Photo: Zimbio

"Reprisal" is a new Hulu drama with a femme fatal lead and neo-noir flair. The show made its presence known at New York Comic Con this month to premiere the first episode. The overall vibe of the screening was cozy, as the cast and crew sat in the middle of the room to watch with the rest of the fans in attendance. The pilot introduces a stylish world of gangs, mysteries, 1950's hot rods and burlesque houses, 1960's bikers, 1970's muscle cars, with the lead character Katherine Harlow / Doris Quinn (portrayed by Abigail Spencer) at the center of all the commotion.

Executive producer Josh Corbin gave an insight into developing the overall look of the show. "For me  it's creating a world that is era ambiguous. We don't know exactly where or why these elements exist. The show is about these characters reckoning with their past, chasing down their past, dealing with the sins of their past. We wanted to create a world [where] we don't know exactly where we are or when we are, and finding a fun way to let that play into the themes of the show. On top of that, we had a lot of fun. We draw upon all different sorts of aspects and eras of twentieth century pop culture. Thematically it works and we had a good time."

Finding the right direction for bringing the characters to life in a borderline surreal world such as this requires careful consideration from the lead actors. Abigail Spencer says that following Corbin's lead was important as well as pilot director Jonathan Van Tulleken. "They laid out the tone, the look, everything else, and I was a part of the painting. It is a large world and a lot of the characters don't cross until a certain point in the storytelling. We have a lot of conversations and you do a lot of experimenting because we want to be inspired by film noir, femme fatale, but we're also trying to do something new. That's what we're trying to create together and it's really inspiring because not a lot of people get this opportunity on television."

Renowned character actor David Dastmalchian is also part of the cast as Johnson, a member of the gang lead by Joel Kelly (portrayed by Rodrigo Santoro). Dastmalchian was drawn to the project because of the quality of the script. "I felt like the script was just dripping too. When I first got the script and I read it, I freaked out. I never read anything like this before and I know there's never been anything on television like this before. I said to Josh when I first got to meet him, 'This feels like David Lynch's driving a hot rod and Quentin Tarantino's driving and they're about to crash into each other and it's freaking amazing!' I'm thankful these guys wanted me in this wonderful cast along for the ride."

The show also shows a potential to draw in a younger demographic with talent like Mena Massoud and Madison Davenport. Massoud plays Ethan Hart, a young, newer addition to the gang with a type of brooding sensitivity reminiscent of James Dean. "I am very lucky because I think I have the easiest job adjusting to the world because the audience sees everything for the first time like Ethan does. I get to go on set and portray these emotions that I feel in real life which is like, 'What the hell is going on here? What the hell is this?' It's a fun ride. It's an amazing world that Josh and Jonathan have created and I'm just grateful to be a part of it."

Gilbert Owuor plays Bash Branningan. "To talk about the opposite end of the spectrum compared to where Ethan comes into the world, the sets and the locations they chose and the sets they built, wrapping your head around what living in a place like this day to day would do was really helpful. Just the dirt and the grime, the harshness of it, what would it be to live in this place Day to day, year to year, just trying to make something of your life? Fighting against that really helped me find where the character was from."

Madison Davenport portrays Meredith, a burlesque dancer at the club run by Joel's gang. "The setting, the costumes, let me tell you it's really easy to be Meredith once you're sucked into that corset. That really makes things really real. The writing is so solid, the sets, everything, you feel like you're there and then once you get all into your character, your hair, your make-up, your costume, you're there."

"The world is very specific but..." begins Rodrigo Santoro. "I was blown away when I read the pilot the first time because there's so much humanity. It was just on the page. Yes, the world is amazing, it's new, we don't know what time it is, what is going on, but at the end of the day we're engaged with the characters. They're human and complex. Being in this world gave us a lot of freedom to play with it."

Davenport's first notable introduction involves an extensive dance sequence for a single take and involves her getting on and off different stages while executing precise choreography and removing various items of clothing. "It was a oner so I was basically doing the dance but so was the camera operator. It was like we were doing this lovely waltz and he was going backwards with the camera." Director Jonathan Van Tulleken chimes in from his seat in the audience to say that this particular sequence was shot thirteen times and that the take lasts for one minute and forty seconds. "Every article of clothing that came off had to go back on," adds Davenport. "But it was so much fun! Once you're in that groove, it feels like you're in a time vortex and it doesn't feel like a minute and forty seconds."

Spencer shares how her opinion of the show has shifted from the time that she was making it to now watching the finished product with an audience. "Actually just watching it now and watching it with you all, we've really been selling this as a revenge story. I just watched it and [now] I think this might be a redemption story. I think that's the interesting thing for all of the characters. You really see everyone just trying to find where their future is going, to right a wrong. I think this is going towards redemption because when something like that happens to you, when you are so broken, the strongest thing that you can do is rebuild yourself and try and change the future. I really think that that's the underlying path and it's cool because that is such a human element but placed in this hyperreal, fantastical world."

Santoro's character Joel displays an interesting juxtaposition in the pilot episode, from the ruthlessness of a gang leader to the softness of a doting father of a young daughter. "When we meet Joel now it's a very interesting place, torn between two opposite directions. He's actually trying to maintain order and peace in this violent, lawless world while trying to raise his seven-year-old daughter. It's such a contrast and he's learning to be a father while he has to deal with... I don't want to spoil anything but he's done some really interesting things in his past. He's got a massive internal battle which will evolve in the episodes. It's very challenging for me. He's nothing like me, I'm definitely nothing like that. It's such a blessing, the opportunity to play him."

"Reprisal" will premiere on Hulu on December 6.

Watch the New York Comic Con panel for "Reprisal" here:

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Photo: Just Jared

After the first season of "Castle Rock" proved successful in weaving a new interconnected universe from various Stephen King works, it was unclear how a new season would be able to match this level of continued adulation. Without the added boost of having names like Bill Skarsgård or Sissy Spacek in the series, as the cast of season two were largely reported to be new, the direction the show would take was left shrouded in mystery. The biggest announcement came when Lizzy Caplan was announced to be portraying Annie Wilkes, the antagonist from King's 1987 novel "Misery" who was popularised by Kathy Bates in the 1990 film adaptation. After the first episode of season two is screened in front of a packed room at Madison Square Garden, no one in the venue has any doubts that Caplan is equipped to portray the many nuances of this interpretation of the character.

"I love Annie, I think she's a sweet baby," jokes Caplan as she begins to address the audience. "The Misery version of Annie Wilkes, obviously the OG Annie Wilkes portrayed by the incomparable Kathy Bates, nobody can touch her, she's amazing. That Annie Wilkes, she's already very isolated. She lives in that house by herself. The first person that she really comes in close contact with over an extended period of time is Paul Sheldon. Our Annie is still out in the world. She has to interact with people. She has to work, she has to make money, and she has to take care of her daughter. That immediately gives her different layers. I think by the end of this season hopefully we will understand why Annie wanted to move to a house in the middle of nowhere by herself."

This season is set to explore Annie's side of the story, as the original novel was largely shown from the perspective of Paul Sheldon. This time, the narrative is focused on showing both Annie's perspective and her origins to how she came to be the character people are far more familiar with. Even the smallest character details in this version allow the audience to better connect with her. Executive producer Dustin Thomason shares about the use of Carly Simon music with Annie's scenes.

"One of the defining aspects of Annie in every form that we've seen her is that she's really a woman born out of her time. Annie's tastes are decidedly old-fashioned and I love Carly Simon. I also think that there's something about the way that she defined an age. It was that idea of Annie being stuck in an earlier age."

Watching Caplan inhabit this character is unsetting in the best way right from the start. The episode's first introduction of her is without dialogue for a minute or so. As a result, the audience is able to witness how meticulous the attention to detail is in getting the physicality of her performance just right, from her posture to her manner of walking. Caplan addresses this aspect when it's brought up during the Q&A.

"There's lots of descriptions in the book, fairly offensive descriptions about Annie's physical appearance and her size and what she looks like and she's a 'mountain of her woman' and all this. I'm not particularly tall. I'm not particularly physically opposing. The only kind of choice I had was to do something that looked unsettling and maybe a little bit off. I also felt like whatever the walk is, it just made me feel solid and grounded, feet on the ground. I don't know where it came from. I didn't know if it worked."

It worked. It really worked.

"Castle Rock" season two premieres on October 23 on Hulu.

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Photo credit: Apple

M. Night Shyamalan is no stranger to Comic Cons. His first time attending one was for the tenth anniversary of "Unbreakable" and ever since, he has made several appearances at them to promote his various works. "We really embraced it. Whenever I do a film it's 'How do we show something at Comic Con?' It's always on my mind now. The irony of the Unbreakable story is, when I made Unbreakable I was like, 'Oh, I'm gonna make this movie about comic books.' The company that I made it for said, 'Well that's not a viable thing to do. That's just a small group of nerdy people.' This is literally a conversation [that happened]. 'So let's not say that there's anything to do with comic books when we sell the movie because it's so niche. No one's gonna see a movie about comic books heroes.' That was Disney."

The tides have turned significantly since then, as Disney now is the corporate overlord of the film industry and dominates the box office charts due in large part to their massive churn-out of superhero films. Shyamalan expresses an interest in genre material that dates back to his childhood, though he had to ensure that he didn't bring anything too graphic home since it would upset his conservative Indian parents. Even now as an adult, he will find himself shying away from including nudity in some of his films because he imagines how his mother would react to it.

Shyamalan has often been a misunderstood creator. The over-simplistic perception is that his works too often rely on plot twists or that they have a propensity for being esoteric. In actuality, he puts tremendous thought into creating works that respect the audience that will eventually consume it. "It's a big, big deal to me. Some of the things we're going to talk about [are] value systems, about story-telling, and what I've been able to use my position to do. I use it to leverage as much as I can to make sure that I am doing things that at least in my opinion are of the highest quality so that those individuals, there's an understanding that they're really getting something from me specifically and that I'm willing to take risks and I'm not chasing you. I'm respecting you guys. The big thing I say to the studios [is] 'The audience's EQ, their emotional intelligence, is off the charts. They're all together  and it's off the charts. They can feel that authenticity in a performance. They can feel it and that will translate to commerce on their sides so please trust me on that. You don't need to talk down to them.' I have that conversation all the time."

Shyamalan has previously forayed into television with his work on the FOX series "Wayward Pines" but is now set to return to it in an entirely way with the Apple TV+ series "Servant" (which he later reveals on this New York Comic Con panel will premiere on Thanksgiving, November 28).

"I've avoided this format. The great thing about the format is that it's a character-driven format. You come to watch week to week because you're connected to the characters and I love that. That's amazing, but the amount of content you have to deliver for the amount of time and amount of resources, the math, it just doesn't work. That's why on two hands you can count every show that has gone from beginning to end with the same quality. It's just a machine that keeps going. That was terrifying to me. Tony, who wrote the show, came up with an amazing premise which is [that] we're gonna do a half hour thriller. I went, 'That, we might be able to do at this level.' We were talking through [it] and in my head, we have a sense of the story, we know where it's gonna go. In my head, it's sixty episodes. That's where we're gonna get to here, and get you guys to this place, and finish this story. This is where everyone's coming from. For [the audience] that would be thirty episodes of Game of Thrones. That would be three seasons or less of Game of Thrones, that [would be] over six years. The other thing that's really important to me is I do a lot of contained stories. I do that for a lot of reasons I'd like to insinuate. It's very practical. It's something I can execute at a high level and not travel all over the world. The other thing that's really, really unique about the show is it never leaves one location. The entire show, all the time, is always in one location so it has this almost play-like quality to it. We got to concentrate on the performances, the writing, the cinematography and every shot is thought out. When our directors come in we talk about... my theory about cinema is, if you're gonna do a medium shot on a character you need to tell me why. Why is she feeling medium? Is he feeling medium? Is that what she's feeling? Then why is the other person, are they both feeling medium? Why do we even do this scene? Talk me through it. It's to evoke an understanding of, if the frame is dropping that makes you feel something. The frame rising has a different feeling. Which feeling are you going for? Are you thinking about that? Is that the right lens? Is it a twenty-seven? Is it a thirty-five or is it a fifty? They all have different senses, depth, and create different emotions. They say different things about what the characters are. What does this all mean? For me, I feel when you guys see an image from this show, you will sense all of that. That's what I was referencing, your EQ being off the charts, that you will go, 'That's ringing true to me. I'm seeing all the resonance in the choice of colours, the framing, the textures. I see her dress as this pattern and the wall has the opposite pattern. I see that without knowing it and I can feel that there's thought and depth there,' and that will cause a connection. At home, when someone's watching a show and they're typing on their computer and watching [without fully paying attention], I'm watching that happen and I'm wondering why that's happening. I want you unable to do something else because [of] that tension in every frame. [These are] the aspirations. I have to say when we finished the first season, it was really one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. It's just been a really beautiful thing. I hope when you guys get to see it, you'll appreciate it."

Shyamalan directed two of the episodes of the first season, all of which was shot in Philadelphia. The set was built in a warehouse near his office and the entire creative process was a collaborative one with his cast and crew. He even shares how much fun he had editing the show at his house. This commitment to authenticity is at the core of Shyamalan's process, believing that every artist will thrive when they are as specific as possible. Since Shyamalan grew up in Philadelphia, it's a natural choice to make the series be set there.

When casting for his projects, Shyamalan has a spiritual perspective about how he finds his actors. By concentrating on the specific vision he has for his characters, the right actors for the part seemingly appear exactly when he needs them. He cites James McAvoy as an example, sharing the story of McAvoy walking up to him at a Comic Con with a shaved head and Shyamalan immediately knowing this was who needed to play the lead in "Split". As for casting the four leads of "Servant," Shyamalan describes Lauren Ambrose's audition as a "lightning bolt" that set things on the right track for the rest of the casting process.

"Toby [Kebbell] auditioned and I was like, 'God, this guys feels like a revelation.' He's like the guy's guy but he's super sweet. This is exactly how we pictured him. Then Rupert from Harry Potter came in, literally guys, he is transcendent in the show. It's like a different human being. We've seen him as a child and when does that ever happen where you find yourself as an actor as an adult? We are so lucky. Everybody I just mentioned are incredible physical actors as you'll see when you watch this series because it's a contained piece, they're all very physical with the way they act. You'll see it in their language, the running up the stairs, and how they conduct themselves. Then of course, you're looking for a new colour that you haven't seen and then Nell walks in. Nell Tiger Free, again, I've gotten very lucky with Abigail Breslin, Bryce [Dallas Howard], and Haley [Joel Osment]. Nell walked in and against all this energy you have this very quiet kind of mysterious quality of someone who's discovering themselves in the world and that energy, the four of them, it's just unbelievable. I'm so lucky. Honestly, I feel like, I don't know how to express this enough, that's why I love filmmaking. I feel really, really grateful."

Shyamalan has always embraced a sense of mystery in not only the works of fiction he creates but also the way he approaches the marketing of his content. "I'm very much a scene-based marketeer in the sense that I want you to see the tones of the show. I don't want it to be commonised. I want you to see that it's different. That's what makes you stop tying. You look up because the rhythms are different. In this particular case, we were really, really lucky. A lot of places wanted to make this show. We decided to go with Apple and the reason we did is because I felt there was a connection between the aesthetics that we talked about and them as a company, their kind of minimalism, their pass at spirituality, all of that. Also, this was an opportunity to help define this, which was a really  exciting thing to me, to help define a place. This new movement in how you guys watch content, to me with the biggest company in the world, and there's 1.6 billion devices that Apple has, to have that kind of reach and to say, 'Hey, let's tell a long-form story with them,' that was really exciting. They really did give me the opportunity to just go make it."

Shyamalan premieres the complete "Servant" trailer he has put together with Apple, that won't be premiered to the public for a few more months, to the New York Comic Con audience. It confirms what the early teasers and taglines hinted at, which is that the married couple of Sean (Toby Kebbell) and Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) have a doll infant as a form of therapy following the loss of their newborn son. Dorothy is the one that is in denial about the doll not being an actual baby, while Sean is simply trying to help his wife through this traumatic ordeal.

Following the trailer, the four actors and "Servant" writer Tony Basgallop join Shyamalan on stage to further discuss their work on the series. One of the unique facets of the show is that all of the episodes are written from a single writer, which ensures a greater consistency in the style and voice of the show's continuity and tone. For many of the actors, this trailer reveal is the first time they have seen any of the finished episodes.

"I watched some of the first episode just today," says Ambrose. "There was emotion and tribulation! It was super beautiful and lovely to see everyone's beautiful work. As actors we're so focused on the minute details of our characters it was so lovely to see the scope of the story and the masterful cinema that it was." Ambrose says that in approaching the project, there were many scripts to look at right from the onset. "It really felt like making a film." Ambrose plays a character she describes as "really tragic" but was excited about being able to work in a genre she had never done before and explore grief in general and the specific grief of her character. "She takes her grief and expresses it in the most bananas way. Of course, we're all denying death. This character, thanks to Tony, takes it to a whole other level."

Shyamalan elaborates on the premise being a couple that loses a child and embarks on using this fringe therapy to deal with the trauma and grief caused by this loss. This doll is an actual form of fringe therapy that exists in our world, but in the series Dorothy takes this therapy so far that she goes and hires a nanny for the doll. The premise is intended to be tragic while also being inappropriately funny. Shyamlan gives full credit to Basgallop for being able to infuse that dimension of humour into an otherwise serious, dramatic concept and to Toby Kebbell for being funny where it was appropriate.

"It was a lucky position I was put in cause I'm dealing with so a huge amount of grief and guilt," says Kebbell. "Then, I have this incredible partner-in-crime who's my brother-in-law, played by Rupert. I have these two great positions to play. I had this blessed opportunity. I'm sitting there learning all these practical things with Drew Turpine, who's a phenomenal cook who was cooking with us the whole time. I'm dealing with this beautiful performance with Lauren, then I get to crack lines with Rupert. Those days were like a breath of fresh air."

The food aspect is a key part of Kebbell's material, as his character Sean is a professional chef. "It's life. For Sean, it's everything, it's his entire life. He's become a head chef, he's opened restaurants, he's closed restaurants to start a family. Food is that thing where it brings families together, it keeps them bonded. The extravagance, the search for new fragrances... there's eating, then there's the gastronomic eating. For me, it's that bond."

Nell Tiger Free begins the series playing a mysterious, enigmatic character, Leanne the nanny. "I think for me it was definitely tough to work out when to retreat and give more. Naturally in front of the camera I tend to retreat quite a lot, which was useful in some aspects. She's quite closed, you can't quite figure her out for pretty much most of the series. She's always sort of a big question mark in the house. What is she? Who is she? Why is she here? That kind of lent itself to my acting in the start. Naturally, it was quite helpful to not do big stuff. It was very difficult for me, stepping into the new shoes and trying to figure her out."

Rupert Grint consistently gets a strong reaction from the New York Comic Con audience, due to the residual interest in him from spending the bulk of his childhood acting in the Harry Potter film series. Now he is set to unveil an entirely new character, Julian Pearce, whom Grint is full of praise for. "I love Julian. He's something I've never really played before. He's just so brash and outspoken. He's so much fun. He is someone who is quite good in a crisis. It always feels like he's one step ahead. It's really when he comes face to face with Leanne that you learn he's a quite wounded guy."

It's revealed that Shyamalan was previously in talks to direct one of the earlier Harry Potter films. He even visited the set and met Grint when he was still a child. Grint admits to having a vague memory of the encounter, while Shyamalan notes how remarkable it is to see him transformed into a man now acting in this series.

The "Servant" cast raves about the attention to detail of the set design and how immersive the filming experience felt as a result. "It felt like a film to me," says Ambrose. "The attention to detail, the wallpaper, the patterns, beautiful clothes, incredible apartment, the fact that we're all trapped in this one space. For me, the result as an actor is interesting because nothing is casual. Every single word is considered. Every single word has weight and matters. 'Pass the fork' doesn't mean 'pass the fork' at all, ever. That's one of the things he was constantly reminding us. It's easy to just think, 'Oh it really just says pass the fork, doesn't it?' We were always mining for what's underneath, what's happening, what's the tension, and what's the subtext. It was so fun to play."

"Servant" premieres on November 28 on Apple TV+.

Watch the full "Servant" panel from New York Comic Con here:

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"Bloodshot" is one of the most exciting upcoming additions to superhero films. For those unfamiliar with the property, the character first debuted in 1992 and has been one of the most popular titles under Valiant Comics since then. The film adaptation is being brought to life in collaboration with Columbia Pictures and distributed by Sony, with Vin Diesel set to star as the titular character.

One of the film's producers, Dinesh Shamdasani, previously worked as the CEO of Valiant and is now a co-founder at Hivemind alongside other industry creatives that work to make the best adaptations as possible of books, comics, etc. into film and television properties. Shamdasani spoke on the "Hivemind Presents" panel at New York Comic Con and gave an exclusive insight into the film's inception and the creative process of adapting the comic character for the big screen. With only a few months until its release, fans have been eagerly anticipating any sort of insight into when the film's promotional campaign will begin.

"We wrapped principal photography. We have an edit. Visual effects are well underway. The studios Sony and Columbia have been incredibly aggressive about giving us the resources we need. I probably shouldn't say this, even yesterday on the Sony lot we were running around getting a little footage done, some inserts, close-ups, things like that. They've just been so supportive. Where we are is, there's a trailer, it's coming, [and] posters are coming. We're just at the tail end of doing the finishing, tweaking things, making it cool before the marketing campaign starts. Before the end of the year, I shouldn't say because Sony will kill me, but I highly recommend people watch Terminator: Dark Fate. I'm definitely getting in trouble."

Shamdasani has a unique perspective to share about bringing the film to life due to his previous work at Valiant giving him a better understanding of the source material when adapting it in collaboration with a major film studio. "Valiant [is] a publisher, it's the third largest publisher historically in comics. Bloodshot is one of the marked characters there. We had this plethora of characters to pick from. Bloodshot was the one that we identified, and said this is the one we wanted to push out first because it felt like it was the most naturally translatable to a film genre. The genre that we wanted to fit into, to translate it to, was the kind of sci-fi action, heady films that you would see especially in the '80s and '90s, things like Total Recall, Terminator, those kinds of films, RoboCop. What's fun about this is the audience is so well tuned to those movies now, we know them backwards and forwards, we know the Marvel movies backwards and forwards, and so we really challenged the creative team to figure out how we could subvert expectations. Eric Heisserer who wrote Arrival and was nominated for that for Best [Adapted] Screenplay [at the Oscars] and then has since done Bird Box, he wrote some comics for us at Valiant which, I highly recommend Secret Weapons, it's a great book. [He] really cracked a story in which you walk into the movie theater thinking you're getting one movie and about thirty minutes in, hopefully if we've done our job [you'll] sit there going, 'I can't believe this has happened. I have no idea where this movie is going' but you're excited. What's great about that is you just never get that experience anymore. Everything is given away to you online. Movies follow such a formula. Vin Diesel, our star, was so supportive of this. He, I think, was also feeling this because he's made these kinds of movies so much that breaking that formula is so rare to find the opportunity to do."

Shamdasani is full of praise for Vin Diesel and his passion for the project. "His persona is perfect for it. [We got him] through asking him relentlessly and not taking no for an answer. No, when he read the script, that was really the defining piece. Even when we were shooting on set, he was very involved. He's now a producer on the movie, He's very, very, very involved. He's made so many movies at such a high level that he really becomes the godfather of production. He knows every aspect of it. He was marshalling us to push the narrative. It was that subversion and the emotionality, which is not something you would think you'd be talking about with a movie called Bloodshot, that he really was like, 'This is why I'm doing it', because it does the things that the other movies in this genre don't really do. It also was the idea that when he first broke out, it was in Pitch Black, there was the point of view that you would hope he would become this big sci-fi action star and he's become this big star in a different way. What's really cool about Bloodshot is that it's the kind of movie that when you go and watch it, the opening sequence is him in full military fatigues. He looks awesome [in] a really cool set piece. By the end of the movie he's fighting this big science fiction fight with this guy with mechanical arms, I'm thinking about what I can say here, just the journey to go from there to there is this big, epic journey. At the same time, it's a character film. We don't have the budget. It's a hundred million dollar movie but it's not a three hundred million dollar movie. We're not competing with Marvel in spectacle. We're competing with Marvel and hopefully outdoing them, which is a big statement I know, in terms of character and emotion."

As is often the case when adapting comic characters to the big screen, extensive discussions and thought have been put into deciding how to make Bloodshot look relative to his original appearance and wardrobe in the comics. Shamdasani was mindful of this detail in the film's production. "It is in many ways an origin story and in many ways not, which is what I mean by subversion. That allows us to do the comic accurate iconic look, I don't want to spoil it for you, in a way that will be satisfying but perhaps not the way that it's feared. I think a lot of fans, myself included, would fear that we're gonna do the white skin, red chest the whole time and it's not going to fit. It would feel disconnected to the real world. There is a way that I think the filmmakers have built this that I think is very much in keeping [true to the comics]. That's actually one of the last things that we're dialling into the effects which I'm hoping gets done in time because we're trying to get it into the trailer. If not, sorry Bloodshot you're going to have to wait till the second trailer. It'll be worth it though."

Originally when the deal was made between Sony and Valiant to use the Bloodshot and Harbinger characters, the talks and news stories reporting on the matter seemed to favour the narrative that this would be the start of a larger Valiant Cinematic Universe. However, it was more recently reported that Paramount had acquired the rights from Sony to adapt Harbinger. Shamdasani clarifies the matter in regards to a Valiant Cinematic Universe.

"We had many conversations. There was Toyo Harada, [who] was at one point [in talks] to be in the film, H.A.R.D. Corps was where we [wanted] to end it, these are other characters in the Valiant Universe. Unfortunately Valiant has its own plans, different management system now, that's all off the table. There's a Bloodshot film. If it's a success, we get to make more, then there will be a Bloodshot world. The rest of it is up to Valiant. I think it will be unlikely for that to happen now."

When the panel opens up for an audience Q&A, I chime in to enquire about how the saturation of superhero material in the film/TV industry has effected the process of adapting Bloodshot for the big screen. I also ask about the villains of the story, and whether they were characters designed in their own right or if they were created to serve the larger story of Bloodshot's character journey. Shamdasani responds eagerly.

"In terms of saturation we were a little tricky with it. We got the movie made because superhero films are so successful and saturated, but the movie really only works if you've seen enough superhero films to kind of be bored by the formula. Our hope is that it is saturated to such an extent and I think Endgame really helped put a cap on what Marvel was doing for a long time and now they're gonna start a new thing. We're kind of coming in at the right time, we're very lucky, as a commentary and a subversion of some of the things they've done, ultimately embracing I think what will be the next phase of where the genre goes. In terms of the villains, we had villains that we had all built and they were frankly terrible. Our director Dave Wilson who is a genius and worked at Blur [Studios] which is with Tim Miller who did Deadpool [which] is very very visual, came in and was like, 'These are garbage. Let me create new ones.' We were like, 'Whatever, kid. You don't know what you're talking about.' Then he showed them to us and we were like, 'Cool man. Can you direct this for us, please?'"

"Bloodshot" will be released in cinemas 21 February 2020.

All quotes were sourced from the Bloodshot portions of the Hivemind Presents panel at New York Comic Con and can be verified here:

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With Apple being the latest company to make a push towards expanding into streaming, a multitude of new series are being launched in the next few months on Apple TV+. One of them is "For all Mankind," a space-oriented alternate history that takes place in a world where the Russians were the first to land on the moon, which prompts a series of social changes in the U.S., including getting women to space first.

"Overall the show is kind of a split focus," says series creator Ronald D. Moore. "It's definitely about people on the ground and people in space. Some of the characters work at NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It's about them and their families and it's also about astronauts and their families. It's trying to paint a portrait of NASA as a whole."

Moore was approached by an Apple executive a few years ago who had the idea about doing a show focusing on NASA in the 1970s but Moore opted to take a different twist on the concept when moving forward with developing the show. "The more I thought about it, I realised that you could do that show, you could do 'Mad Men' at NASA but the story of NASA in the 1970s in my opinion is a sad one. The budgets keep getting cut back, the program keeps getting smaller, we're not going to Mars, things keep not happening. When I was growing up, I was excited by what the program was supposed to be, all the amazing things that were going to happen in space that didn't come to pass. I went back to [them] and said 'What if we did the alternate version? What if we did the version of the space program that I thought we were going to get but didn't?' [They] got excited by that and I was talking separately with Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi as a team of writers looking for some project to develop with them. I mentioned it to them, they got very excited about it."

Given how deeply the show is rooted in the development of space programs, space travel, and the various historical events surrounding it on a global scale, it was important to do extensive research to ensure that the plot could make sense as best as an alternate history can and also be accurate in regards to how space travel and the various programs to do with it work. Moore started with a base level of knowledge as a fan of space programs but had additional consultations to help fill in any other blanks.

"I was always a fan of the space program, read a lot of the books, and I just was always really interested in it. But then yes, we consulted with a lot of outside people. Garrett Reisman is one of our technical consultants, who was a former astronaut at NASA. We also have Mike and Denise Okuda who come from Star Trek but had also worked with NASA in various capacities. Beyond that, all the different departments on the show had their own technical consultants and researchers. We had a full-time researcher in the writer's room so there was a commitment to really getting as much authenticity into the show as possible."

Producer Maril Davis shared about the various themes that will be explored in the first season's writing. "We talk about the idea of what it means to go beyond where you are, relationships, inter-relationships between the husband and wife and what happens when the woman all of a sudden goes out in the workplace as well and what that means to a relationship. Obviously optimism, we always talk about, by losing the race to the moon we ultimately will win. That's a theme we look at quite a bit in this first season and then hopefully in seasons beyond."

"It's an aspirational show," adds Moore. "It's a very optimistic show. It's really about, 'Here's the path that could have been that we still can do.' It's really saying, this was an amazing time and we could have gone this route. We could have really expanded the footprints in space, we could have committed a lot of resources to something positive and uplifting to people in the United States and around the world and by implication we're saying that we still can. That's the general, big theme of the series."

Full interview with Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis:

Wrenn Schmidt and Jodi Balfour play Margo Madison and Ellen Waverly respectively, both of whom are part of the team of women astronauts that are empowered by this alternate history for the trajectory of the U.S. efforts towards space travel and exploration.

"The most recent trailer places a lot of emphasis on women joining NASA," says Balfour. "That's certainly a huge part of the alternate history premise. We get to see in more detail why as the show goes on but if Russia put a man on the moon on the moon first, maybe America could put a woman on the moon first, to compete. That is one really wonderful aspect of [the show] but it's got a lot more going on. It's this amazing ensemble story where we get to fall in love and get to know ten or so characters that have wonderful, amazing individual storylines. We're looking at an America that's been changed by the fact that Russia swooped in and took something from America that America thought was theirs, that they thought they had in the bag, and what the ripple effect of that is. Does that necessarily mean that bad things happen because of that or perhaps could there be social progress that happens? Things like bringing women into NASA earlier happens, things like the first woman in mission control happens. Perhaps that dystopian future isn't necessarily go hand-in-hand with this alternate history premise. It's like a period show, more than anything else."

Schmidt explains that Margo Madison's journey through NASA isn't that far removed from any historical or contemporary story of a woman trying to work her way up through NASA. "When you first meet her, she's somebody who's in the back-up room who's supporting flight controllers that are assigned to very specific pieces of the mission. She would very much like to be sitting in one of those chairs. Even though she's maybe more qualified than some other people, she's just not being given that shot simply because she's a woman. I really don't think that varies all that much from our American history. That was before Title X. It was before people were really starting to understand that women were being pushed aside. I feel like it's kind of in line with that. There was an article in the New York Times last year about women learning to code early on and it was because men didn't want to do it, so women actually had opportunities to do it. I think there are a lot of parallels. It's a while before our story really diverges."

Schmidt was drawn to the project for the multi-faceted merits of the show. "It kind of has it all. There's one scene in the first episode which is one of my favorite scenes in the whole season. Margo's in that back-up room and she knows the answer to something and somebody outside is totally dropping the ball. If it was just okay for her to step in and say, 'This is what you need,' everything would be fine. She both can't do it and at the same time can't keep her mouth shut. Juggling those balls and then also trying to understand all of the technical language, and understand what part of the rocket she's talking about, what computer she's talking about, why it matters, for me that's like candy. As a nerd and an actor, I'm like, 'Oh look at all this stuff! I've got to figure out what this acronym means and what is this? Why is she talking about this?' It's just exciting!"

"The writing is also just so good," adds Balfour. "The scripts were so undeniably good when they came in. It's always fun as an actor, I think Wrenn and I have this in common, when you have to take a giant leap to be able to play that character. It demands research, it demands knowledge acquisition, it's nothing like the world she and I walk in day in and day out. The corny analogy is that we talk about walking in someone else's shoes and so much of that is acting, and when the shoes physically are from 1969 and everything that comes along with that it's such a rich experience to get to time-travel in a way."

With a stronger push than ever before for better material to be offered for women to play on screen, "For All Mankind" seems like a prime example of offering actresses a remarkable array of journey to play and consequently inspire the viewers to be more empowered within their own pursuits.

"It's hard not to love the notion that in fact, the fact that Russia gets to the moon first ends up aiding social progress, specifically in America and then that ripples out into the rest of the world," says Balfour. "Specifically for my character, we as women come into NASA more than a decade before women actually were first invited to join the astronaut program. That's one symbolic thing that is rippled out throughout the series. There are certain totems of social progress that happen sooner in our story because of this supposedly bad thing that happens. I just thought that was such an interesting way to look at it."

Full interview with Wrenn Schmidt and Jodi Balfour:

Michael Dorman and Sarah Jones play a married couple, Gordo Stevens and Tracy Stevens, who have the added dynamic in their relationship of being a couple in the public eye and under media scrutiny.

Dorman said yes to the project before he had even read scripts for it. "When we sat down to have a chat about it and they were talking about their projections of what the storylines were, I was really interested in the love between my character and Sarah's character playing out like a public relationship in the public eye, the pressure that that brings, the inequality in the household in terms of gender bias at home and then how that plays out in the time and sort of changing history in a sense as to what happened and when change was implemented in society. This one happened a lot earlier and it really excited me, that aspect, which is separate to space, which is a whole other thing."

"I got to read the first couple of episodes," says Stevens. "I actually had some concerns. In the first two episodes, I really appreciated that they take their time in setting up the atmosphere and what is going on in the world, at NASA, in politics, the whole thing. The character, Tracy's position, concerned me. After having conversations with Ron and company, I couldn't resist. Who can say no to Ron, honestly? He's the coolest. Ron was a big draw and his storytelling."

Dorman didn't know much about space travel and NASA before booking the job. "I realised the more that I learned, the more that I don't know. It kind of freaked me out. We're asking questions... what is out there? It's so big! The more that I got to peek behind the curtain into NASA and the space program, the minds that came together to create what they did at the time is phenomenal. The courage, the bravery of these guys, these space cowboys that went up there is wild. They just strapped themselves to a rocket, go into the unknown not knowing what's gonna happen, or if they're gonna come back, saying goodbye to your loved ones and going, 'Hey this might be the last time we every speak. I've written a little letter which is in the drawer. If anything happens, go and open up the drawer and read the letter.' I don't understand. They're doing it willingly. 'Yep, I'll do it, sign me up!' It's crazy what they had to do."

"We had an astronaut as a technical consultant, Garrett Reisman," adds Jones. "The connection of how super human they are... they are super humans. They're not just physically super human, they are intellectually super human, emotionally super human, they're just super humans. I don't know if that's because our generation grew up when... I grew up in Florida where we would get to go get out of our class to watch a launch. That would be the perk is getting out of school work as opposed to the actual [launch]. Getting into this world and meeting with Garrett, having the opportunity to speak with him and learn more about astronauts just blew my mind and what they did with what they had."

Full interview with Michael Dorman and Sarah Jones:

Shantel VanSanten is quick to share about how she only had a few days after being cast as Karen Baldwin before having to begin filming scenes for the show. "What drew me to it initially was that Ron Moore was writing and producing, and Apple. Knowing those two forces, that was a no-brainer. But more than that, the material was phenomenal. I booked it on a Friday and I started on a Monday. I said it was like cramming for an SAT of historical events and deciding character. What a whirlwind! It was kind of great though because I felt like I didn't quite have a grasp on who Karen was and what I was even doing and what was happening. Where we start off the story, that's exactly where she was so I got really lucky! I could use all of that in the role of playing an astronaut's wife, which is yes, if you have to label it, what she is, it's so much more than that. There's no stability or certainty so I just tried to use every bit of the whirlwind and infuse that into beginning a project of this magnitude that I still don't think I've grasped and understood."

VanSanten is playing the wife to Joel Kinnaman's character, with whom she acted with throughout the first season. "Joel Kinnaman plays Edward Baldwin. He's an astronaut. Their characters are loosely based on different stories but no particular person. I always say that in the beginning you think of Edward and Karen as these marble statue, like perfection, the typical astronaut, the typical wife, and slowly as the story unfolds and as Ron so beautifully crafts emotional heartbreaking things we see the cracks and we see things start to crumble and eventually shatter, and the challenges. I don't even think I understood what being an astronaut's wife is. I think we all have assumptions, and especially for women in that day and age, we make a lot of assumptions but some of them have found such reward in doing that job. Me as a modern woman, I didn't understand it at first with Karen. I didn't like it because it's not something I relate to, not something I typically want. That was such a wonderful challenge to take on, was finding ways to accept and like and empathise even."

Full interview with Shantel VanSanten:

The most notable absence from the "For All Mankind" press session at New York Comic Con is Joel Kinnaman, who has top billing on the series. Executive producers/co-creators Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi are gracious enough to offer an insight into Kinnaman's casting and character.

"Joel, casting him was really one of the highlights of this process," says Nedivi. "He's one of these actors that, I don't know, there's something different about him. Yes, he's beautiful, but I do think he's also got a charisma and sort of this dark side to him too that we wanted to embrace with this character. This was a really difficult character to cast. It took months and the moment he became available we just pounced and went after him. His excitement for the show as you'll see soon, is palpable. It really did encourage us and help with our whole cast, our whole ensemble. There's a lot of actors on this show and to have a guy like that be able to embrace the idea of an ensemble helped with everything. He's great."

"His character really embodies that sort of prototypical astronaut of that era," adds Wolpert. "This sort of masculine, aviator sunglasses, drives a fast Corvette... but a historical detail we discovered as we were developing the show helped us reframe him. We discovered that the Apollo 10 mission, which was basically a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11, it got almost all the way to the moon and they just didn't land. They just circled and came back. We thought, well if the Russians had beaten us to the moon, what would the feelings be about that crew that had almost done it and if they had been able to go for it... Joel is the commander of that mission. The sense of regret, the what-if of his character really drove the presence of the show."

Full interview with Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi:

"For All Mankind" premieres November 1 on Apple TV+.

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NBC's hit series "Manifest" left fans on the edge of their seats with the many revelations and cliffhangers of the season one finale. Following the dissolution of Grace and Ben's marriage, it was revealed that Grace was pregnant but believed that Ben wasn't the father. Athena Karkanis shares that the paternity of Grace's baby will be revealed immediately when season two premieres.

"It's a direct pick-up from season one but pretty quickly we skip ahead. We learn in that first episode who the dad is. Obviously I'm not going to divulge that now but the way we learn it is really interesting and surprising. Even I was surprised when I read it."

Parveen Kaur says that her character Saanvi Bahl is still depressed. "She [has] her PTSD. She's still recovering from when she went through, in episode fourteen of season one, where she's held hostage and has a gun pointed at her face. The last couple of episodes of season one she just was really at a breaking point. That's where we pick up with Saanvi. We'll see in season two, she'll go to any lengths to figure it out and if that manifests in her doing some really questionable things, she's about it."

As the series is heavily interwoven with mystery and suspense, the stars are reluctant to spoil much about what's to come, but Karkanis is quick to express her admiration for the character direction and material Kaur has been able to play this season. "It's very cool where Saanvi's character is going. I texted her the other day to tell her how cool it is."

Kaur also teases a shift in tone for season two. "It's definitely darker, it's a lot darker this season."

"The first season was really about managing relationships and how this crazy event has thrown everyone into a tailspin as far as relationships and everyone recovering from that," says Karkanis. "Season two is really about the death date and I would say that's the overarching thing and really trying to overcome that and try to beat it, to beat death."

Full interview with Athena Karkanis and Parveen Kaur:

The Stone family has had more drama to deal with than a fractured marriage and unplanned pregnancy. After father Ben and son Cal were reunited with Grace and Olive after disappearing for five years, Cal was revealed to be having more extreme Callings than the other flight passengers. Actors Luna Blaise and Jack Messina portray Olive and Cal Stone and promise that this season holds more drama and heartbreak as the many mysteries of the show begin to be revealed more.

"At the start of this season, Olive has made a change to herself," says Blaise. "She is going down a downward spiral in all of season two. She is not in the right place at all which is great as an actress but for her, I feel bad. I feel for her. That's what Olive is going through. She's rebelling and twisted."

"Cal at the beginning of the season is the same ordinary kid but later in the season he starts taking callings more seriously and starts doing it with Ben and everyone else," says Messina.

"Kind of the whole family, except me," adds Blaise. "Cal is really going down his path, and becoming more of his own person."

These Callings consist of different visions that often send Cal off on different self-imposed missions to find people or information, with his parents and loved ones left to track him down afterwards to make sure no harm has come to him. When asked about the preparations for shooting these Calling scenes, Messina says he doesn't usually get to see any storyboards or footage of what it is that he's supposed to be seeing. "I just read episode 2.09 and for the first time in a long time, we [got] to see what he's actually seeing in the Calling."

Blaise also had the added layer to her story of having to play out the conflicted emotions of being caught between two father figures, as her mother began seeing a man named Danny whom she grew close to while her father was gone and believed to be dead. "Danny, he was someone who was in Olive's life before. That's someone who's still in her life. We will see where that goes but right now her main priority is mending that relationship with her dad."

Full interview with Luna Blaise and Jack Messina:

Jared Vasquez and Zeke Landon were part of one of the show's most dramatic cliffhangers, as a confrontation between the two had turned violent and escalated to the point of wrestling over a gun which goes off right when Michaela had returned to the apartment in which they were fighting. This will-they, won't-they love triangle may have turned deadly according to actors J. R. Ramirez and Matt Long, who are coy when asked about the outcome of this confrontation.

"There are some answers though," says Long. "The first episode picks up immediately after the last episode of the finale so you find out immediately where the bullet went and the aftermath of that. As the season progresses there are other questions we're trying to figure out, series long things, but other things the characters are trying to find answers to."

Ramirez holds a deep appreciation for the show's fantastical premise and sometimes dense material. "For me, I just think they've done such an amazing job with being able to create these diverse characters that are in these unimaginable circumstances. Everyone moves on after five and a half years, that's a long time. You're forced to have to live this new life that looks exactly the same but five years have passed, everyone's moved on. For my character, I had a hard time grounding him. He's a hard worker, he has a huge heart, but at the end of the day, he's not a cheater but he did. He after a long time fell in love with her best friend because of course it had to be her best friend, as it would in any scripted television show, and then she comes back and he has to live this new normal with seeing her every day. It's very rich and beautifully put together."

"I think I've been lucky in that regard," adds Long. "Zeke's had a lot of personal story. He's had a lot of back story, things that are compelling to me as an actor. I haven't had to play these big, huge abstract ideas as much. It's been more about personal connection and Zeke's history, his family, you'll see some more people in the second season as well. It's been more tangible for me to be able to play in a scene. It hasn't been as many big, abstract ideas as it has for other characters."

Full interview with J. R. Ramirez and Matt Long:

The Stone siblings, Michaela and Ben, have been central to the "Manifest" story from the very beginning. Not only are they intertwined in some of the biggest cliffhangers tying the first two seasons together, they also have a unique bond that is wholly unique to the other relationships on the show.

"There's that thing in real life called trauma bonding," says Melissa Roxburgh. "Despite them already having a history of life together, no one else understands and they have to lean into each other more because of that."

"It's unique," adds Josh Dallas. "There are other passengers who share the Calling but we're brother and sister so we have a history that's before that that's so deep and so complete and just in our bodies already as characters. It's a different kind of understanding than the rest of the passengers so we can really understand each other. We can be there for each other as support but we can also fly at each other and be angry at each other and we can be raw with each other and be true with each other because at the end of the day, we're the only ones that are gonna tell each other the truth. That's an important component to them."

Michaela was in the room with Jared and Zeke when the gun went off and the aftermath of this cliffhanger will have a lasting effect, according to Roxburgh. "In that room, one of three people got shot and whomever did get shot, the other two have to deal with the consequences of that. That's a huge part of the first couple episodes and moving into the rest of the season, that whole death date thing we've been talking about, that's a huge thing knowing that you have a certain most of left to live, what are your choices, what's important to you, do you try to stop it the way Ben approaches it or do you just lean into it and accept the time you have or do you go back and forth and thrown your hands up in the air?"

"As we open up the season with Ben," begins Dallas, "of course Grace is pregnant, there's this death date that he just discovered and the baby might not be his. There's a lot happening just within that. The answer to the baby will come very quickly. It will come in a way that is very unexpected and exciting. He's dealing with this death date and for him at the very beginning and throughout most of the first part of the season, it's about saving and preserving the things that he holds near and dear to him. He's gonna start making, because he's a practical man, he's gonna start making preparations for that death. He's gonna start doing things for himself, for his family, that for the event of that death will be there. But, he's also not going to fully accept it because he's Ben Stone. He's gonna go on this journey with Melissa and Saanvi too of trying to figure out a way to stop it, to stop the death date and find an answer to that mystery."

"Mich and Ben both continue to be each other's sounding boards," says Roxburgh. "Usually when one's on this page, the other's on that page. They balance each other out. When Ben does go full force trying to fix it, Michaela is the one to be like 'Hey, take your time, you only have this time,' and vice versa, Ben goes, 'Maybe that is what it is.' They usually have a way of balancing each other out."

Dallas adds that the Callings will also get more intense. "Once we get to [episode] seven, there are some major things that happen that change the way that particularly Ben looks at things. The Callings are different each time and demand something different from these characters and they're teaching something different to these characters. It's just intense all around."

Full interview with Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas:

With any promotional gathering for a new television series or season, it's essential to speak with any producers/writers in attendance, given how strict the orders tend to be for actors to not spoil things that are coming up. Typically, producers tend to offer more information about the larger trajectory of a show's plot and character journeys.

"Manifest" creator and executive producer Jeff Rake has had a six-year/season plan for the show from the very beginning. He keeps track of the many moving plot points for the entire creative vision as well as a more detailed outline when beginning a new season.

"I have everything mapped out on a board just like that. I have my six year plan which I've always had, and then at the beginning of every season my writers and I spend two weeks in the room creating literally that board. In Hollywood, California, there is a conference room with literally that board, the thirteen-episode grid, vertical axis with all the characters, horizontal axis by episode, that is completely filled in and that is our Bible for season two."

This efficiency and organisation for conceiving of and planning the stories is evident when Rake goes on to share what's to come in season two.

"At the end of season one, we had a couple of different cliff-hangers. The most fundamental one is this mythological card-turn about this death-date. The plane had been missing for five and a half years and we discovered in the season one finale that the passengers may only have five and a half years to live. The exact amount of time they've been gone, that's how much time they've got. Why? What does that mean? Season two among other things will focus on the idea of this death date. That will drive story for us in two different ways. Number one, from a place of mystery and mythology. Primarily the characters of Ben, Michaela, and Saanvi are on the case. They're on the death date case trying to figure out if it's a real thing and if this is a real thing is there any way to undo that death date. Ben and Michaela from a place of the mythological, they're kind of exploring these voices and visions. What do they mean? Is there anything about these callings that they experience that connect them to the death date? Are these all puzzle pieces that can be put together? At the end of season one, they put some puzzle pieces together with the help of Olive to help them understand the death date. Now in season two, Ben, Michaela, Olive and others are gonna be putting more puzzle pieces together to try to understand if there's a work-around for the death date and by the end of season two, they may just come to discover that there may be a way around this and what they learn specifically is gonna drive season three.
The other side of the equation is emotional. When you learn you have a death date, in the real world a lot of people do learn that they have a death date, that's a real emotional driver. You know you have a finite amount of time to live, what do you do with those choices? A lot of the story-telling in season two from the emotional side of the show, relationships, love, romance, choices made, second chances, is very much driven by that death date."

Full interview with Jeff Rake:

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TNT has revealed a sneak-peek teaser clip from its post-apocalyptic, sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer at New York Comic Con in homage to its graphic novel routes. TNT presented a panel featuring Oscar® winner Jennifer ConnellyTony Award® winner Daveed Diggs, Emmy® nominee Alison Wright, Mickey Sumner, Tony Award® winner and Grammy® nominee Lena Hall, Sheila Vand, Steven Ogg and executive producer and showrunner Graeme Manson.  Watch the Teaser Here: https://youtu.be/XMny78adwhI Set more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland Snowpiercer centers on the remnants of humanity, who inhabit a 1001 car, perpetually-moving train that circles the globe. Class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out in this riveting television adaptation based on the acclaimed movie and graphic novel series of the same name. The series will premiere in Spring 2020 on TNT. Snowpiercer is produced by Tomorrow Studios (a joint venture between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios), along with CJ Entertainment, who produced the original film. The series is executive produced by Tomorrow Studios' Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements; showrunner Graeme Manson, who wrote the first episode; director James Hawes; Matthew O’Connor; Scott Derrickson, and the original film's producers Bong Joon Ho, Miky Lee, Tae-sung Jeong, Park Chan-wook, Lee Tae-hun and Dooho Choi.

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Hivemind today announced that it is joining forces with James Wan (the upcoming MALIGNANT, AQUAMAN, THE CONJURING Universe) and his Atomic Monster production company for GIDEON FALLS – Hivemind's upcoming television adaptation of the best-selling Image Comics series from acclaimed creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino.

Fresh off of GIDEON FALLS' high-profile win for "Best New Series" at the 2019 Eisner Awards, Wan will executive produce the hour-long horror drama alongside Atomic Monster's Michael Clear, Hivemind's Jason Brown, Sean Daniel, Kathy Lingg and Dinesh Shamdasani, and original series creators Lemire and Sorrentino. Rob Hackett will oversee for Atomic Monster.

“We are very excited about James Wan and Atomic Monster joining the GIDEON FALLS team,” said series co-creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. “James’ creative vision will be a wonderful fit for the world of GIDEON FALLS and to help adapt the series to television in a truly unique and exciting way.”

An atmospheric thriller colliding rural mystery and urban horror, the series follows an ensemble cast of seemingly random strangers — a washed-up Catholic priest, an uncompromising female sheriff, and a young recluse obsessed with unraveling a conspiracy buried in his city’s trash — as they become drawn into a mystery connected to a long-forgotten local legend.

"To have a filmmaker of James Wan's caliber, talent, and vision contributing to the atmospheric and terrifying world that Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino have created with GIDEON FALLS is nothing short of incredible," said Hivemind co-founders Kathy Lingg, Dinesh Shamdasani, and Jason Brown. "This is a high-powered and formidable combination for one of the most acclaimed comic series of the decade, and James and his colleagues at Atomic Monster – Michael Clear and Rob Hackett – are the perfect partners to help bring our adaptation to life. Fans of GIDEON FALLS, rest assured: We have some incredible surprises yet in store."

Acquired by Hivemind following an intense, multi-party bidding war, GIDEON FALLS marks a major new addition to the company's quickly expanding roster of film and television projects, which currently includes Netflix's hotly anticipated adaptation of THE WITCHER fantasy franchise starring Henry Cavill and Amazon's acclaimed science-fiction series THE EXPANSE, which was recently renewed for a fifth season in advance of the fourth's debut. The company is also currently producing the upcoming feature film BLOODSHOT, starring Vin Diesel and based on the best-selling Valiant comic book series, for Sony Pictures.

In recent months, Hivemind has also announced multiple forthcoming projects in the genre space, including WEIRD FANTASY, a new television series based on the subversive and internationally renowned science-fiction stories of EC Comics; a biographical feature film chronicling the life of comic book publisher, MAD MAGAZINE co-founder and counterculture icon William M. Gaines; and the first live-action adaptation of FINAL FANTASY, based the multibillion-dollar video game franchise, in partnership with Square Enix and Sony Pictures Television.

GIDEON FALLS will notably mark the first collaboration between Hivemind and Atomic Monster.

Wan is represented by Paradigm, Stacey Testro International, and attorney David Fox.

ABOUT HIVEMIND 
Established in 2018, Hivemind is dedicated to partnering with high-level creative talent and globally recognized intellectual properties from the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books, video games, anime, and more. The company's current projects include the acclaimed science-fiction series THE EXPANSE for Amazon and the highly anticipated television adaptation of THE WITCHER for Netflix, as well as the recently released SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK feature film, based on the best-selling book series, from producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and director André Øvredal. Hivemind recently signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios for event television, and its leadership team includes former Universal Pictures president Sean Daniel, his producing partner Jason Brown, Bad Robot veteran Kathy Lingg, and former Valiant Entertainment CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani.

ABOUT ATOMIC MONSTER
James Wan’s production company, Atomic Monster, launched its successful slate with ANNABELLE (2015) and followed with LIGHTS OUT (2016), ANNABELLE: CREATION (2017), THE NUN (2018), THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (2019) and ANNABELLE COMES HOME (2019).  All were New Line Cinema productions released by Warner Bros.

Upcoming for Atomic Monster is THE CONJURING 3 for New Line (in post-production), THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE for Netflix (in production), MORTAL KOMBAT for New Line (in production) and MALIGNANT for Starlight Media and Midas Innovation (currently in production with Wan as Director).

Atomic Monster’s television slate kicked off with MACGYVER, a re-imagining of the classic television series, which premiered on CBS in the Fall of 2016.  The 4^thseason of the series begins airing this month.  The company’s 2^nd series was SWAMP THING (2019) for Warner Bros. Television.  The program streamed on DC Universe. 

ABOUT JEFF LEMIRE & ANDREA SORRENTINO
New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Jeff Lemire is the creator of such iconic graphic novels as ESSEX COUNTY, SWEET TOOTH, UNDERWATER WELDER, and ROUGHNECK, as well as the co-creator of DESCENDER with Dustin Nguyen, BLACK HAMMER with Dean Ormston and PLUTONA with Emi Lenox. Having won the American Library Association's prestigious Alex Award – recognizing books for adults with specific teen appeal – Lemire has been nominated for eight Eisner awards, seven Harvey awards, and eight Shuster awards.

Best-selling, award-winning and acclaimed Italian artist Andrea Sorrentino was named IGN's "Best Comic Artist" of 2012 and, in the years since, has contributed to some of Marvel and DC Comics' greatest properties, including X-MEN, WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN, SECRET EMPIRE, and GREEN ARROW. In addition to their ongoing work on GIDEON FALLS, Lemire and Sorrentino will next collaborate on JOKER: KILLER SMILE for DC Comics' Black Label imprint.

Lemire and Sorrentino are represented by Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, Inc. and represented legally by Allison Binder of Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder.

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Image Comics is pleased to return to New York this year for New York Comic Con on Thursday, October 3 through Sunday, October 6 and will be located in booth #1444. Please note: updates to the schedule may appear online during the show. Please refer to www.imagecomics.com for the most up-to-date information. CONVENTION EXCLUSIVES Undiscovered Country #1 Scott Snyder, Charles Soule & Giuseppe Camuncoli - $10 + tax Gold foil Spawn 300 cover (ONLY AVAILABLE WITH BUM BUMZ PURCHASE) both for $50 – Limited quantity of 500 comics. (limit 2 per person) Silver foil Spawn 300 cover $25 each (limit 2 per person) Three exclusive Spawn prints ($20 each or 3 for $50) Monstress HC dust jacket featuring art by Sana Takeda - Free with purchase of Monstress hardcover Saga bookplate - Free with purchase of Saga Book One Compendium Paper Girls bookplate - Free with purchase of any Paper Girls hardcover Unearth #1 NYCC exclusive variant with artwork by James Harren (available during Saturday 11 AM signing) Ice Cream Man exclusive print by Martín Morazzo (available at Artist Alley Table A-18) SIGNINGS AT THE IMAGE COMICS BOOTH (#1444) *TICKETED denotes signings require wristbands. Wristbands will be given out at the booth as soon as the convention floor opens on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available for attendee, retailer, and professional badge-types only, unless otherwise stated. There will be a limit of 3 items per person for ticketed signings unless otherwise noted. All items presented for signing are subject to review and denial by staff. No CGC, CBCS, or other witnessing/grading. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 11:00 – 11:45 AM Michel Fiffe (COPRA) 12:00 – 12:45 PM Jeff Rougvie (GUNNING FOR HITS) Sean Mackiewicz (GASOLINA) 1:00 – 1:45 PM Andre Frattino, Jesse Lee Pointer (SIMON SAYS) Daniel Warren Johnson (EXTREMITY, MURDER FALCON) 2:00 – 4:00 PM Todd McFarlane (SPAWN) [*TICKETED. Attendee and professional badge holders only; 13+ age requirement, limit TWO items per person; no CGC, CBCS, or other witnessing/grading; no sketches; no photos] 4:00 – 4:45 PM Alexandre Tefenkgi (OUTPOST ZERO) 4:30 – 5:15 PM Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl (ISOLA) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] 5:00 – 7:00 PM Andrei Bressan **sketching** (BIRTHRIGHT) 5:30 – 6:15 PM Jason Latour (SOUTHERN BASTARDS) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4 10:00 – 10:45 AM Jacopo Camagni, Marco B. Bucci (NOMEN OMEN) & Mirka Andolfo (UNNATURAL) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] Henry Barajas (LA VOZ DE M.A.Y.O) 11:00 – 11:45 AM Anthony Del Col (SON OF HITLER) Robert Kirkman (SUPER DINOSAUR, THE WALKING DEAD, INVINCIBLE, OUTCAST, DIE DIE DIE) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] 12:00 – 12:45 PM Priscilla Petraites, Marco Lesko (RAT QUEENS) Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan (BIRTHRIGHT) 1:00 – 1:45 PM Tina Horn (SFSX) Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Deron Bennet (EXCELLENCE) 2:00 – 4:00 PM Todd McFarlane (SPAWN) [*TICKETED. Attendee and professional badge holders only; 13+ age requirement, limit TWO items per person; no CGC, CBCS, or other witnessing/grading; no sketches; no photos] 4:00 – 4:45 PM Paul Azaceta (OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA) 4:30 – 5:15 PM Brian K. Vaughan (PAPER GIRLS, SAGA) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] 5:00 – 5:45 PM Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki (HEART ATTACK) 5:30 – 6:15 PM Andrew MacLean (HEAD LOPPER) 6:00 – 6:45 PM Jen Bartel (BLACKBIRD) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 10:00 – 10:45 AM Todd McFarlane, Clayton Crain (SPAWN) [*TICKETED. Attendee and professional badge holders only; 13+ age requirement, limit TWO items per person; no CGC, CBCS, or other witnessing/grading; no sketches; no photos] Must purchase SPAWN poster in Scorpion Comics Booth #2355. One signature per each artist, per person on the item of there choice. 10:00 – 10:45 AM Pia Guerra (ME THE PEOPLE) 11:00 – 11:45 AM Kris Anka, Matt Wilson (THE WHITE TREES) Cullen Bunn, Baldemar Rivas, Kyle Strahm (UNEARTH) 12:00 – 12:45 PM Wes Craig (DEADLY CLASS) Justin Jordan, Rebekah Isaacs (REAVER) 1:00 – 1:45 PM Sanford Greene, David Walker, Chuck Brown (BITTER ROOT) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] Chris Sebela (EVOLUTION) 2:00 – 2:45 PM Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram (LITTLE BIRD) Wesley Chu (THE WALKING DEAD: TYPHOON) 3:00 – 3:45 PM Brian K Vaughan (SAGA, PAPER GIRLS) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] Dean Haspiel (RED HOOK) 4:00 – 5:15 PM Todd McFarlane (SPAWN) [*TICKETED. Attendee and professional badge holders only; 13+ age requirement, limit TWO items per person; no CGC, CBCS, or other witnessing/grading; no sketches; no photos] 4:00 – 4:45 PM Daniel Warren Johnson (EXTREMITY, MURDER FALCON) 5:00 – 5:45 PM Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Deron Bennet (EXCELLENCE) 6:00 – 6:45 PM Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli (UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] Tee Franklin (BINGO LOVE) SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6 11:00 – 11:45 PM Jody LeHeup, Nathan Fox (THE WEATHERMAN) Brian Schirmer (FAIRLADY) 12:00 – 12:45 PM W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo (ICE CREAM MAN) Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson (ASSASSIN NATION) 1:00 – 1:45 PM Mirka Andolfo (UNNATURAL) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] Donny Cates (REDNECK, GOD COUNTRY) 2:00 – 4:00 PM Todd McFarlane (SPAWN) [*TICKETED. Attendee and professional badge holders only; 13+ age requirement, limit TWO items per person; no CGC, CBCS, or other witnessing/grading; no sketches; no photos] 4:00 – 4:45 PM Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE) [*TICKETED, see text below for details] IMAGE COMICS PANELS Thursday, October 3 @ 4:00 – 5:00 PM, Room 1A02 The craft and technique behind predicting the future with bestselling Science Fiction comics creators The biggest names in Science Fiction storytelling, Darcy Van Poelgeest (Little Bird), Ian Bertram (Little Bird), Tina Horn (SfSx), Charles Soule (Undiscovered Country), and Giuseppe Camuncoli (Undiscovered Country) share their insight on creating comics that set the trends and push the boundaries of possibility. Moderator: Chloe Ramos-Peterson, Library Market Sales Representative at Image Comics Friday, October 4 @ 2:45 – 3:45 PM, Room 1A02 Spine tingling comic book series perfect for Halloween Get in the mood for All Hallow's Eve with Chuck Brown (Bitter Root), W. Maxwell Prince (Ice Cream Man), Kieron Gillen (Die), Mirka Andolfo (Unnatural), andCullen Bunn (Unearth) as they talk about building tension and giving fans the chills with their bestselling horror and thriller comic books. Moderator: Chloe Ramos-Peterson, Library Market Sales Representative at Image Comics Friday, October 4 @ 6:45 - 7:45 PM, Room 1A10 First-look screening: Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard’s SUPER DINOSAUR From Skybound and Spin Master comes SUPER DINOSUAR, a childrens’ television series based off of the Skybound/Image comic of the same name. Join SUPER DINOSAUR creator Robert Kirkman for a first-look at the new series, coming to Amazon Prime on October 6, followed by a Q&A! Saturday, October 5 @ 1:30 – 2:30 PM, Room 1A02 A Spotlight on the bestselling, award winning series PAPER GIRLS Join us as we sit down for an in-depth conversation with co-creator and writer Brian K. Vaughan and co-creator and artist Cliff Chiang about the addictive, genre-bending bestselling series Paper Girls. Moderator: Eric Stephenson, Chief Creative Officer & Publisher at Image Comics Saturday, October 5 @ 2:45 - 3:45, Room 1B03 A Spotlight on the bestselling, award winning series THE WICKED + THE DIVINE Join us as we sit down for an in-depth conversation with co-creator and writer Kieron Gillen and co-creator and artist Jamie McKelvie about the pop music infused, goth-loving bestselling series THE WICKED + THE DIVINE. Moderator: Katie West Saturday, October 5 @ 5:45 - 6:45 PM, Room 1A10 McFarlane's Road to the Historic Record-Breaking Spawn #301 Todd McFarlane, Image Comics founder, creator of Spawn, co-creator of Venom and McFarlane Toys CEO, talks about his 30+ years in the comic and entertainment industry. Todd will be raw and uncensored—talking toys and comics. He’ll also be talking about one of the biggest milestones in his career, Spawn 301 which will set the record for the longest running creator-owned superhero comic ever! Plus, special surprise guests, giveaways and more! Saturday, October 5 @ 9:00 – 10:00 PM, Room 1B03 Cat Eye: Point of View and Comics Who's telling the story? Every word and every image in every comic reinforces a particular POV. From the classic editorial voice of Stan Lee to the confessional memoirs of Alison Bechdel, comics occupy a unique space, reinforcing—panel-by-panel—a particular way of seeing. Why is POV so rarely discussed in relationship to comics? Join the creative team behind the Eisner-nominated comic book series MAN-EATERS to talk turkey and about they use POV to subvert expectations and troll the patriarchy. Trigger warning: Because this is a late night panel, there will be glow sticks. Panel members include NYT best-selling author Chelsea Cain(Mockingbird, Man-eaters, internationally best selling thriller novelist), Lia Miternique (Man-eaters co-creator, cover artist), Eliza Fantastic Mohan (Man-eaters contributing writer), and Emily Powell (Man-eaters haiku writer-in-residence). Sunday, October 6 @ 1:15 – 2:15 PM, Room 1B03 Dive into Worldbuilding with the hottest writers & artists in comics Explore the craft and creative process behind some of the most absorbing comic books on the market from the masters of story creation, Brenden Fletcher (Isola), Andre Frattino (Simon Says), Jesse Lee (Simon Says), Wes Craig (Deadly Class), Jen Bartel (Blackbird), Sam Haines (Slow City Blues), Jim Shooter (Slow City Blues), and John Livesay (Slow City Blues). Moderator: Marla Eizik, Executive Assistant at Image Comics IMAGE COMICS OFFSITE EVENTS Forbidden Planet Image Signing Date: Thursday, October 3 Time: 6:00 – 8:00 PM Location: Forbidden Planet Participants: Tee Franklin (BINGO LOVE), Andrew MacLean (HEAD LOPPER),Andre Frattino (SIMON SAYS), Jesse Lee Pointer (SIMON SAYS), W. Maxwell Prince (ICE CREAM MAN), Martin Morazzo (ICE CREAM MAN), David Walker (BITTER ROOT), Sanford Greene (BITTER ROOT), Brenden Fletcher (ISOLA), Karl Kerschl (ISOLA), Dani (COFFIN BOUND). Forbidden Planet Image Signing Date: Saturday, October 5 Time: 6:00 – 8:00 PM Location: Forbidden Planet Participants: Brian K. Vaughan (SAGA, PAPER GIRLS), Cliff Chiang (PAPER GIRLS), Ian Bertram (LITTLE BIRD), Darcy Van Poelgeest (LITTLE BIRD), Jacopo Camagni (NOMEN OMEN), Marco B. Bucci (NOMEN OMEN), Tina Horn(SFSX). The WicDiv Wake Date: Saturday, October 5 Time: 9 PM - 1 AM Location: 470 7th Ave (4th floor) NYC [Tickets available for purchase HERE] This event is 21+ Please bring a valid form of ID. For five years we've released comics and thrown dance parties. We've ran out of comics to release, but there's still time for one final party. The Wicked + the Divine cordially invite you to its wake. Experience the horror of Team WicDiv DJing, one last time, leavened by their array of guest DJ friends. Come hang, dance and enjoy the company of greatest comic readers in all of existence (i.e. you.) NYCC @ NYPL EVENTS A Monstress Conversation with Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda Date: 10/03/2019 Time: 12:30-1:15 PM ET Location: NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Bartos Forum - 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018 Speakers: Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda Image Comics and the New York Public Library are proud to present a conversation with the powerhouse creative team behind the acclaimed epic fantasy series, MONSTRESS. Join author MARJORIE LIU and artist SANA TAKEDA as they chat about their multiple award-winning title, their journey as two women of color creating and excelling in a traditionally male-dominated space, and the importance of making room for every reader in genre fiction. The audience is encouraged to join the conversation by sending in their own questions via this Google Form: https://bit.ly/2P4CLHL Image Comics Competitive Draw! Date: 10/03/2019 Time: 1:45-2:30 PM ET Location: NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Bartos Forum - 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018 Speakers: Cliff Chiang, Erica Henderson, Andrew MacLean, Dustin Nguyen, Brian K. Vaughan Comics legends Cliff Chiang (PAPER GIRLS, Wonder Woman), Erica Henderson(ASSASSIN NATION, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl), Andrew MacLean (HEAD LOPPER, ApocalyptiGirl), and Dustin Nguyen (DESCENDER, ASCENDER) play a live, high stakes game of visual charades with YOU, the audience! Will you be the first to guess what these superstar artists are drawing? The clock is ticking, the pens are flying, and we're about to get loud in the library! The winning teams receive free swag and books for their branches. Refereed by author extraordinaire, Brian K. Vaughan (PAPER GIRLS, SAGA)! Image Comics Sponsored Lunch Date: 10/03/2019 Time: 12:00-12:30 PM ET & 1:15-1:45 PM ET Location: NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Bartos Forum - 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018 Speakers: N/A Image Comics will be sponsoring a lunch break for NYCC @ NYPL attendees! Henry Barajas Signing Date: 10/03/2019 Time: 1:15-1:45 PM ET Location: NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Bartos Forum, Image Comics Table - 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018 Speakers: Henry Barajas The author of LA VOZ DE M.A.Y.O TATA RAMBO will sign & speak with librarians who visit the Image Comics booth Jason Adam Katzenstein Signing Date: 10/03/2019 Time: 1:15-1:45 PM ET Location: NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Bartos Forum, Image Comics Table - 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018 Speakers: Jason Adam Katzenstein The artist of CAMP MIDNIGHT will sign & speak with librarians who visit the Image Comics booth IMAGE COMICS CREATORS IN ARTIST ALLEY Andrew MacLean I-28 Andy Belanger G-4 Anthony Del Col D-6 Babs Tarr G-6 Baldemar Rivas B-25 Bengal J-22 Brenden Fletcher G-5 Brian Azzarello L-21 Brian Stelfreeze I-6 Cat Staggs I-2 Charles Soule L-35 Chelsea Cain D-2 Chris Burnham B-12 Christopher Sebela E-14 Chuck Brown G-28 Cullen Bunn B-24 Dan Panosian J-32 Daniel Warren Johnson B-15 David Walker G-29 Declan Shalvey I-31 Donny Cates L-30 Dustin Nguyen F-7 Erica Henderson I-36 Erik Larsen K-10 Giuseppe Camuncoli C-21 Greg Capullo L-38 Ian Bertram B-14 Isaac Goodhart I-13 Jacopo Camagni B-26 Jason Shawn Alexander I-16 Jeff Rougvie C-4 Jen Bartel E-9 Jerome Opeña L-8 Jim Mahfood I-17 Jim Zub A-30 Jock L-36 Jody LeHeup I-26 Joe Harris K-13 John Livesay F-28 John Romita Jr. K-1 Joshua Williamson L-34 Justin Jordan K-12 Karl Kerschl G-5 Keith Giffen J-3 Khary Randolph K-37 Klaus Janson I-40 Kris Anka E-10 Kyle Higgins K-26 Kyle Starks C-18 Kyle Strahm B-25 Leandro Fernandez J-20 Lee Garbett A-29 Lia Miternique D-2 Marc Silvestri K-38 Marco B. Bucci B-26 Marjorie Liu G-17 Martin Morazzo A-18 Matt Hawkins K-9 Matt Wagner I-9 Matteo Scalera J-30 Megan Hutchison L-29 Meredith Finch L-33 Michel Fiffe H-23 Mirka Andolfo L-27 Nathan Fox I-25 Paul Azaceta I-38 Pia Guerra H-29 Ray Fawkes H-34 Roberta Ingranata F-38 Ryan Ottley B-11 Sam Humphries L-25 Sana Takeda G-18 Sanford Greene G-27 Scott Snyder L-37 Stefano Gaudiano J-13 Stephen Green B-13 Tee Franklin D-8 Terry Dodson B-20 Tini Howard L-23 Tradd Moore B-13 Triona Farrell H-45 Vanesa R. Del Rey I-35 Wes Craig A-21 Zack Kaplan K-8

ABOUT IMAGE COMICS Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of bestselling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has six individuals on the Board of Directors: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Eric Stephenson. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline Comics, Skybound Entertainment, and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

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