Broken Frontier

Markosia Enterprises left the Jacob Javitts Center in Manhattan after a whirlwind three days of extremely positive meetings, signings and heavy sales at the 1st annual New York Comic-Con.

To start the weekend, Markosia came to terms with Mr. Phil Hester for two creator owned properties to be published through Markosia. The properties are titled; ‘GOLLY!’ and ‘OLYMPIA’S ARMY”. GOLLY, the first of the two properties, is explained below, followed by a brief synopsis for ‘OLYMPIA’S ARMY’:

GOLLY!
What if they threw an Apocalypse and nobody came?

The End times are upon us, but to be honest, Heaven and Hell have lost all enthusiasm for anything resembling a Final Judgment. Earth’s guardian angel selects Golly Munhollen, part time race car driver, part time carny, and full time dumb ass to become humanity’s defender against the remaining elements of Hell still bent on starting some crap come Judgment Day. By day Golly repairs rides on the midway and tries to jump-start his racing career, by night he stumbles ass backwards into the weird menaces that seem to pop up in every town on the carnival’s route. Golly is aided in his quest by his carny pals: Vaughn, the 6’6” tattooed man; Pig, former freak show fat lady turned strong woman; Miguel, the genius dog-faced boy acrobat; and Satan, former monarch of Hell now down on his luck and working the midway for cigarette money. Recommended for immature mature readers. Created and written by Eisner Award nominated writer and artist Phillip Hester (The Coffin, Deep Sleeper, Antoine Sharpe: The Atheist, The Wretch, Green Arrow, Nightwing )

OLYMPIA'S ARMY
Imagine that all the gods and heroes of classic mythology did not simply pass into history, but maintained their heritage like royal houses. The powers, weapons and talismans of the ancient mythic figures have been passed down through the generations to the heirs of today. Now these young inheritors of ancient power have been called upon to defeat a threat even older than the myths they descended from. A mysterious figure known as The Sun-Thief has recruited these young demigods into an army- Olympia’s Army. You’ll meet Olympia, descendant of Achilles, an adorable five foot tall seventeen year old girl able to stop a freight train in its tracks; Daystar, descendant of the pre-Vedic Hindu fire god Agni, a thoughtful and sensitive grad student capable of burning anything he touches; Magni, the impossibly strong, impossibly huge daughter of Thor, resentful that history has recorded her as Thor’s son, but otherwise a cheerful warrior; Blackbird, descendant of the Celtic war goddess Babd, a nearly feral teen girl covered head to toe in leathery scar tissue armor; and their leader Farstriker, descendant of Perseus and possessor of all his powerful weapons, not the least of which is the head of Medusa. Created and written by Eisner Award nominated writer and artist Phillip Hester (The Coffin, Deep Sleeper, Antoine Sharpe: The Atheist, The Wretch, Green Arrow, Nightwing ) with Chuck Satterlee (Of Bitter Souls, Smoke & Mirror, Upcoming: The Lexian Chronicles)

‘GOLLY!’ is scheduled for a 2006 release with ‘OLYMPIA’S ARMY’ to follow. Artists to be announced.

The second creator to find himself working with Markosia is Brian Augustyn.

‘THE WITNESS’, created by veteran comics writer Brian Augustyn (Crimson, Flash, Out There, Gotham By Gaslight), tells the modern day story of a crime-ridden middle-American city, and the hero who rises to redeem it. Matt Sherwood is a young straight-arrow cop, fighting a small part of Crystal City's war against organized crime. When he and his partner are ambushed while protecting an important witness against the mob which runs the city, Matt miraculously survives though both partner and witness are killed. Acting as the state's only witness against the mob boss who ordered the killing, Matt succeeds in helping convict the man, but earns the powerful crime figure's fierce hatred in return. Offered a chance to enter the Federal Witness Protection Program, Matt realizes that the program might save him, but it won't save Crystal City from the criminals who continue to feed off it. Matt drops out of sight, skips out on the Feds, and creates his own protection--by inventing a new identity for himself: the mysterious crime fighter known as the Witness!

According to Augustyn, the hero becomes a witness in many senses of the word; he witnesses to the evil that runs rampant in Crystal City, and in acting against it, sees to it that light into the spreading darkness. He also keeps watch over his family and friends, and all the decent citizens in order to make their lives and homes safer. "The guy sees what he's doing as redemptive," Augustyn adds, "he wants only to set things right again--in his mind he's not starting a war, he's finding ways to end one. Add, he's committed to fighting back without resorting to lethal force. The guy may be naive, and he's certainly going up against an enemy who does not share his commitment, but he's willing to lay down his life for his cause--he's a hero, not a killer."

Max Quantril, the "Godfather" of all things evil sees himself as a civic leader and a model citizen, even as he has bled the city of profit and hope for twenty years. Now he'll stop at nothing to fight off the invading criminals intent on taking his spoils--even if he has to lead the battle from a prison cell. Even if he has to destroy the city in the process.

Crystal City is on the edge, one man may destroy it but another will give everything to save it.

The art on ‘THE WITNESS’ is handled by talented newcomer Jonathan Lau.

Trevor McCarthy’s comic industry work includes penciling the monthly series Nightwing, Green Lantern: Circle of Fire, the X-Men miniseries Blink, cover illustration for Hellhounds #5, various other works for DC Comics, Marvel, Wildstorm, and Dark Horse. He has contributed designs for the current Transformers toy line and worked on the conceptuals for the new G.I.Joe product line. Trevor is also the art director for a prestigious New York advertising firm and can be seen on TLC every week as a sketch artist for a paranormal investigation group on the TV show Dead Tenants. Trevor will be teaming with long time collaborator, George T. Singley to bring two new series starting in 2007.

‘OUTWORLD’ is an all ages adventure comic while ‘YEYO’ is a crime comic dealing in the world of drugs and gang war.

The next project Markosia signed at NYCC is a series of Graphic Novels. ‘ENLIGHTENMENT’ will start with Book 1, ‘ENLIGHTENMENT: THE DEVIL YOU KNOW’  The series is written by talented industry newcomer, Tom Hall and written by fellow newcomer, Daniel Bradford.  Book one is scheduled for a 2007 release.

“We are extremely pleased with these additions to the Markosia line-up”, stated Harry Markos, Markosia’s Managing Director.  “We now have a great looking 2006 line-up followed by a great start to our 2007 publishing schedule.”

“The addition of these fine creators will certainly boost our exposure,” said Chuck Satterlee, Markosia’s North American Director of Operations and a fellow creator. “It is nice to see that the creators are warming up to our unique marketing and business plans at Markosia”

In addition to these signings, Markosia Enterprises also signed with a top Hollywood agent for all Markosia property to be represented in Hollywood unless it is already currently represented. 

Deals were begun at the con to work with foreign publishers in France, Italy, Spain and Kuwait. 

Markosia was also pleased to release the first issue of the new series, ‘STARSHIP TROOPERS’ at the con as well.  It was so well received that a very well known retailer bought an additional 100 copies after the show ended.

On Saturday night, the Markosia staff and creators attended the release party for ‘SCATTERBRAIN #1’, another great first issue from Markosia.  The series, which was created and Witten by Director of Development for The Weinstein Company, Brendan  Deneen, is a gritty crime drama thrown into the world of superheroes and has been receiving critical acclaim around the industry.  The art for the series is handled by 19 year-old phenom, Szymon Kudranski. 

From a sales perspective, the first two trade paperbacks from Markosia did very well.  ‘THE LEXIAN CHRONICLES’ Vol. 1 and ‘NICK SCHLEY’S ABIDING PERDITION Vol. 1’ sold many more copies than were originally forecasted.  “In fact, sales were brisk for the entire show at all levels,” said Satterlee.   “Our artists sold their art, our books sold in droves and we let a lot of t-shirts go out the door as well.”

Finally, Markosia ran a drawing for the retailers visiting the show.  Richard Gain from SOURCE Comics & Games won a 30GB ipod w/ video player.  

For more information, visit www.markosia.com.