Broken Frontier

Dabel Brothers Production ("DB Pro") announced today that they have just signed an exclusive contract with New York Times bestselling author Kinley MacGregor to adapt the first five novels in her highly anticipated fantasy and romance series, LORDS OF AVALON.

The deal was negotiated by the author’s agent, Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House, LLC.

LORDS OF AVALON: SWORD OF DARKNESS will be produced as a monthly 22-page comic starting this fall, with a script expertly penned by Roynne Gillespie (THE BURNING MAN) and illustrations by an artist soon to be announced. A graphic novel edition should be available in bookstores by Spring ’07.

SWORD OF DARKNESS, the first novel in the series, tells the story of a dark-hearted knight named Kerrigan who wields the demonic sword Caliburn, Excalibur’s polar opposite. Camelot has fallen to the forces of evil, and the knights of the round reside in Avalon, waiting for the birth of the one they call “Penmerlin,” a special person who will lead the lesser wizards of the realm. They select a young maiden named Seren to be the mother of this figure, but a “rescue” from Kerrigan results in her falling in love and eventually becoming pregnant with his child. Seren must choose between abandoning the evil knight and training her child in the path of light or staying with Kerrigan and attempting to help him turn away from the life he has chosen.

“We’re excited to be working with Kinley MacGregor to bring this story into the visual medium” said Les Dabel, Vice President of Dabel Brothers Production. “Ms. MacGregor is an extremely popular writer right now, and her name is synonymous with great storytelling. We think the LORDS OF AVALON books will be an excellent addition to our lineup, and we can’t wait to see the first issue hit the shelves!”

“I couldn't be more thrilled to be working with DB Pro since I've been a fan of the Dabel Brothers since they came onto the scene,” said Kinley MacGregor. “The quality of art and interpretation is second to none. I'm extremely honored to be added to their line-up. I'm a child of the graphic novel and in that field, DB Pro rules.”

One thing Les Dabel is particularly excited about is his company’s ability to reach an audience generally ignored by the comic book industry: women.

“Guys are into action and gore, and that’s generally what the comic book industry delivers,” explained Dabel. “But when you look at trends within the publishing industry, you see that the genres that appeal most to women tend to be the consistent bestsellers. I’ve always attributed this to the fact that women read more often than men, and they demand stories that actually bother to go beyond pure action and develop deep characters and relationships. In the world of comic books, it’s very hard for women who aren’t interested in superheroes or horror books to find much to read – there are some great indy books, sure, but there’s not a lot in the mainstream.”

“DB Pro is hoping to change that with books like LORDS OF AVALON and ANITA BLAKE: VAMPIRE HUNTER – we expect both titles will have heavy female readership due to the fact that they’re both originally from the romance genre. And while we’re certainly producing them to be fun for anyone who enjoys the theme, we want a diverse audience reading these books – and we’d especially like to offer something to the women out there who are cool enough to read comics, but not finding much that interests them right now.”

LORDS OF AVALON: SWORD OF DARKNESS will be published and produced by Dabel Brothers Production and distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc and Diamond Book Distributors, Inc. More information about the title, including preview art and details about the script, will soon be made available at http://www.dabelbrothers.com.