Broken Frontier

Meeting the growing demand for more digital content, Archaia announced that it would produce original graphic novels (OGNs) exclusively for the Amazon Kindle, which will include the Kindle’s iPhone and iPod touch apps.

Archaia will initially premiere four OGNs on the Kindle over the next 12 months. The new collaboration kicks off with Tumor, an original story from Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon, the creators of the Harvey Award-nominated Elk’s Run. Tumor, a Los Angeles noir about a private investigator with a terminal brain tumor trying to close one last case before the cancer kills him, will be released as eight individual chapters over the next six months, to then be collected into a hardcover edition. The first chapter of Tumor is available now on the Kindle for free, with subsequent chapters priced at 99 cents.

“Archaia is consistently working to break the boundaries of comic book distribution,” said Stephen Christy, Archaia’s Director of Development. “I’m psyched to be able to say that we will now be the first comic book company to produce a full-length graphic novel exclusively for the Kindle. Working with a partner like Amazon has been amazing, and I couldn’t be happier that we’re launching this partnership with Tumor, from one of my favorite writers in the industry.”

“We’re excited to offer our customers this new content for Kindle,” said Laura Porco, director of Kindle books. “We know that even the best reading device is useless to our customers without deep selection, and we’re thrilled to be able to expand the selection of comics available to Kindle users.”

“I’ve loved my Kindle from Day One, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted Tumor to be available for the platform,” said Fialkov. “Archaia understood that the Kindle is a unique opportunity to get their comics out there and into the hands of a whole new fanbase who are avid book readers, but may have not read a graphic novel in years.” In addition to the Kindle version of the book, Fialkov will be running an online “behind-the-scenes” site at www.tumorthecomic.com that promises to include DVD-style Special Edition features, including scripts, production art, interviews and a live chat with the creators upon the release of each chapter.

The first chapter of Tumor is available for free now at the Amazon Kindle Store at: http://tinyurl.com/mvx84k.

Chapter Two will be released during the week of August 3rd, and each subsequent chapter will be released every three weeks.

In the pipeline is another upcoming title to be produced by Archaia exclusively for the Kindle. Mr. Murder Is Dead, a black-and-white OGN written by Victor Quinaz and co-published by Before the Door Pictures, the production company of actor Zachary Quinto, is scheduled for a spring 2010 release.