Press release from Iron Sky
The creators of the Finnish-German-Australian dark sci-fi comedy Iron Sky have released the first of the three issues of comics based on the film online. The prequel comic details the history of the Nazi Moonbase Schwartze Sonne on the far side of the Moon, and it’s central character is Wolfgang Kortzfleisch (played in the film by Udo Kier), who grows up to be the Führer of the Moon Nazis.
You can find Iron Sky #1: Bad Moon Rising at the web address http://www.ironsky.net/sneakpeek/issueone/
The comic is written by Mikko Rautalahti, whose previous work includes the blockbuster Xbox 360 game Alan Wake and the film Imaginaerum. It was illustrated by Gerry Kissell, who is the creator and artist for IDW's best selling graphic novel Code Word: Geronimo, and has worked for IDW on Children of the Grave, The A-Team: War Stories, Army of Two, and created a graphic novel based on Alan Wake.
“The three issues take place in different points in history, leading up to the film, so I needed something to tie them together. For that purpose, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch was perfect; as the film’s Moon Führer, he represents the decades the Nazis have spent on the Moon, so making him the focal point of these stories made perfect sense”, said Mikko Rautalahti about the plot of the comic series.
“Each Iron Sky spin-off has to be of high quality and stand as an independent product”, said the head of social media and the producer of Iron Sky comics Pekka Ollula. “All the Iron Sky comics will be published as a single hardcover book, as well as a soft cover version for wider distribution. But before that, all the individual parts will be digitally distributed, and the first issue is free – or if you want to support the film, comes with a ‘pay what you want to’ price option.”
“Digital distribution is still often seen as a bogeyman, but we don’t think like that, seeing it as a great possibility instead. Personally, the ComiXology app gave me an access to Spider-Man comics from the 60’s for the first time, and made me spend a good amount of money on them. That was a real eye-opener, and made me want to see Iron Sky comics. I’m especially happy about how they expand the film experience and the Iron Sky universe.”
Those who pay for the comic get an access to Iron Sky Sneak Peek (http://www.ironsky.net/sneakpeek/), where the subscribers can see how the first five minutes of the film are created – starting from the idea, progressing through animatics, green screen shoots and post production, and culminating to the subscribers getting to see the beginning of the film before anybody else. Iron Sky Sneak Peek subscribers get to read all three issues of the comics without extra cost as a thank you from the Iron Sky team.