Official Press Release

First-ever comic series for fan-favorite tabloid characters

In stores Wednesday, January 13th

San Diego, CA (January 12, 2010) – Bat Boy and the other bizarre denizens of the Weekly World News universe storm comic stores starting tomorrow! Celebrating the tabloid’s 30th anniversary in 2010, the colorful characters of Weekly World News are making their comic debut with IDW’s four-issue miniseries. Written by IDW’s Publisher/Editor-in-Chief and WWN fanatic Chris Ryall, with art by Alan Robinson, Weekly World News revives the tabloid’s best and sees them band together to take on, among other things, the world-destroying threat of Chaos Cloud. Each issue will also feature original articles from the original Weekly World News, and a variant cover that pays insane “tribute” to a classic image.

“I feel like I’ve been obsessing over Bat Boy for at least a decade, so it’s great to be able to tell people that ‘obsession’ was actually all just ‘research’ for this comic,” said Chris Ryall. “I’m happy to finally get the comic about that beloved bat-eared freak and his even more colorful friends into peoples’ hands. Hopefully they enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.”

Weekly World News #1 kicks off this daring series with a Joe Corroney cover, featuring a version of Bat Boy inspired by Alex Ross’s painted Barack Obama pose. As an added bonus, issue #1 will feature some of the classic Bat Boy newspaper strips by the great Peter Bagge.

Beginning with issue #1, “The Irredemption of Ed Anger,” the series unites the beloved Bat Boy with Ph.D. Ape (simian psychologist to the stars), UFO Alien (presidential-predicting pundit from the stars), Manigator (half-man/half-gator good ol’ boy), Lemmie (the Lake Erie Monster) as they battle Chaos Cloud (unpredictable weather front with the face of François Mitterand). Caught in the middle of all of this is the far-right-wing columnist Ed Anger (“pave the Rain Forest!”), who thinks inhuman freaks have as much place in America as liberals, female voters and foreign beer. Along the way, the series pays tribute to other comics and numerous other pop-culture visuals and references (so many that Ryall will be offering annotations in the back of each issue, too).

“Now in addition to enjoying our product online, in tabloid form, and as a musical, our legion of fans will have an opportunity to see WWN’s 100 character library come alive in comic book form. Never before has this group of Weekly World News freaks, I mean characters, banded together for a common cause. The results make for an unforgettable story.” said Neil McGinness, CEO Weekly World News. “IDW’s first installment brings the most popular characters in the Weekly World News’ stable, and its masthead icon, to life in comic form for the first time.”

The Weekly World News, which carried the tagline “The World’s Only Reliable News” and spent years living up to that description, launched in 1979 as a supermarket tabloid focused on sensational stories. The brand’s website www.weeklyworldnews.com is a leading entertainment news website.

Weekly World News #1 (of 4), a 32-page, $3.99 comic book, debuts on January 13, 2010. Diamond order code NOV09 0841.

About IDW
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; Fox’s Angel; the BBC’s Doctor Who; and television’s #1 prime time series CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for ComicMix.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

About Weekly World News
Rooted in the creative success of over 30 years of supermarket tabloid publishing, the Weekly World News brand and characters have inspired hit feature films, television shows and musicals since 1979. With a proven library of content and characters, Weekly World News leverages its franchises in publishing, entertainment and consumer product licensing. The company’s online hub www.weeklyworldnews.com is a leading entertainment website.