Make Mine Marvel!

Hey guys,

Our apologies for the lack of posts lately -- we've been a little preoccupied. In case you haven't heard, we're part of the Marvel Comics family now, and we made it public in an announcement at the Diamond Retailer's Summit on Monday, Sept. 11, 2006. You can read the full story here.

We're going to be talking a LOT about our upcoming plans in the near future now that the cat's out of the bag, but in the meantime, here are some quick quotes from staff members:

Ernst Dabel, CEO and President:“Dabel Brothers Productions has always been devoted to producing a high quality product, and our new partnership with Marvel will only continue to improve our ability to put out the best literary adaptations in the industry. Since we began work on The Hedge Knight nearly five years ago, we have had one mission in all that we’ve done: to offer fantasy and science fiction fans the very best visual translation of their favorite books without skimping or cutting corners. And while we have encountered many roadblocks along the way, our simple comic book company is still going strong, and we are excited and honored to become the studio known as ‘Marvel DB Pro.’ Thank you to our many fans who have helped us stay in business long enough to make this possible.”

Les Dabel, COO and Vice President of Business Operations: “I cannot believe how quickly we have grown since my brothers and I first decided to start a production company specializing in comic books. What started out as four guys who just wanted to imitate our favorite books became a company that was focused on working with some of the biggest authors in the world of publishing. But what has made this really rewarding is that many of those major authors have become our friends. We owe a great debt in particular to George R. R. Martin, Robert Silverberg, Raymond E. Feist, Orson Scott Card and Tad Williams – they have all stood by us through the many changes we’ve encountered, and their support has only made our work that much more rewarding. We’re looking forward to making them even prouder of our work as we partner with Marvel to continue to put out the high quality books that we’re known for – and we can’t wait to reveal the even bigger things we have in store for our readers once our first run of books hits the shelves.”

Sean J. Jordan, Vice President of Communications / Editor-in-Chief: “My first job when I was hired for Dabel Brothers Production was to announce that we were canceling a line of creator-owned books and putting all our eggs in one basket to produce The Hedge Knight, a comic book miniseries based on a novella by George R. R. Martin that many people – even his own fans! - had never heard of. It seemed like a risky move at the time, but it paid off amazingly well – we channeled all of our energy into creating the best possible adaptation of what was already an incredible story, and the book made a major splash in the industry, reminding anyone who gave our work a chance that somebody out there was doing something different – and they were doing it well.

Unlike many studios, we’ve never felt the pressure to imitate trends in the industry, and unlike most studios doing adaptation work, we’ve never been interested in pop culture crazes that come and go. Every author that we’ve signed on to adapt has been a major force in the publishing industry, many with millions of fans all over the world. A big part of the reason we’ve been successful is because we’re dedicated to preserving the integrity of every novel that we adapt; the fans love it, and they show their support by helping us to expand our audience every time we put out a book. We’ve been credited by many retailers as being the only independent publisher who’s actually bringing new blood into the comic shops each week.

That’s why we’re so excited to be partnering up with Marvel – between their efforts to excite new interest with Civil War and our efforts to broaden our audience with books like Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, we’re going to be an unstoppable force. The medium is poised for a major revival, and ‘Marvel DB Pro’ will be at the forefront, helping to lead the way.”

Bill Tortolini, Vice President of Marketing / Art Director: “One of the things that we have striven for over the years is a consistent quality in all of our books that matches the passion of the fan base that each author brings to our properties. With the addition of the amazing staff at Marvel, the quality of our books has just been cranked up to 11. Get ready to see some amazing things in the next year, courtesy of our studio.”

Matthew Hansen, Senior Editor: “We’ve been dying to say this for a long time, so I’ll do it now… ‘Make Mine Marvel!’”

More to come, including video of the announcement and pictures...

-SJJ