Broken Frontier

In a rare cross-company promotion, Image’s The Walking Dead #30 will showcase the five-page teaser that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips created for their new Icon book, Criminal. “Sean and I thought long and hard about how to properly preview the book,” said Brubaker.  “And we decided instead of just showing the first 4 or 5 pages, we’d make something different, more like a movie trailer on paper.  We’ve previously released it as a downloadable PDF, and the response has been amazing, but actually getting it printed in The Walking Dead while the first issue is being solicited, is beyond great, and Robert Kirkman is my new hero for doing this.”

The Walking Dead is one of Image’s most popular titles, while Criminal will debut this October from Marvel’s creator-owned Icon label, so how did this cross-promotion come about? “Promoting a creator-owned book in this industry is an uphill battle, so when I see a book as good as CRIMINAL come along, I want to do whatever I can to promote it.” said Kirkman, “Image has been kind enough to allow me to do this, we’re all in the business of selling comics, more specifically GOOD comics and I think we all feel there’s room for more of those no matter WHO the publisher is.  Plus, now Brubaker and Phillips owe me one.”

Kirkman continued, “I think Criminal is going to be the best work that Sean and Ed have ever done together, and with the work they’ve both been doing the past few years at Marvel, I think they’re hotter than ever so I wanted to get on the Criminal bandwagon early.  So when Brubaker kidnapped my little boy, Peter Parker Kirkman, and said he was holding him hostage until I ran their preview, I was like, hey, I would’ve done it anyway, but thanks for the free babysitting.”

And as a bonus, while The Walking Dead is printed in black and white, the Criminal teaser will be printed in full color. “Yeah, like I said, Kirkman, for some reason, is going all out to help us. Considering he’s got one of the most popular creator-owned books on the market, and the way his sales continue to climb each month, I couldn’t be more grateful. This is going to really help us with our launch, because that Walking Dead audience, between fans and retailers, is just the people I think will love Criminal,” says Brubaker.

The Walking Dead #30 will be in stores on August 23rd. But if you can’t wait to check out the exclusive Criminal teaser, which is not going to be reprinted in the first issue of the comic, you can download a PDF of it at: http://www.edbrubaker.com/criminal/criminal_preview.pdf

CRIMINAL #1 
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Art & Wraparound Cover by SEAN PHILLIPS
32 PGS./No Ads/Mature Content ...$2.99
FOC - 9/14, On Sale - 10/4/2006