Videogame Designer American McGee's Grimm Comes to Comics

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - December 22, 2008) - Celebrated game designer American McGee's Grimm, an episodic videogame that debuted on GameTap, offers gamers the chance to create darkness across traditionally lighter fairy tales. And now Grimm, the game's macabre dwarf who wreaks havoc on these fairy-tale tableaus, will be unleashed in a new comic book series coming from IDW Publishing in April 2009.

American McGee's Grimm is a five-issue miniseries that takes the games' high concept and tweaks it a bit, allowing Grimm to unleash his dark magic across five familiar comic-book universes. In issue one, Grimm exits the latest fairy tale he darkened only to discover bright and sunny superhero comics. He enters the world, kick-starting a "Crisis on Earth 57," where he launches a secret invasion crisis into a domain where villains are doomed to fail... until he gets involved!

Subsequent issues of the series, written by Dwight MacPherson and illustrated by Grant Bond, will find Grimm invading -- and forever changing -- the worlds of romance comics, westerns, teenage high-school comics, and anthropomorphic comics. In each issue, Bond's art style will reflect the archetypal art form of these traditional universes before Grimm's dark influence fully takes over the comic.

About the comic series, creator American McGee said, "It's great fun to see the transformative 'Grimm effect' applied to narrative universes outside the Brothers Grimm tales. The world needs more of this -- exposure to the gritty, sometimes painful truth of the human condition -- be it in Red Riding Hood's well-earned demise, or the reversal of 'good guys win' scenarios that we all know to be far from everyday reality."

American McGee's Grimm, a five-issue limited series, debuts in April 2009. Season Three of the game launches on GameTap in early 2009. For more information on the comic, please refer to www.IDWpublishing.com. Information on the game can be found here: http://www.gametap.com/grimm/ and at American McGee's game site www.spicyhorse.com and his blog: http://www.americanmcgee.com/wordpress/

About IDW

IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, Calif. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry including: television's #1 prime time series CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Paramount's Star Trek; Fox's Angel; Hasbro's The Transformers, and the BBC's Doctor Who. IDW's original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. In April 2008, IDW released Michael Recycle, the first title from its new children's book imprint, Worthwhile Books. More information about the company can be found at http://www.idwpublishing.com.

About Spicy Horse Games

Spicy Horse is a game development studio located in Shanghai, China. Founded by a rag tag collection of game industry vets, creative artists, and adventure seeking expats in late 2006. Spicy's mission is to build eccentric game content for the PC and console market. Our passion for game making is fueled by an intense love for all things story, art, and fun.

About American McGee's Grimm

From http://www.grimm.spicyhorse.com: Grimm is sick of happy endings, bloodless romances, blind obedience, insipid weddings, unearned wealth, unmerited praise, and undeserved good fortune. He's had enough! And, like every bad boy who's had enough... he wants more. More passion, madness, revenge and misery. More darkness, and more difference. And what's the harm?

Enough of this baloney (for want of a more suitable 4-letter word) passing itself off as culturally-relevant commentary. Fairy tales aren't supposed to suffocate us with nonsensical pap. They should engage us, entertain us. Forget the sap-sucking morals, the boring life lessons, the comfort from the cold. Grimm's tales are like real life: nasty, brutish, and short. And funny.

He's used his natural talent and (some might say, offensive) bodily presence to turn the tales back toward their dark roots -- folk tales that truly teach how to avoid soul-crushing danger through examples of what happens when you screw up.

In Grimm's world, Cinderella takes sweet revenge on her tormentors; Jack, the witless lay-about and giant-murderer, doesn't get the girl; welch on a deal with a Pied Piper and you lose more than your children. All wishes have price tags, and there's no cheating the fish, the ring, or the genie. Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten.

In Grimm's world, people die... messily. And very few lessons are clear, but sometimes things make much more sense when viewed through dirty (some might say "blood-stained") windows.

Contact Information: Press Contact: Maggie Begley Communications Office: 310-301-1785 Mobile: 310-749-3055