First off we got a really cool and surprising post on MTVs gametrailers.com, which their audience was as cool as them.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/part-ii-sparks/52527

Not the greatest of rating, however, it’s getting some eye balls

This whole week will be dedicated to Comic Con and the preparation for it.

Sparks Part 1 “redux” which features the same lip synch technology as Sparks 2 and also has twice the animation as the previous version is now available for download and purchase at ITUNES.

In a few days we will post the schedule for Comic Comic, however, at this point we do know Bill and Mike will only be there for the 25th Saturday

We are working with Michael Bell to see which day we can beg him to show as well.

The booth will have monitors and will be showing off our motion comic books.

And we will have some announcements to make at the show as well, however, right now our lips our sealed.

Independence Day marks an independent “first” for the little guy.

“SPARKS PART 2″, the first-ever iPhone/ iTouch motion comic book with lip-synch——released by Catastrophic Comics

Voiced by Hollywood actors Michael Paré, William Katt, and Michael Bell

(July 4, 2009) Los Angeles—”Sparks Part 2,” the first motion comic book with lip-synch, created specifically for the iPhone and iTouch, is proudly presented by Catastrophic Comics. The SPARKS PART 2 Application, which includes original artwork, in addition to the original motion comic, can be downloaded for 99 cents at the iTunes Store (keywords: “Sparks Part 2″ or  ”Catastrophic Comics”).  A superhero noir-thriller that was published as a comic book series in 2008, “Sparks” bridges the gap between the printed page and full-fledged animation. 

“Part 2” is voiced by actors Michael Paré (“Eddie and the Cruisers”), Michael Bell (“Transformers”),  Charlie Brill (“Star Trek”),  Kevin Sherwood (“Gamers”),  Courtenay Taylor (“Justice League Heroes”),  and Ashley Bell (“United States of Tara”).

***Please contact us to book interviews with Michael Paré, co-creator, William Katt (“The Greatest American Hero”, NBC’s “Heroes”) , Michael Bell (“Transformers”), Ashley Bell (“United States of Tara”), and Christopher Folino (writer/ director “Gamers”).  Pre-taped interview footage is also available on request. 

Here the direct link to Sparks Part 2 for sale on iTUNES:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313631847&mt=8

***Michael Pare, William Katt, and Michael Bell  are available for interviews via email, phone and will also be appearing at San Diego Comic-Con, Saturday July 25, 2009 at the Catastrophic Comics booth.

 

“This won’t be Robot Chicken style, where they draw the mouths moving, which, for the record, I love Robot Chicken. However, our Animation Director, Sean Ruge, did an amazing job perfecting the lip-synch. It really adds to the overall story without looking like a big bowl of cheese”, commented William Katt, co-owner and executive producer of Catastrophic Comics.

“Sparks Part 2 will be a standard for this genre for a very long time. This is the future of comics and it will reach a whole new audience which a traditional comic book is incapable of doing”, stated Christopher Folino, writer and co-director of the Sparks series.

For more information contact chris@sideshowproduction.com 

To learn more about the comic book creators, visit us at:

www.catastrophiccomics.com

www.sideshowproduction.com

The day has finally arrived! Sparks 2 uncut and unrated is now available for the iphone/itouch!

This bad boy features twice the animation of Sparks 1 and also includes the first ever Lip synch for a motion comic on the iphone/itouch.

Sean Ruge our animation director did his best work to date.

And the best part of all this news is that we went back to Sparks 1 and did the lip synch and added the same animation as Sparks 2 and that bad boy will up on Itunes in a matter of hours.

And Sparks 3 looks sweet as we are working away on it right now.

So get Sparks 2 here!

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313631847&mt=8

Sparks 2 by the way is very dark, this is where Ian Sparks life falls apart, it’s almost as though he’s an average American living in California and lost his job almost a year ago…hmmm.

Enjoy!

Good news on the Apple front, they’re allowing “mature” Apps so Sparks 2 will be submitted this week.

We will keep folks posted as soon as Sparks 2 is accepted. It’s been a long time coming.

We’ve had some incredible meetings of late for some other titles to do as motion comics and more than likely we will announce them at Comic Con in San Diego.

In addition, I’ll be on a panel also at Comic Con for Motion Comics, being on a panel with Chip Mosher from Boom will be very cool. He’s one of my favorite people in the industry.

Thursday  3:30-4:30 Digital Comics Now! -  Michael Murphy – CEO iVerse, David Steinberger – CEO of comiXology, Rantz Hosely – CEO Longbox, Chris Folino – VP Catastrophic Comics, Chip Mosher – Marketing Director BOOM! Studios  - Digital comics are happening right now. Not tomorrow. But right now. Join a panel of the best and brightest in the new wave of digital comics in a wide ranging discussion of everything from comics on iPhone, new digital comic platforms, motion comics, webcomics, day-and-date-releases et. al. Big announcements will be made!

We will also be announcing some titles we will be releasing as regular comic books and motion comic books in 2009,

It’s going to be an amazing Con with Michael Pare and William Katt both appearing.

And we will be announcing some very cool things with Sparks regarding Beforethemovie.com which will allow people to see the motion comic in movie theaters before some blockbuster films this summer.

The man, the myth, the one person who defined pretty much anybody over the age of 38′s TV watching. From creating hits such as The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, Wise Guy, Rockford Files, 21 Jump Street…go and click here and look at what empire this man created.

http://www.cannell.com/television-tvShows.php

This is my fourth time meeting Mr. Cannell and he’s a large than life figure and really cool guy. I have to say everyone I’ve ever met from the Cannell organization has been extremely supportive and cool.

I always enjoy the big brother relationship Bill has with Stephen and it’s very sincere and cool to see even The Greatest American Hero smile like a kid around his hero.

The one thing I am able to talk about at this time is that Stephen watched a bit of Sparks 2 and really liked the moving mouths and grit of the piece.

You know, as the whole world is going to hell with the swine flu and the economy, the greatest living television producer of all time gave Sparks the motion comic book a nice nod of approvement.

I wish I could say more, other than, the best way to describe being able to be in a room with Mr. Cannell, William Katt and Michael Dubelko it’s a lot like being in the room with the Godfather. 

And you know me, I’m an idiot, I’ll sit there and keep asking questions about movies and stuff he’s working on, and Bill’s got to stop me all the time and “Thank you so much for your time, we don’t want to take anymore of it.”

So in the next few weeks we hope we can share more, but, for now. 

It’s always honor to talk with the man who is the creator of pretty much everything I’ve watched as a kid, it’s good practice for me, so when I die and try to weasel my way into heaven, I’ll have good practice, because, I’ve had meetings with Stephen J. Cannell.

Here are two new pics from the upcoming William Katt’s Mythology Wars.

The motion has begun, Sean who is the animation director behind Sparks 1 and 2 is adding basic motion with a camera pan and then I’ll take it into the edit bay and start to lay down the book for timing. What we found is that this is the best way to create a motion comic book, it saves hour of animation we won’t use. Because at the end of the day, the story is king and timing on a motion comic book has to be more like a movie instead of a comic book.

Here are some real lovely looking shots from Jeff Jumper, and yes, I’m a 40 year old man who uses the word lovely. I could say “Kick ass” but, that was so age 39 of me.

This shot sets up a very interesting plot twist that happens at the start of the book.  It’s Christmas day and an invaluable artifact is about to change hands…but will it change into the right hands?  Dun, dun, dummm.

A bad day for football for 3rd string Quarterback Jeremy Church, he should have just gone to Church…thank you, I’ll be here all day folks!

Here is a link for Sparks 2 scene where the newspaper reporter grills Sparks.

You say you don’t want to travel now because of the “Swine Flu” well, how about this mythological creature, what a horrible thing to have attack you while on a plane. Go ahead, now, feel free to move about the country.

Mr. Katt recently recorded the voice of Hawkman for the new Batman cartoon for Warner Brothers.

Bill sadly had food poisoning when he recorded the session, however, he sucked it up to bring the Hawkman to life!

The episode was directed by animation veteran Andrea Romano and when we get the word on the premier date, we’ll pass it on.