Devil’s Due lands Humanoids and Triggerstreet

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on July 29, 2008 Sign up now!

By Heidi MacDonald and Laurel Maury -- Publishers Weekly, 7/29/2008 12:55:00 AM

French publishing giant Humanoids is making a reappearance on US shelves thanks to a new deal with Devil’s Due. The announcement was made at a panel on Saturday at the San Diego Comic-Con.

The deal will focus on bringing over work by American cartoonists originally published in Europe, starting with the I Am Legion by Fabien Nury, John Cassaday and Laura Martin, and The Zombies That Ate The World by Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis.

Other titles on tap include Redhand by Kurt Busiek and Mario Alberti, Sebastian X, by Michelangelo La Neve and Stuart Immonen and Olympus by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger and Butch Guice

"The quality of the Humanoids library and brand is unmatched, and the partnership between Humanoids and DDP allows us to do something different with the Humanoids brand than has been done before," said Stephen Christy, manager of development for DDP in a release. "DDP couldn't be happier to finally give American comic fans the chance to see unpublished work by industry legends like Kurt Busiek, John Cassaday and Butch Guice among others, as well as continuing to bring some of the best European creators to American shores."

The Humanoids line was last represented in the US by a deal with DC Comics, a pact which ended in 2005. The new venture differs in two key areas, according to Christy. The first is that, in the beginning, the focus will be on books by talent with US name recognition. The second is that the books will be released in serial form before being collected for the bookstore market.

The imprint launches in November with I Am Legion #1 and continues in December with the first in an 8-issue run on The Zombies Who Ate the World. Such classic titles as The Metabarons and The Technopriests, both by legendary surrealist Alejandro Jorodowsky, may return as well.

DDP also announced a partnership with actor Kevin Spacey’s Triggerstreet.com production company. Spacey and producer Dana Brunetti made the announcement along with DDP’s Christy.

Spacey and Brunetti founded TriggerStreet in 2002 as a place where filmmakers, playwrights and now comics artists and writers may submit their works. The idea is to discover new properties to option for movies, "because comics are taking over Hollywood," says Spacey. Although the panel stressed Triggerstreet.com as an outlet for comics, it also accepts submissions of short films, screenplays, books, short stories and plays.

People who submit will critique each other and be critiqued by industry professionals. To be allowed to submit, a person must write critiques. Spacey described it as a place where "people can work to build each other up."

TriggerStreet.com exists, says Brunetti, because "We'll never get a property like Batman, but we might score a property like Hellboy.” The site and DDP will team to present a TriggerStreet.com/DDP Comic Book Discovery Award, which will be decided on by a panel of both experts from both the film and comics industries.