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Arancia Studio and Dynamite Entertainment Announce
Superhero Legal Thriller OVERRULED:
With Great Power Comes Great Legal Responsibility
Thrilling New Limited Series Debuts in 2024,
Featuring Covers by Acclaimed Artist Mirka Andolfo
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November 9, Mt. Laurel, NJ: What happens after a terrible battle in which superheroes defeat the villain of the day? What if someone is injured? And who pays reparations? An award-winning international creative team, with several years of experience in the comic book industry, team up to answer all these questions with an exciting story in which the superhero world meets the legal one.
A six-issue limited series from best-selling comic book publisher Dynamite Entertainment, Overruled is Suits meets The Boys with a pinch of Marvel’s Civil War. Written by Adriano Barone (Nathan Never, Justice League), Luca Blengino (Bettie Page), and David Goy (Deep Beyond) with art by Alberto Locatelli (Vampirella: Dead Flowers), this new superhero legal thriller is produced together with Arancia Studio, the Italian creative atelier behind a multitude of successful international projects. Mirka Andolfo, the acclaimed writer/artist of numerous Arancia Studio titles including the 2022 Harvey Award-winning Sweet Paprika, provides the main covers for every issue of Overruled.
Set to launch in 2024, Overruled will also receive an advance preview as part of a crowdfunding campaign set to go live in early 2024 with the goal of premiering a special edition of the first issue for early supporters.
 “The world of superheroes has long been the subject of a profound process of deconstruction that has led to an in-depth analysis of the ethical and moral consequences of a reality in which some human beings possess the power of weapons of mass destruction,” said writers Adriano Barone, Luca Blengino, and David Goy. “We had fun for years imagining what the legal consequences might be! Today it’s extraordinary to have the opportunity to tell this story and set the foundations for a new way of looking at superheroes!"
Overruled delves into the ethics of superheroes in a world where public opinion is heavily polarized over the so-called “superpower problem.” Each nation holds its own stance, with some rogue states, while others adopt interventionist or libertarian approaches. In a world where superheroes have attained celebrity status, every legal case, whether criminal or civil, differs from the real world. Overruled is here to explore that dynamic in the most gripping way possible. After all... with great power comes great legal responsibility!
Before the events of Overruled, an incident simply referred to as “the Event” caused superpowers to emerge, manifesting in roughly one out of every million individuals. In the United States, the Madsen Act has been in effect for six years, mandating superpowered people to enroll in a special registry, making it illegal to conceal their abilities. Meanwhile, the rest of the legal system is struggling to adapt, and every case related to Post-Humans is unprecedented. All superpowers are individually unique, making each case a unicorn, with no actual history to reference. Based in Manhattan, Peters, Salazar & Abernathy is the East Coast’s most celebrated firm specializing in cases involving people with post-human powers.
“I’m very excited to be part of this project: ever since I was pitched the story and saw the first designs by Alberto, I couldn’t wait to get started,” added superstar creator Mirka Andolfo. “I also love the idea of involving the readers with a crowdfunding campaign for a very special edition of the first issue: this way, they will get a sneak peek into the amazing world of Overruled, and lots of extra content! And more cover artists who will accompany us on this adventure have not yet been announced, stay tuned!”
“At Dynamite we’ve been fortunate to be working with Mirka and the Arancia team for several years now,” said Nick Barrucci, Dynamite CEO and Publisher. “Our collaborations go back quite a ways, with her as the main artist for our heralded return of the Chaos! characters, then her critically acclaimed tenure on Red Sonja, a recently finished fun take on Bettie Page, and countless covers, especially on our hit licensed Disney titles. We’re incredibly excited to bring Overruled to the fans!”
OVERRULED #1 will be solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors’ Previews catalog, the premier source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, and slated for release in 2024. Comic book fans are encouraged to pre-order copies of the issue with their local comic book retailers. Overruled will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of comiXology, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Dynamite Digital, ComicsPlus, and more!
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About Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Red Sonja, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high-profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Gail Simone, Christopher Priest, Leah Moore, Kevin Smith, David Walker, Vita Ayala, Danny Lore, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Mark Russell, Brandon Thomas, Amy Chu, Reginald Hudlin, Nancy Collins, David Walker, Steve Orlando, Greg Pak, Jenny Frison, Matt Wagner, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles - including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger's Project Superpowers - have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
About Arancia Studio:
Founded in 2010, Arancia Studio is a media company, creative studio and agency focused on creating and developing IPs and content for publishing, strongly oriented to crossmedia and transmedia. In the past ten years, the company has worked in the largest international markets, with publishing top players like The Walt Disney Company, DC Comics, Hachette, Image Comics, Ablaze Publishing, Dynamite Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, AfterShock Comics, Legendary Comics, Dark Horse, Éditions Glénat, Éditions Soleil, Star Comics, Les Humanoïdes Associés, Panini Comics, and companies like Ubisoft and Ferrero Group. The original IPs generated in collaboration with The Orangery—published in more than 28 countries worldwide—include Harvey Awards 2022 winner Sweet Paprika, Eisner Awards nominee Traveling to Mars, Purr Evil, Commanders in Crisis, Loaded Bible: Blood of My Blood, Mercy, Deep Beyond, Unnatural, and Hexware. Arancia works with more than 150 talents all over the world.
In late 2022, Arancia Studio announced a partnership with top signature agent Comic Sketch Art, the company representing Frank Miller, Jonathan Hickman, Mike del Mundo and Mike Huddleston’s 3 Worlds 3 Moons, Donny Cates, Gerry Duggan, Greg Capullo, Frank Cho, Arancia’s own Mirka Andolfo, and many others for convention signatures, sketches and more! The two companies just opened the Comic Sketch Art European branch, called Comic Sketch Art Europe, a new business unit in Arancia Studio.
About the creative team:
Adriano Barone is a graphic novel and cartoon scriptwriter and a novelist. For Sergio Bonelli Editore/DC Comics, he wrote Nathan Never/Justice League and co-wrote the recent Mr. Evidence (2023, Sergio Bonelli Editore). He won several international awards in Italy (including the Boscarato Award as Best Italian scriptwriter), in Japan (Judge Award at the Silent Manga Audition 7 and the Excellence Award at the Silent Manga Audition 8, under the pseudonym of Hagane Ishii, together with Massimo Dall’Oglio), and in the USA (at the Web Series Festival 2020, in the Comedy Pilot category, with Baby Death, created with Federico Cadenazzi). He teaches scriptwriting at various schools.
Luca Blengino is an Italian writer, editor, and scriptwriter. After studying at the Holden School in Turin, he began collaborating with major French publishers, including Groupe Delcourt, Éditions Glénat, Dargaud, and Quadrants. He writes comics and graphic novels for international publishers, including The Walt Disney Company, Dynamite, and Image Comics. With Mirka Andolfo, he wrote Red Sonja, Red Sitha and the recent Bettie Page.
In parallel with his work as a comic book writer (and, occasionally, as a translator), he is a prolific writer of novels for young readers; his books are published in more than 28 countries around the world. He has lent his pen to the acclaimed Agatha Mystery and Geronimo Stilton series, among others. Since 2009, he has been teaching scriptwriting at various schools and academies. Recently, he started collaborating with several companies in the video game market as a scriptwriter and game designer.
David Goy is an editor, essayist, and scriptwriter. In 2012, he co-created the legal thriller series Law, published in Italy by Star Comics, for which he also wrote the adaptation of the Sandokan novels. Since then, he has collaborated with numerous American and French publishers such as Image Comics (Deep Beyond), The Walt Disney Company and Éditions Glénat, for which he wrote, together with Luca Blengino, Alexandre the Great in 2018 and Mussolini in 2022, before working on a western collection, with the Little Big Horn story, in 2023. In the same year he came back to the legal thriller, this time with a historical setting, with the volume L’Orateur, co-written with Luca Blengino, that will be published in early 2024 by Glénat.
As an editor, he served on many series and books, including the Harvey Award-winning Sweet Paprika by Mirka Andolfo and the Eisner Award-nominee Traveling to Mars by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli.
Alberto Locatelli is an Italian comic book artist. He developed his own style with several productions for the Italian market. In 2022 he landed on the French market with the graphic novel Orson Welles, l'Inventeur de Rêves, published by Éditions Glénat. For the American market, he debuted with Where Starships Go to Die (Aftershock Comics) and collaborates on the Magic: The Gathering series (BOOM! Studios). He is currently at work on several projects for Dynamite, including an upcoming Vampirella limited series Dead Flowers, the new Red Sonja limited series written by Luke Lieberman, and Overruled.
Contact
42West on behalf of Arancia Studio
arancia@bhimpact.com
Dynamite Entertainment
Vincent Faust
Vincent.Faust@dynamite.com |
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