Starburns Industries, the production studio that brought you Rick and Morty, Anomalisa, and Harmonquest, is expanding beyond film and television development with Starburns Industries Press (SBI Press), a publisher of books, comics and specialty cassette tapes.

SBI Press’ talent includes Dan Harmon (Community, Rick and Morty), Dino Stamatopoulos (Moral Orel, Community, Mr. Show), and the vast network of comedians, writers, and podcasters affiliated with Starburns Audio.

The new imprint has signed a distribution agreement with Diamond Comic Distributors the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books, graphic novels, and pop culture products, and its book trade division, Diamond Book Distributors.

The new division is founded and headed by Starburns production executive Simon Oré, who will serve as President of SBI Press. Joining Oré to build the division are new hires Brendan Wright, formerly of Dark Horse Comics and New Arab Media, who comes on board as SBI Press VP and Executive Editor, and Trevor Richardson, formerly of Diamond Comics Distributors, who fills the role of SBI Press VP of Acquisitions. The staff is rounded out by Editorial & Production Assistants Ross Clark and Paige Dowling, and PR and Marketing Manager Cassandra Church, with Starburns Producer Casey Rup (VICELAND’s Party Legends, Ricking Morty) serving as producer and consulting editor.

SBI Press becomes the first publisher to debut through the comics industry’s annual Free Comic Book Day event with the showcase Starburns Presents on the first Saturday of May. The anthology title will preview the SBI Press’s 2018 slate, headlined by a short story from comedian and writer Patton Oswalt, artist Troy Nixey, and colorist Michelle Madsen.

Coinciding with Free Comic Book Day, the May edition of Diamond’s Previews catalog will include the company’s first launches: Dan Harmon’s biting take on supervillainy, Gregory Graves, cowritten with Eric M. Esquivel, and illustrated by Brent Schoonover, Ted Naifeh, and Rebecca Nalty; Dino Stamatopolous and Leah Triscione’s graphic novel Trent, “a lighthearted tragedy with music”; and the company’s first series, Hellicious, a family comedy set in Hell, written by Alan C. Medina and Mina Elwell and illustrated by Kit Wallis and Jio Butler.

From there, the first wave of titles in 2018 continues with Comics Comics, teaming fan-favorite stand-up comedians with leading comic industry talent in an anthology series, Oddwell: The Frog of War, a fantasy-adventure comic series from writers David A. Clarke and Walter A. Bryant III and artist Acacia T. Rodarte; and The Crawling King, an illustrated dark fantasy novel by award-winning filmmaker and animator Einar Baldvin.