Video View: Undead Evil

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 5/9/2007 3:28:00 AM

Book: Undead Evil

Author: Frank Forte

Publisher: Asylum Press

Production Company: Done by author/publisher

Cost: Free

What’s cool about the video: This pastiche of cells from Forte’s zombie-filled standalone graphic novel was done for no money—handy with Flash, Forte said he spent about 8 hours on the final product, which he used his Mac to fill with public domain sound effects. The clip is particularly useful because Forte can use it to promote his title with both readers and retailers. Asylum, which is a small California operation distributed by Diamond, works primarily with direct retailers (i.e. comic book shop owners) who believe seeing is often everything when it comes to choosing what titles to carry. "There are thousands of comic books that come out every month, so retailers really want to see the interiors of the titles they’re thinking of stocking," Forte said. Now his plan is to update the film in a few months, with different art, as if the trailer is an evolving work previewing a major blockbuster movie.

Inspiration: According to Forte, comic book publishers have been using flash animation to promote their books for about five years now, but he had his light-bulb moment while watching a documentary called Comic Book Confidential. The 1998 film, which traces the history of the medium, showed a sped-up string of shots from art in Frank Miller’s iconic Batman graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns. The effect, of turning the static cells into a seemingly moving animated set, "brought the comic book to life."

Traffic: The standalone site where Undead Evil is playing has drawn over 2,000 hits since Forte posted the clip in mid February.

Where it's playing:

undeadevil.com
YouTube