Considering the number of high-profile comic book adaptations producer Lloyd Levin has been involved with (The Rocketeer, Hellboy and Watchmen to named a few), it seems like a natural step for him to actually start working with a comics company to begin putting out original projects. Which, as you might have guessed, is exactly what he’s done, partnering with Stranger Comics to launch a new company, Foundry Comics.
Birthed from Levin’s collaboration with Stranger honcho Sebastian A Jones over turning the company’s book The Untamed into a film, the plan is for Foundry to publish a handful of titles a year across a variety of genres including gothic historic adventure, mad comedy and sci-fi.
One of the first titles off the production line, based on the script for David Johnson’s Offworld, is already in development with Julian Gilbey signed on to direct. It’ll tell the tale of an intergalactic safari, and sounds like it’ll be filled with Edgar Rice Burroughs-style action.
Also on their way are Steven Katz’s adventure Quincey Morris, following the cowboy who slays Dracula in Bram Stoker’s novel, Andrew Cosby’s man-versus-machine tale Escape Velocity and Ruining Christmas, created by Jones and Darrell May, which sees two hard-living elves forced to put right the damage they’ve caused to Santa’s operation.
As well as providing fresh fodder for movies, Foundry has also linked up with digital media company Graphicly, which will provide the various titles in a variety of formats including all the phones and tablets you can think of.
“Given the fantastic experience I had developing that project with the people at Stranger, I realized that if ever I wanted to make my own graphic novels, these were the folks to do it with,” says Levin. “Sebastian and his team are a rare combination of extremely creative storytellers and smart publishing professionals, and they are fanatical about producing quality comics.”