'Dark Country' – ComiXology Graphic Novel (review) - POPDECAY
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June 22, 2012 by Desiree Washington *
Filed under Entertainment, Film & TV, News, Print, Reviews, Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Horror
Actor/filmmaker Thomas Jane (Hung, The Punisher, Face/Off) *first initiated fans into the sinister world of*Dark Country*in 2009, when his dark and gritty feature film and*directorial debut of the same title was released.**Dark Country is*a psychological crime thriller that tells the story of newly weds Dick (Jane) and Gina (Lauren German). *The two *decide to take a nighttime drive across the Nevada desert for their honeymoon, a move that ends in death.
Jane’s impetus for making*Dark Country*came after he read the short story by the film’s writer Tab Murphy.**Jane has a deep admiration for the horror films of old and*film noir, as well as *The Twilight Zone,*The Outer Limits*and old issues of*EC Comics*comic books.*”I wanted to make a movie that was for people who enjoy movies that are off the beaten track, you know?” Jane said in an official statement. *”I wanted to make a movie for fans of cult films, for fans of*“The Twilight Zone”, for guys who stayed up late to watch*“The Outer Limits”*when they were probably too young to do that.”
But even before filming Dark Country began, Jane and his storyboard artist approached the film like they were doing a live-action graphic novel, *story boarding every shot. *Wanting to saturate Dark Country with graphic novel elements, Jane brought on-board comic artist*Tim Bradstreet*to work as the visual consultant and production designer in addition to*Berni Wrightson*and*Ray Zone*as the 3D supervisor. *The result is a stylized film noir feast that has made Dark Country a cult classic.*The graphic novel, released in May on ComiXology, is equally compelling.
Loosely following the key elements of Murphy’s story, the graphic novel is a thrilling read. *It vividly captures the essence of Murphy’s dark story through expertly drawn artwork and a minimalist approach to storytelling. *Jane conceived the graphic novel adaption as a stand-alone endeavor with unique artistic interpretations.*“Dark Country*has long been a passion project of mine,” Jane said in an official statement. * “In 2009, I was able to make the film a reality. *And today, with Thomas Ott’s amazing work, we’re now able to release the*Dark Country*graphic novel exclusively with comiXology.” “Everyone at Raw Studios is excited about this exclusive agreement with comiXology who have far and above the best shopping and reading experience of any digital comics vendor.”
The*Dark Country*graphic novel features over 70 pages of world-renowned artist Thomas Ott’s one of a kind scratch-board illustrations.* It also boasts about 50 pages of behind the scenes material about the*Dark Country*feature film that also includes the original Tab Murphy short story.
“Thomas and I both knew when we first read*Dark Country*that it would make a great movie and a great graphic novel and because we are just that crazy, we wanted both to be completely different experiences,” said veteran comic artist Tim Bradstreet who co-founded Raw Studios with Jane. “…I’m stoked to see*Dark Country*be available world-wide digitally through comiXology.”
“We’ve been fans of what Tom and Tim have been doing at Raw for years, and I find the decision to make the graphic novel of*Dark Country*its own artistic creation a fantastic, bold choice,” says comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger. “We’re incredibly humbled they would choose comiXology not only for an exclusive agreement, but the place to premiere*Dark Country.”
Jane founded Raw Studios in partnership with Eisner Award-nominated illustrator/production designer, Tim Bradstreet.* Raw Studios is a leading producer of high end, “elevated genre” graphic novels using the best artists working today.* Several of Raw’s properties are currently being packaged for movie and television deals. Raw’s production arm, Raw Entertainment, has multiple projects in active development, among them: ALIEN PIG FARM, a comedy in the vein of Zombieland which Raw is developing with director David Gordon Green; and a western, MAGNIFICENT DEATH FROM A SHATTERED HAND. This fall, Jane will once again don a*director’s*hat*to direct and star alongside Nick Nolte in A MAGNIFICENT DEATH.
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