Free Comic Book Day.
The first weekend in May where comic book stores give out free comics to whoever wants them. I was first in line at my store and picked up a few books however, one stood out and it was called Dark Age. It was an amazing read and I had to reach out to the company who made this book. So I caught up with Red 5 comics and they had this to say.
TR: Please introduce yourself.
SC: My name is Scott Chitwood and I’m co-publisher of Red 5 Comics.
TR: Tell us a bit of the history of Red 5 Comics.
SC: Red 5 Comics was started back in 2007 by myself and Paul Ens. Later, we were joined by Joshua Starnes who is currently with the company. Over that time we have been nominated for 3 Eisner awards, we were named Diamond’s New Publisher of the Year, and we were the first publisher to join Comixology.
TR: What are some of the comics that you are well known for?
SC: Since I started Red 5 Comics, I wanted to write some of them. After all, if I was going to create a sandbox, I wanted to play in it. My first comic I co-wrote with Paul Ens was Afterburn which is kind of like Indiana Jones crossed with Mad Max. The sequel to Afterburn is in stores now. I then wrote Drone and its sequel. This was followed by Dead or Alive which was my zombie Western. Next was Haunted, a post-apocalyptic ghost story, and its sequel. I recently wrote Riptide which is a disaster adventure. The sequel to Riptide is currently in production.
TR: Afterburn is going to be translated into a movie. Is there anything you can share about this with us?
SC: It has been in development for film for almost 10 years, but it looks like it’s very close to actually happening. Gerard Butler is set to star in it and we’ve been told it will begin shooting in Europe in the fall. It will be directed by Byung-gil Jung, a Korean director who did an insane action film called The Villainess. If you haven’t seen it, check it out.
TR: You are also getting into animation. Tell us about this new Netflix show.
SC: We’re not exactly getting into animation. We actually did a comic spinoff for the animated show Kulipari: An Army of Frogs which is on Netflix. The second season of Kulipari is also now available. The second season was co-written by Joshua Starnes who wrote the spinoff comic, so in that respect I guess we are getting into animation!
TR: One of the books I make sure to get on FCBD was The Dark Age. Tell us more about your latest title.
SC: The Dark Age will be hitting stores in July. In this story, a group of monoliths descend on the earth and release a gray haze that destroys all metal and technology. Flash forward years later and humanity has fallen back into a feudal state with separate towns turning into kingdoms with their own rulers and knights. As the story unfolds, our characters begin to learn more about the monoliths and their origins while trying to survive in this new world. It’s a great post-apocalyptic drama from Don Handfield, co-creator of Knightfall on the History Channel. Don also wrote The Rift which will be an episode of the new Amazing Stories by Steven Spielberg on Apple’s streaming service. The Dark Age is selling really well for us and we expect it will be the best selling comic in Red 5’s history. We will also have a number of exclusive variant covers available at various stores.
TR: When will The Dark Age be released?
SC: The Dark Age will be in stores July 24th.
TR: San Diego Comic Con is one of the biggest comic shows on the planet. Will you be there this year?
SC: Yes, we have been exhibiting there since 2008. We will be at booth 1717 over near the DC booth.
TR: If you are going to SDCC what surprises can you let us in on?
SC: We will have an SDCC exclusive variant of The Dark Age #1 available for purchase. Don Handfield will also be available for some signings. And Josh and I will be there most of the show and will be happy to sign copies of our books. We will also be giving away free copies of our FCBD 2019 issue while supplies last.
TR: If the fans are interested in your books where can they find them?
SC: Every comic retailer can order our books through Diamond. Since we are a small indie publisher, you may need to ask your comic shop to order issues for you. We are also available on Comixology. Finally, you can buy books from us directly in our online store at www.red5comics.com.
TR: What is a project you would love to work on and bring to Red5 Comics?
SC: What’s funny is there are a lot of books we’d love to work on, but then we simply took those ideas and spun them into original titles for us. For example, we loved Indiana Jones but knew we’d never be able to write it. So we created Afterburn. We love Ghostbusters but knew we’d never be able to write it. So we created Haunted. So creating our own versions of our favorite titles has been more fun that writing for existing properties.
TR: Do you have anything else to add?
SC: We take creator owned submissions, so if anyone has a comic they’ve created, send it our way and maybe it will be something we publish. Some of our top titles have been creator owned books brought to us.
And that’s it! For more information on comics and what’s coming up next head over to http://www.red5comics.com/ for some amazing comics.
