By Sean Manning
Ignition Press, a new publisher founded by industry veterans Philip Sabrik and Jamie S. Rich, has made a ecting presence at San Diego Comic-Con to promote the launch title that will arrive in September.
Rather than a booth, the Ignition painted offsite gallery to staff, offering free coffee to everyone, and promoting free tickets to the burlesque show and the release titles Voiyur, which he purchased products and comics. It would probably be fitting that the first ever SDCC panel was titled “Make the Manga Different.” However, according to Sablik, Rich and the creators of Panel, anything different ignition goes beyond the surface. Sablik and editor-in-chief Rich of Ignition Publisher were writers and creative directors Jeremy Haun and authors Cullen Bunn, Leah Williams, Stephanie Williams, and Tim Seeley.
Rich said from his initial discussion at San Diego Comic-Con last year, he and Sabrik wanted to help the creators tell the story they wanted to tell. He said the first titles will arrive in September and the Ignition will release seven books by November.
In addition to being the company’s creative director, Haun is also one of the launch creators. His book Murder Podcast with animation artist Mike Tisland has been successful crowdfunded and will be released widely in September. Haun described the series as “describes a story about a cursed podcast that randomly pops up when listening to other things, killing everyone in the room.” It’s up to a group of true crime enthusiasts to understand why this is happening in their town.
Voile by Leah Williams and David Valdeon is a book owned by Williams’ first creator, taking the form of a sexy art robbery.
Stephanie Williams and artist Letitzia Cadnico spoke about the roots of the insanity of seeing “young women trying to use the tools of survival given to them by their ancestors,” but feel that “despite the good intentions, the outcome is not that great.”
Bunn and Marika Cresta’s Deluge were inspired by the property near Bunn’s House, where women’s prisons once stood on the flood plain and needed to be evacuated in the 90s. Bunn’s story says, “Because they are evacuated, something comes up with something that attracts you to guilt, pain and fear, and from there it becomes a terrifying tale of survival.”
In addition to launching the Murder Podcast, Haun is revisiting the series The Beauty, written by Jason A. Hurley and illustrated by Emanuela Lupacchino. A television series based on beauty will soon be coming.
“We feel that we completed the book themefully in Question #30, but we always felt that we could talk more about it,” Havn said. And he himself was an artist of Beauty’s original arc, he said. Rich notes that the first three pages of the new series follow the same script as the original, allowing for opportunities for comparison and contrast.
Seeley then plugged in artist Stefano Simeone and his upcoming series No Place. “It’s a dark fantasy story about kids who grew up in fantasy lands, but then they’re back and they’re just weird,” Sealy said. He said the “no” in the logo looks like “Oz” with the lying down.
Although series creators Inaki and Roy Miranda were not present, Rich talked about the brothers’ work on Arcadia. “They sent all this art with amazing iconography,” he said. Mirandas wanted 10 issues to tell their story, Rich said, but can take an 8. “We were ourselves and we said, ‘How about doing it on 12?” ”
The panel then turned into an ignition as a publisher, and Sablik asked if it was “crazy” to start imprinting in 2025, and panelists praised the new company.
“They know they can support their creators when they do what they want to do,” Sealy said.
“I’ve taken the script and I haven’t waited nine years to get paid,” Stephanie Williams said.
Havn spoke about having a “Creator Me and Company Me” as a freelancer and employee, and said, “The company really loves to say, ‘We got this.’ Creator Me is like, “Yeah, that’s crazy.”
Van said before the ignition that he essentially stopped working in comics.
“I also don’t feel like I’m another cog in the car,” Leah Williams said. “You’re not only a storyteller, you’re the first person to be a human. If you’re not sharing experiences, there’s nothing to storytelling.”
Leah and Stephanie Williams joked about being sisters, but because of their shared surnames, some fans mistakenly believe they are the same person. Stephanie Williams tells the story of excited fans who come to her at a convention, carrying a copy of a copy of the X-Terminator (written by Leah), and smashes the comic before asking for her autograph. While he spoke non-stop, she remembers thinking, “Man, this is going to be a bad thing when he’s finished.” Finally she told him, “It was by my sister Leah Williams, and I’m not here, my long lost twins.”
Leah Williams said they both leaned a little. “We are sisters. They look exactly the same.”
The panel then welcomed the surprising guest Peter Murieta to the stage and bullyed his project on the ignition. Murieta, a screenwriter and creator of Wizard of Waverly Place and Iglesias, had previously been announced as an early ignition creator, but details of his project were not revealed.
“I have subsacks and Jamie is a subsack subscriber of my subsack,” Murieta said. On his site he mentioned a project where Murieta’s manager reportedly said the studio wouldn’t make it. “Jamie reached out and said, ‘Whatever it is, I want to see it.’ “He did not provide the title, but Murieta stated that the story was one of Chicano’s futurists, where the Aztec Empire still existed, and that he would continue to read class letters from “the one sent to America because he was sent there and that didn’t work.”
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Murieta said. “I’ve read a lot about this (topic). I feel like I’ve been researching for the rest of my life.”
Leah Williams said, “Chicano futurists are dope like hell.”
Afterwards, some of the writers talked about their process. Leah Williams said he was taught to “write in circles” to avoid disrupting continuity.
“I’m trying to come up with ideas in the day,” Van said. “So I have an index card box full of terrible ideas,” sometimes said Van, he goes through the box and picks a card, then “sit somewhere, just spin.”
“Sometimes, stupid things bring great things,” he said.
Sablik joked that this was also the way he performs the ignition press, but said there are some truth to it. “The best thing you can do as a leader is to make yourself look stupid,” he said.
Through a series of slides, the panel revealed many creators who were signed up to work at the ignition. Some were widely discussed by Rich and Sabrik, but no projects were announced. The lineup includes Dennis Hopeless, Brahm Revel, Phil Hester, Aneke, Shawn Martinlingrough, Will Rosado, and B. Includes ClayMoore, Mack Chater, Aaron Campbell, Rob Guilllory, Sam Lotfi, Tini Howard, Joanne Starer, Khary Randolph, Ande Parks, and Dave Wach.
Rich said the Hopeless and Revel book was a “strangely realised white whale” they originally pitched at him with dizziness. The book was not greenlight in DC’s imprint, but Rich discovered that he had transferred the pitch to a personal Gmail while searching for Hopeless’s email address. He reached out in despair and said, “This book I pitched to me ten years ago is still great, let’s do it.”
Aneke teamed up with Bunn for the unannounced series, and the collaboration appears to be on track. “Aneke is amazing. The book we’re working on together is a tough book, and she brought it back to life in an incredible way,” he said. Van also said they were doing well and share many similar interests. “We hadn’t seen this book before.
Stay tuned for more news from Ignition Press.
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SDCC Coverage sponsored by Mad Cave
