Social Networking

MySpace makes a move; sets up ‘coalition’ with Virgin Comics

Virgin Comics and MySpace have teamed up to launch Coalition Comix, a new online comic book platform, allowing thousands of participants to work with leading comic book creators in the development and creation of new characters and stories. Coalition Comix will open up the role of comic book writer to the world at large, allowing participants to providing artistic direction for the comic by voting on the plot twists and turns at each step of the way.

Coalition Comix will commission some of the comic book industry’s leading creators to collaborate with users as virtual “Story Masters.” Leading creators will guide participants to collectively craft new story properties for comics and subsequent development into film, games and animations.

“Coalition Comix will allow readers to collaborate artistically with both a leading comics professional as well as thousands of like-minded MySpace users all over the world,” said Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Virgin Comics. “It opens the door to a new world of interactions and collaborations, taking an exciting step into the creative possibilities of the internet, and a new form of collaborative art without borders, barriers, or limits.”

“MySpace is about self-expression and the interactive format of Coalition Comix will allow the MySpace community to make themselves part of the story,” said Shawn Gold, senior vice president of marketing for MySpace.

Each digital issue will have a real time creation period of two weeks, with sketches, artwork and scripts continuously uploaded for interactivity with the community. The first comic planned will be guided by leading comic book author Mike Carey (Voodoo Child, X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four).

Carey will dialogue with readers and guide the development of the plot at each step along the way by reviewing feedback from readers, and posing questions with five or six choices for the Coalition Comix community to choose from. During this time the Story Master will evaluate progress at timed intervals to give feedback to the community. Their ideas and votes will determine the final plot, generating a final work of sequential art that was created and influenced by hundreds or even thousands of contributors.

Gotham Chopra, Virgin Comic’s Chief Creative Officer, added, “Creativity and innovation our the core ingredients to everything we try and do at Virgin Comics. So when we decided we wanted to experiment online and do something different, there was only one partner that made sense to work with - MySpace. What are we gonna create together? No one knows, but it will be cool. That’s the point." Users can join up to participate in Coalition Comix on MySpace.

Tags: Coalition Comix, comics, MySpace, online comics, social networking

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