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With girl and money troubles, life is hard enough for high school student Yamato, but then he stumbles upon Ultimo, a peculiar-looking puppet. Things only get stranger when Ultimo awakens and his archenemy, Vice shows up. Ultimo and Vice are Karakuri Dôji, the mechanical embodiment of pure good and pure evil, devoid of human emotions that can cloud one’s judgment. Their purpose: to battle to the death to prove once and for all whether good or evil is the most powerful force in the universe.

For over half a century, Stan Lee has been synonymous with superhero comics. In addition to creating countless memorable series and characters, including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and Daredevil, he served as the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. Lee remains a hugely respected and dynamic figure in the entertainment industry and continues to develop a variety of film, television and video game properties.

“I am indescribably thrilled to have the honor of working with the famous and extremely talented Hiroyuki Takei on our exciting creation ULTIMO. I feel that ULTIMO combines the very best of Western mythology with the very best of Japanese manga." says Stan Lee. "It gives me the greatest pleasure to be associated with VIZ Media on such and exciting and ground-breaking project."

Unconventional author/artist, Hiroyuki Takei began his career by winning the 1994 Tezuka Award. After working as an assistant to famed artist Nobuhiro Watsuki (RUROUNI KENSHIN), Takei debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997 with Butsu Zone, an action series based on Buddhist mythology. His multicultural adventure manga SHAMAN KING debuted in Japan in 1998 and has been adapted into a popular animated television series. The SHAMAN KING manga series is also published in North America by VIZ Media; for many years it was serialized in English in SHONEN JUMP magazine.

"While it’s epic in scope and rich in mythology, the ULTIMO storyline is grounded in modern teen angst which is what fans will gravitate to. It’s manga, but it’s got that ‘Stan Lee’ feel of the teenager who suddenly has all this power and can’t believe how crazy that is." Says Joel Enos, Senior Editor for Shonen Jump Manga, VIZ Media. "This story has found a common ground between Western comics and Eastern manga. Here you have two amazing creators, all this action, robots, and the universal theme of pure good vs. pure evil, all the while staying in high school youth culture and the drama and depth of everyday kids."

ComicMonsters.com’s founder Rob Caprilozzi says it “It’s very exciting for us to be able to showcase the talents of Asylum Press and their independent publishing spirit.”

Asylum Press is joining forces with ComicMonsters.com to celebrate their 11 years of horrifying comic fans, as well as looking to the future. Throughout January, ComicMonsters.com will be featuring retrospective features, as well as exclusive sneak previews of upcoming Asylum Press releases. Each day will there will a new Asylum Press feature or horror comic to check out.

"I'm very excited to be working with Comic Monsters to put together a giant online retrospect of Asylum Press as well as previews of upcoming books, animations, trailers, exclusive premieres, interviews with creators and more," explains Asylum Publisher Frank Forte, "this is going to be a blast!"

The Asylum Press spotlight can be found by clicking the Publisher Spotlight link on the top left corner of the ComicMonsters Homepage.

Asylum Press can be found on the web at: AsylumPress.com

DETAIL

The epic saga of The Talisman debuts with Issue 0, a never-before-told prequel to the story, to be published by Del Rey Comics in October. The Talisman novel, originally published in 1984, is the story of a teen boy named Jack Sawyer, who can save his dying mother only by retrieving a magical talisman. To find it he must cross back and forth between our world and the frightening and dangerous landscape of its “twinner” counterpart. Issue 0 explores the separate lives of Jack’s father—in our world, and in the mysterious realm known as the Territories—and how evil scheming will forever change Jack’s peaceful life.

The series is being adapted by Robin Furth and illustrated by Tony Shasteen, with regular cover art by Massimo Carnevale and coloring by Nei Ruffino. The Talisman Issue 0 will be available in comic book stores everywhere on October 21, 2009, and The Talisman Issue 1 will hit comics stands on November 18, 2009.

Both The Talisman and its sequel, Black House, are in print with Ballantine Books. Television rights to The Talisman are under development by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.