Featuring, The Urbz Comics
EA signs on several talented artists from the underground and independent comic scene. Find out who made the draft.
by | October 29, 2004
The Urbz are crossing over into the comic book realm, according to a media alert from Electronic Arts, announced today.
EA has hired 10 of the most talented names in the independent and underground comic scenes to produce strips based on a day-in-the-life of Jayde in the big city. Every Thursday, a new comic will be released on the official Urbz website or directly at the Urbz comic section. A new strip will be added every Thursday morning through December 16th. See below to find out who's been recruited, compelte with a small profile sheet of their past and recent work
The Urbz makes its retail debut next month on November 9.
Jay Stephens
Canadian cartoonist Jay Stephens is best known for his Emmy Award winning cartoon creation, “Tutenstein”, seen on NBC Saturday mornings, and the Annie nominated “Jetcat” shorts from Nickelodeon's “KaBlam!” He's spent a dozen years writing and drawing comic books and strips for a variety of publications, including his own “Jetcat Clubhouse, The Land of Nod, and Atomic City Tales.” Jays' full color, weekly comic strip “Welcome to…Oddville” can be seen Thursdays in the “Toronto Star's” Brand New Planet section.
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge grew up in Peekskill, New York. From 1985-1989, Bagge started his own comic book, “Neat Stuff,” for Fantagraphics Books, producing 15 issues. In 1990, “Neat Stuff” evolved into a new title, "Hate," which exclusively followed the foibles of the semi-autobiographical Buddy Bradley. “Hate” became the voice of the twenty-nothing slackers as well as being hailed by critics for its brilliant characterization in its complete chronicle of the 1990s. “Hate” continues to appear in print, albeit less frequently, under the title "Hate Annual." Bagge's distinctive in-your-face illustration style has also appeared on many record and CD covers, and his comics have been featured in political and social commentary magazines like “Reason” and the website “Suck.com.” Other comic work includes writing an all ages comic book for DC called "Yeah!" (drawn by Gilbert Hernandez), and more recently "Sweatshop," also for DC, which satirizes the comics industry. He also writes and draws a weekly comic strip about "Bat Boy" for The Weekly World News. Peter Bagge currently lives in Seattle with his wife Joanne and daughter Hannah.
Evan Dorkin
Evan Dorkin is the Harvey, Eisner and Ignatz-award winning creator of “Milk and Cheese”, “Dork”, and “Hectic Planet”, published by Slave Labor Graphics. He’s also put in time at Marvel, Dark Horse and DC, among other comics publishers. His cartooning has also appeared in Esquire, Spin, The Onion, Mad, Disney Adventures, Penthouse Hot Talk and Nickelodeon magazine. Along with Sarah Dyer, he’s written for “Space Ghost Coast to Coast”, “Superman” and the “Batman Beyond” animated series. He was the creator, writer, designer and executive producer of “Welcome to Eltingville”, which aired on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. He is currently working on another pilot for the Swim.
Jim Mahfood
Jim Mahfood is the indy cartoonist behind such books as “Grrl Scouts,” “Stupid Comics,” “Bad Ideas,” and “40oz Collected.” He provided the art on Kevin Smith's “Clerks” comics and has worked on such mainstream characters as “Spider-Man,” “Batman,” and “The Simpsons.” His current projects include his brand new artbook, "Puttin' the Backbone Back" and "Wha Huh?!" at Marvel with Brian Bendis.
Chynna Clugston
Chynna Clugston is the creator of “Scooter Girl” and the multiple Eisner and Harvey award nominated comic book “Blue Monday,” both from Oni Press. If she hadn't been born and raised in California thinking it's the coolest place in the world, she'd probably be living it up in London at the moment. Well, living in poverty in London dreaming about living it up there. For now she's content to only visit. Chynna has also worked on projects such as Paul Dini's “Jingle Belle,” Mike Allred's “It Girl,” “Ultimate Marvel Team-Up” with Brian Michael Bendis and will be doing “Teen Titans Go!” with J. Torres next spring. Her next project, “Queen Bee” (Scholastic), will see the light of day September 2005. She's got more tricks up her sleeve this coming year, too.
James Kochalka
James Kochalka is a cartoonist and a rock star. His comics have been published in 8 languages around the globe and have won numerous awards, and he recently signed a multi-album record deal with Rykodisc for his band, James Kochalka Superstar.
Steve Rolston
Steve Rolston made his first splash in the comic book world by illustrating the debut story arc of Greg Rucka's espionage series “Queen & Country,” which won the Eisner Award for Best New Series. Rolston went on to illustrate the punk rock black comedy “Pounded with writer Brian Wood and Mek,” a look into the mechanized future of cult culture with the mighty Warren Ellis. He showed off his own writing skills with the release of his "slacker noir" graphic novel “One Bad Day.” Rolston lives in in Vancouver, BC, Canada and continues to work on future comic projects.
R Stevens
R Stevens lives in a factory building with two cats. When he's not drawing his online comic strip Diesel Sweeties , he teaches graphic design part-time at the Hartford Art School. DieselSweeties & R Stevens have been seen featured in Salon, Suicide Girls, .net Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Magnet & the U.K. Sunday Times. He hopes one day to eat hot dogs until he passes out.
Dave Crosland
An entomologist by day, Dave Crosland spends his nights righting wrongs and drawing comics. While he’s created artwork for several Image Comics stories, such as Bad Ideas, Heaven LLC and Puffed, Crosland’s images have also graced the pages of Venus Magazine and Spin, along with album covers and concert posters worldwide.
