IDW partners with Universal Partnerships & Licensing to develop all-new comics based on blockbuster property

San Diego, CA (March 23, 2010) – IDW Publishing is pleased to announce a publishing agreement with Universal Partnerships & Licensing to create an entirely new series of comics based on the always-popular Jurassic Park franchise. Launching in June, IDW’s Jurassic Park comics will bring all of the oversized action and prehistoric adventure that fans love in a brand-new story. Plus, IDW will also reprint all the original Topps Jurassic Park comics in a trade paperback collection, most of which have never before been reprinted. Fans attending WonderCon 2010, one of the country’s leading comics and pop culture conventions, held April 2nd through the 4th in San Francisco, can get a sneak peak of the new series at the IDW booth #519 and at the Jurassic Park panel on Friday.

“I’ve been a fan of Jurassic Park since we first published it at Topps back in the 90′s, and it’s exciting revisit and reinvigorate the property after all these years,” said IDW chief operating officer, Greg Goldstein. “There’s so much potential for interesting stories, and we have a great team in place to bring them to life.”

Available in both print and digital, IDW’s Jurassic Park comics kick off with a five-issue story arc, written by IDW Senior Editor and comics veteran Bob Schreck. Nate Van Dyke provides interior art, while comics’ legends Tom Yeates and Frank Miller offer their awesome and gory covers to the first issue, with Arthur Adams, Paul Pope, and Bernie Wrightson also providing variant covers for the first storyline. IDW will be giving away a Jurassic Park poster at WonderCon, featuring Frank Miller‘s cover art for issue #1. Schreck, Van Dyke and Yeates will also all be on hand throughout the weekend to sign autographs.

“Having been born in the Jurassic Era myself, I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity,” Schreck commented. “I was raised on a strict diet of Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen movies and adore the Jurassic Park films. I can’t begin to convey the thrill of bringing this tale to life with so many old (and new) super-talented friends and fellow dinosaur lovers.”

The first five-issue story arc in IDW’s new Jurassic Park series, Jurassic Park: Redemption, takes up thirteen years after the very first Jurassic Park motion picture and finds John Hammond’s grandchildren, Tim and Lex Murphy, as well-to-do young adults. While Lex is working with the UN to continue keeping people off of both Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna — her brother Tim has other ideas about how to get their grandfather’s name back in good standing.

Each issue in the arc will feature a cover by Yeates and a variant by another major artist. For issue #2, fans can expect great things from Arthur Adams, followed by Paul Pope on issue #3, Bernie Wrightson on issue #4 and the hugely popular dinosaur connoisseur Bill Stout on issue #5.

IGN Comics Interview with Comics Writers:

IGN Comics: Bob, typically we see these licensed properties hit comic books near the release of major movies or games or some other commercial property. Why did IDW pursue the Jurassic Park license?

Bob Schreck: I wasn’t on board with the company when they began the negotiations for the series, but it’s Jurassic Park! Everyone at IDW are huge fans of the movies and I assume they felt it was just a perfect fit for the company…

IGN Comics: Let’s discuss the series you’ll be launching in June. Are we looking at an ongoing title or a mini-series? Where in the JP mythos does this book take place?

Schreck: It’s an ongoing, but with different arcs by different teams. This first five-issue arc takes place 13 years after the very first Jurassic Park motion picture. Hammond’s grandkids are all grown up and are still dealing with the aftermath of the Islands and their sorted histories.

IGN Comics: Do you have plans beyond Redemption or will that mostly depend on reception? Could you see this expanding to multiple titles or are you more focused on a series-by-series concept for now?

Schreck: We definitely have plans already in motion for the next arc and beyond. For now it will stay within the one continuing series.

IGN Comics: It seems like the property has a double-edged sword built into it – people come to see dinosaurs go on a rampage, but if that’s all you do, the series would fall flat. As a writer, how do you work with and around something like this? How much can you afford to focus on the characters?

Schreck: It was a delicate balance, but my editors tell me I managed to keep the action going while also fleshing out the characters. I just hope they’re right! But it’s something that has to be paid close attention to, otherwise even the action junkies will get bored.

IGN Comics: Are we strictly going to be dealing with the two islands in existence or will Redemption spread the dinosaur population further?

Schreck: Ahhh… that would be telling!

IGN Comics: It would seem logical that Universal would want to revisit the JP film franchise at some point. Do you have parameters to work within for the comic books? How flexible is the universe?

Schreck: They’ve been a dream to work with and have had little restrictions on the directions we can go in.

IGN Comics: Each JP movie seemed to incorporate the latest paleontology theories regarding dinosaur behavior and instinct. How much research are you doing in that capacity?

Schreck: I’ve done enough research to make this tale work, but I’m sticking with most of those already established theories from the film.

IGN Comics: Let’s talk artwork – Nate Van Dyke is tackling interiors. What made Nate a good fit for the series?

Schreck: I came upon Nate’s work a few years ago thumbing through a copy of Juxtapose magazine and loved what I saw… then I lost track of him. When the opportunity to write Jurassic Park came my way, I thought of his unique style immediately and had to go on the hunt to find him. He’s a relative newcomer to the comics community, having done some work in Heavy Metal, prior to this… but I just love bringing in new artists and new styles to the medium. There’s a great energy in his work… plus he draws really cool monkeys!

IGN Comics: And can you run through your all-star cast of cover artists?

Schreck: I am a blessed man… I called my old friend Tom Yeates, first, as Tom and I go back to the 1970s and he illustrated a poster for my rock band, Pellucidar… go ahead… laugh… It was an amazing drawing of a T-Rex in a tropical forest. He and I became fast friends and are huge dinosaur fans. Tom is doing all five issues’ covers and they’re truly incredible. Meanwhile, there are variant covers for each issue being shipped as a 1-to-1 ratio. The variants run as follows… again I am truly blessed with good, old, and extremely talented friends, such as… Frank Miller for issue #1, Arthur Adams #2, Paul Pope #3, Bernie Wrightson #4, and Bill Stout is doing #5′s variant. All of these are stunners… I keep expecting to wake up and find out it’s all a dream. Forever in your debt, gents!

IGN Comics: We can’t get off the concept of dinosaurs eating people… what’s the coolest “kill” you’ve thought of so far?

Schreck: I didn’t – you just can’t beat Frank Miller’s kill!

IGN Comics: Is there anything else you’d like to add about the series so far?

Schreck: Just that I hope everybody digs it and to say that if folks reading this interview think what they’ve learned so far sounds good to their ears (and eyes) they won’t believe what follows our run starting with issue #6.

Jurassic Park: Redemption #1 (32 pages, full color, $3.99) will be available in stores in June.

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