Tokyopop and Blizzard Entertainment® Announce Three-Year Publishing Plan
Twenty-Two All-New Warcraft® and StarCraft® Manga Volumes Slated for Release through 2010
New York Comic-Con, New York (April 17, 2008)―On the heels of the critically acclaimed international hit manga series Warcraft®: The Sunwell Trilogy, TOKYOPOP, the leader of the global manga revolution, and Blizzard Entertainment®, creator of some of the world's most popular game series, are proud to announce their three-year publishing plan. Over the next 36 months, the companies intend to release twenty-two all-new never-before-told adventures set in the richly detailed Warcraft and StarCraft® universes.
According to TOKYOPOP Editor-in-Chief Rob Tokar, "After several fantastic years of working with Blizzard Entertainment on Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy, it is both a pleasure and an honor to extend our relationship in such a grand fashion. The entire TOKYOPOP team is incredibly excited to help expand the Warcraft and StarCraft universes through manga. Blizzard has been a terrific partner and, by incorporating original characters from Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy into their incredible massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft®, they have again shown that their game universe is a vast, rich, immersive phenomenon that transcends any one medium."
"We're pleased to continue working with TOKYOPOP to bring our game universes to an entirely new audience," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy proved to be a top-quality adaptation of Warcraft to the manga format, and we look forward to matching that quality with the upcoming StarCraft and Warcraft books."
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Blizzard Entertainment's bestselling StarCraft real-time strategy game, this August TOKYOPOP will publish the first volume of the new manga series, StarCraft: Frontline, a collection of four stories set in the dark and gritty StarCraft universe. StarCraft: Frontline includes "Thundergod," by renowned writer Richard A. Knaak (Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy) and Naohiro Washio, and focuses on the new Thor heavy combat walker unit that will be appearing in Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming sequel, StarCraft II. Other artists and writers featured in this collection include Simon Furman (Transformers), Paul Benjamin (Pantheon High), Joshua Elder (Mail Order Ninja), and Ramanda Kamarga (Psy-Comm).
August also hails the debut of the first volume of the all-new manga series Warcraft: Legends. Some of the world's best manga creators join together to bring the world of Warcraft to life as never before! Warcraft vets Richard A. Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim (Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy) team up again for "Fallen," which is the first of a three-part tale. Other global talent for Warcraft: Legends includes Dan Jolley (Warriors; JSA Liberty Files), Carlos Oliveros and Mi-Young No (Threads of Time).
StarCraft: Frontline and Warcraft: Legends are the first two of more than twenty releases set in the StarCraft and Warcraft universes that TOKYOPOP and Blizzard Entertainment will collaborate on and publish over the course of three years. Stay tuned for more details about other books in this historic publishing program.
About TOKYOPOP
Founded by multi-cultural media visionary Stu Levy,TOKYOPOP is hailed as a leading youth-oriented entertainment brand and an innovator of manga creation, with a revolutionary artistic vision that transcends countless platforms. From the introduction of the first-ever extensive manga publishing program in North America, to the development of its manga-originated intellectual properties into film, television and digital entertainment, TOKYOPOP has changed the way teens experience pop culture. The company's global reach has expanded to Europe and Asia, with offices in the UK and Germany and partnerships in Australia and China, in addition to its original Los Angeles and Tokyo operations. With millions of fans logging onto the new social networking site www.TOKYOPOP.com, reading its books, which are licensed in more than 40 countries and 30 languages, and watching its DVDs and television programs, TOKYOPOP's award-winning catalogue of licensed and original properties has made the company a visionary in an ever-growing teen entertainment marketplace. Visit www.TOKYOPOP.com for additional information.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diabloâ series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a studio of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment's track record includes ten #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.netâ, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.
New York Comic-Con, New York (April 17, 2008)―On the heels of the critically acclaimed international hit manga series Warcraft®: The Sunwell Trilogy, TOKYOPOP, the leader of the global manga revolution, and Blizzard Entertainment®, creator of some of the world's most popular game series, are proud to announce their three-year publishing plan. Over the next 36 months, the companies intend to release twenty-two all-new never-before-told adventures set in the richly detailed Warcraft and StarCraft® universes.
According to TOKYOPOP Editor-in-Chief Rob Tokar, "After several fantastic years of working with Blizzard Entertainment on Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy, it is both a pleasure and an honor to extend our relationship in such a grand fashion. The entire TOKYOPOP team is incredibly excited to help expand the Warcraft and StarCraft universes through manga. Blizzard has been a terrific partner and, by incorporating original characters from Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy into their incredible massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft®, they have again shown that their game universe is a vast, rich, immersive phenomenon that transcends any one medium."
"We're pleased to continue working with TOKYOPOP to bring our game universes to an entirely new audience," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy proved to be a top-quality adaptation of Warcraft to the manga format, and we look forward to matching that quality with the upcoming StarCraft and Warcraft books."
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Blizzard Entertainment's bestselling StarCraft real-time strategy game, this August TOKYOPOP will publish the first volume of the new manga series, StarCraft: Frontline, a collection of four stories set in the dark and gritty StarCraft universe. StarCraft: Frontline includes "Thundergod," by renowned writer Richard A. Knaak (Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy) and Naohiro Washio, and focuses on the new Thor heavy combat walker unit that will be appearing in Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming sequel, StarCraft II. Other artists and writers featured in this collection include Simon Furman (Transformers), Paul Benjamin (Pantheon High), Joshua Elder (Mail Order Ninja), and Ramanda Kamarga (Psy-Comm).
August also hails the debut of the first volume of the all-new manga series Warcraft: Legends. Some of the world's best manga creators join together to bring the world of Warcraft to life as never before! Warcraft vets Richard A. Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim (Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy) team up again for "Fallen," which is the first of a three-part tale. Other global talent for Warcraft: Legends includes Dan Jolley (Warriors; JSA Liberty Files), Carlos Oliveros and Mi-Young No (Threads of Time).
StarCraft: Frontline and Warcraft: Legends are the first two of more than twenty releases set in the StarCraft and Warcraft universes that TOKYOPOP and Blizzard Entertainment will collaborate on and publish over the course of three years. Stay tuned for more details about other books in this historic publishing program.
About TOKYOPOP
Founded by multi-cultural media visionary Stu Levy,TOKYOPOP is hailed as a leading youth-oriented entertainment brand and an innovator of manga creation, with a revolutionary artistic vision that transcends countless platforms. From the introduction of the first-ever extensive manga publishing program in North America, to the development of its manga-originated intellectual properties into film, television and digital entertainment, TOKYOPOP has changed the way teens experience pop culture. The company's global reach has expanded to Europe and Asia, with offices in the UK and Germany and partnerships in Australia and China, in addition to its original Los Angeles and Tokyo operations. With millions of fans logging onto the new social networking site www.TOKYOPOP.com, reading its books, which are licensed in more than 40 countries and 30 languages, and watching its DVDs and television programs, TOKYOPOP's award-winning catalogue of licensed and original properties has made the company a visionary in an ever-growing teen entertainment marketplace. Visit www.TOKYOPOP.com for additional information.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diabloâ series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a studio of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment's track record includes ten #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.netâ, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.
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