Broken Frontier

Shi creator Billy Tucci is bringing his horror/comedy "ZOMBIE-SAMA!" to Italian mega-publisher Narwain.

Nineteen-year old Jim Okami's day couldn't get any worse. His girlfriend, Suzy, dumped him for Brad, a pretty boy, butt-hole surfer, then he almost lost his bicycle delivery job at Sanjuro Sushi due to a flat tire, and now the entire world is being eaten alive by biologically infected zombies. If it's not one thing, it's another, right?

As chaos erupts and society breaks down, Jim witnesses his boss, the great sushi master Sanjuro – armed only with an array of filleting knives – heroically defending the strip mall. He grabs a lone katana from its showplace above the cash register and is reborn as great warrior for this new age...

He is ZOMBIE-SAMA!

Outfitted with the cash register katana, chain mail armor lifted from a local scuba shop, and an idealist's determination, Jim sets out on a quest to save Suzy and that butt-hole Brad from the monstrous multitudes of flesh-eating freaks.

Originally solicitated through Tucci's Crusade Fine Arts, the move to Narwain is just another step in the process of cementing the newly formed publisher/creator partnership. 

"Just as Dark Horse now publishing Shi," Tucci stated, "I have great respect for Narwain and feel this is an incredible opportunity for me, between art and family, to actually bring myself one step closer to being creative full-time and expand my horizons into the mainstream."

In the tradition of  "Dawn of the Dead", "The Seven Samurai", and "A Very Brady Sequel"… "ZOMBIE-SAMA!" is written by Tucci and illustrated by cutting-edge animator John Broglia. 

The 48-page black and white graphic novel will be shipped with two covers (one from Tucci , one from Broglia) in a 50/50 split.  For the collectors among us, Narwain is also offering a silk-screen cover Prestige-Format edition, limited to only 1500 copies and sporting an additional eight pages of art.

Exclusively offered through Previews, "ZOMBIE-SAMA!"  is listed in its December 2005 edition from Diamond Comic Distributors and will ship in February 2006. It's priced at $4.99 US.