New York, NY - SIDEKICKS #1 Expands to 40 Pages, Variant Covers Announced

Fanboy Entertainment is pleased to announce that due to the enormous demand for the eight page Sidekicks Preview Edition and the unexpected positive hype the book has generated, they will be increasing the page count of the Sidekicks #1 from 32 pages to 40 pages! The cover price will not change and remain at $2.75 as solicited.

"J. and Takeshi have a story to tell, and what a fabulous story it is.", comments Fanboy Entertainment's publisher, C.B. Cebulski. "The first issue was supposed to be 32 pages, but Takeshi ran a little wild and the book clocked in at 35 pages. What we originally planned, as was announced in an earlier press release, was that the eight pages originally seen in the Preview Edition were going to be removed and J. and Takeshi were going to rework the story with new art to make it shorter. But after the three of us got together in Chicago at Anime Central last weekend, plans changed. The previews were snatched up and the fan reaction was overwhelming. After reviewing all the original art for Sidekicks #1 and trying to formulate a plan, we all agreed that book should be left as is, unchanged."

Fans will now be able to enjoy the full Sidekicks experience as it was originally meant to be read. "I'd been pondering the expansion idea for a while, ever since J. first informed me of the page crunch. I saw CrossGen came out and did the same thing recently. I've heard their actions received a really positive response from the fans and retailers, so we felt that there was no harm in our trying something similar.", Cebulski explained. "Eight more pages of story for the same price. Who's going to complain about that?"

In addition, it appears that not all of the buzz Sidekicks has been generating has been restricted to the fan community. Several prominent comic creators have also taken an interest in the series and in the manga stylings of newcomer Takeshi Miyazawa. Cebulski explains, "After I sent out the Sidekicks Preview Editions to the press, industry and a few friends, the calls started coming in. J.'s story grabbed people and Takeshi's art started making waves. Now, thanks to the kind offers of several artists, Sidekicks will sport a few very high class variant covers. Manga master Kia Asamiya will be providing the alternate cover to the first issue. Ed McGuiness, Superman's superstar penciler, will be covering Sidekicks #2. Then, on the third issue of Sidekicks, Tellos' talent Mike Wieringo and Kaboom's kickin' Keron Grant provide the alternate covers. Never did we expect that kind of line up on a start-up series by a start-up publisher!" The variant covers for Sidekicks #1 and 2 will ship in 50/50 ratios, with the main cover drawn by Takeshi Miyazawa. Issue #3 will see the covers shipped equally between the three artists.

Cebulski also notes that the Sidekicks lettering has been changed. "Takeshi handlettered the eight page Sidekicks Preview Edition himself. Personally, I loved it. It was fun and original. However, reaction to it for the most part has been negative. It's about the only complaint we received about the book. Most people said they thought it was hard to read. But I guess that's a bonus benefit of having done the preview book. We've now gone back in and relettered the whole book to make it clearer and more legible. I guess it's better we found out sooner than later. People are going to be blown away!"

Sidekicks #1 goes on sale in June for $2.75.

Thanks go out to C.B. Cebulski, Fanboy Entertainment's president, for passing along this info.