Broken Frontier

Over the last decade, several comic book publishers have released special sample comics of popular franchises at bargain prices - ten cents, fifteen cents, or a quarter.

But Image Comics has outdone them all with its upcoming TWO BITS, which features previews of two brand new books - Writer/artist Mike S. Miller's THE IMAGINARIES and LULLABY - for only twenty five cents.

"It's an experiment, I'll admit," says Mike S. Miller, who is heading up the production of TWO BITS. "What we've decided to do is offer readers a chance to preview two high quality creator-owned titles at a price that they can pay with their leftover pocket change. We see this as a great way to not only help readers discover these great new books, but also as a means to help retailers create interest in the upcoming first issues of these books and build their base of pre-orders."

One of the major incentives, says Miller, is the price.  Retailers can order each issue for what equates to low risk and high profit margins.

"For the price it costs to order one normal book from a standard publisher, retailers can order over a dozen issues of Two Bits," says Miller.  "And, if the books are likely to sell out very quickly," he adds.

Miller is especially proud of the all ages nature of both books.

"One of the best things about Two Bits is that it's designed to appeal to readers of all ages and tastes," he says. "The Imaginaries is a great superhero story about an imaginary friend whose creator no longer believes in him, while Lullaby is a cool epic about classic literary characters like Jim Hawkins and Alice (from Wonderland) told in a fun manga art style."

TWO BITS will feature not only the pencil artwork from both stories, but also several pages of extras exclusive to the preview that will not be reprinted in the first issue of either book.

"I'm a stickler for quality and a stickler for value," says Miller. "And Two Bits is designed to provide readers with as much of both as we can cram into those 32 pages. We're confident that retailers who give this book a try are going to be impressed with the results, and we hope that Two Bits will pave the way for other creator-owned titles at Image to introduce themselves to a larger audience."

LULLABY and THE IMAGINARIES have been developed by Mike S. Miller and Dabel Brothers Production. More information about each title can be found at http://www.dabelbrothers.com.