Tag Archives: sebastian a. jones

Thuso Mbedu and Sebastian A. Jones team for Niobe: She Tribe

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Thuso Mbedu will author a one-shot comic titled Niobe: She Tribe along with Stranger Comics’ president Sebastian A. Jones. It will be part of Stranger’s “Tales of Asunda” series and will feature Niobe, the franchise’s star character, who was first introduced in The Untamed: A Sinner’s Prayer. Mbedu and Jones will work together in writing the Comic, set for release in spring of 2023.

Stranger Comics is known within the comic industry for its diverse heroes and championing BIPOC women including its franchise star Niobe, as creators of worlds. “Tales of Asunda” is an ongoing series in the expanding, interconnected world of Asunda, which is rich in culture and tradition with years of development. It celebrates many of its lead characters and backdrops in afro-fantasy inspired settings, but with emotional themes that resonate globally on a deeply human level.

Niobe: She Tribe will tackle the pros and cons of “tradition,” asking both character and reader if all traditions are good, to be followed as law, binding in mind, body, and spirit. If they are disputed, what are the motives? If they are flawed, how can they be resolved? And if traditions are changed, how can people accept and evolve?

When Niobe learns of a tradition that a tribal chief is decided in a fight to the death she must choose between challenging and changing an ancient custom or remaining hidden from the world and her destiny. 

Niobe: She-Tribe Cover by Tehani Farr

Prentice Penny and Sebastian A. Jones Partner for a Joint Venture Comic Book Company

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Prentice Penny has partnered with Stranger Comics’ Founder Sebastian A. Jones to launch a joint venture comic book entertainment company. Focused on identifying and supporting new talent within the independent comic book world, the new company will function as an incubator and development lab for BIPOC creators and their IP.

Combining Penny and Jones’ creative expertise, the company will be able to amplify its storytellers by offering inroads into publication, adaptation of the IP into other mediums of entertainment (i.e. television, film, animation, podcast, etc.). The pair has already begun identifying such creators and is currently developing two separate properties under the joint venture – Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer created by David Crownson and Jaycen Wise from creator Uraeus.

Penny and Jones were inspired to launch the joint venture in the hopes of creating greater access for comic storytellers of color and to help raise up such voices within the medium in general. Along with cultivating new talent of color in the independent comic space, the company also plans to launch online mentorship programs as a way to inspire aspiring creatives.

The joint venture comes on the heels of Penny and Jones teaming to co-author the comic NIOBE & DURA: Wrath of the Ancient #1, which the pair successfully launched on Kickstarter in August. Based in the Jones-created and Stranger Comics published world of Asunda, the title raised over $127,000 on Kickstarter and marked one of the most successful launches for a Black independent comic on the platform to date. Described as a comic fable with themes that honor Black women as world creators, Niobe & Dura explores the fierce relationships between elders and the young as they pass along their history and culture to the next generation – who will carry on the tradition of being heroes. Jones and Penny first met while working to adapt Jones’ world of Asunda into a series for HBO.

Stranger Comics’ The Untamed Lands Sean Bean

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The StrangerBased on the graphic novel, Stranger Comics has posted a pitch animatic done by Film Roman for The Untamed Animated TV series. The piece is not final animation, but a rough sketch which gives an idea of the cinematic mood that the series will have and it features voiceover by actor Sean Bean. The story, a dark vengeance saga set within a brutal fantasy world is about a dead man who makes a deal with the devil to harvest the seven souls of his betrayers, and is based on the seven issue comic book series by Stranger Comics president Sebastian A. Jones and illustrated by Peter Bergting.

The show will be directed by Alex Soto and produced by Film Roman’s general manger Dana Booton alongside Lloyd Levin and Andrew Cosby with Andrew Sugerman and creator Jones. Tomm Coker provided the concept art for the show, which can be seen in the animatic, keeping the gritty “Frazetta Western” mood and tone of the comic series.

Bean always seems to die in brilliant fashion, in this series he actually gets a chance to come back and settle the score.

For those unfamiliar with the story:

Would you damn yourself to save the ones you love? Hidden within the Desert of the Dying Tree lies a town run by ruthless killers, a growing cancer upon the vast and volatile fantasy world of Asunda. Some say it’s a watering hole for the devil. For one man, it’s a second chance at revenge… and a last chance at redemption.

A man with no name has returned to the brutal Town of Oasis. A mysterious Stranger whose violent past haunts his every footstep. It’s been ten years since his wife and child were on the verge of turning him from wickedness, but they were murdered and so was he. Now, the Stranger has been released from Hell to reap the seven souls responsible. But having little recollection of his former life, the Stranger is lost in a sea of faded memories, glimpses of the life that was taken from him coming back in broken shards as he leaves a bloody trail.

Conflict arises when lust for his lover steers him from his path of vengeance, and hate is tempered by the young orphan Niobe, who reminds him of his daughter. She acts as his conscience and ultimately his only hope for salvation.

Check out the animation below!