in the most dynamic way possible. These comics are all about action.
Writers: Orson Scott Card (http://www.hatrack.com/) with Aaron Johnston
Marketing+Community website was created in partnership with Red Interactive Agency (http://www.ff0000.com/)
Cross-sell insert for the comic series, packaged in with the Army of Two: The 40th Day game. Design and layout by me.