PRO SE PRODUCTIONS LICENSES BILL BLACK'S AC COMICS CHARACTERS FOR PROSE ADVENTURES!

Pro Se Productions, a leading Publisher of Genre Fiction, proudly announces a new licensing relationship with one of the best known names in independent comic books in the last 40 years.  Beginning in 2016, Pro Se will be publishing the adventures of Paragon, DarkShade, FemForce, and an entire plethora of four-color heroes and villains from the pages of AC Comics, thanks to a licensing arrangement with AC’s founder Bill Black and his company, Nightveil Media.

“This,” says Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions, “is in many ways a fan dream come true for me.  I was, as a kid in the 1980s, the only comic collector my age, I thought, with any interest in the Golden Age characters.  When AC Comics began reviving some of those characters and a whole slew inspired by that era, it meant the world to me.  To be able to say that, thanks to the suggestion of writer Barry Reese and the wonderful working relationship we’ve already established with Bill Black, Pro Se will be bringing those wonderful characters with such vivid histories to life in prose is not just a fantastic business move.  It makes the ten year old kid reading comics in me jump up and down with joy.”

“Each of these characters,” continues Hancock, “still has pages and pages of stories to tell.  And Pro Se has access to writers who grew up with these heroes, who understand what it takes to bring a comic character to life in Pulp Fiction.  Translating comic characters to the Pulp page adds a certain edge, a visceral expression to them that I think lends itself well to Bill’s awesome cast of players.”

Evolving in 1982 out of Bill Black’s Paragon Publications, AC Comics® (Americomics in it’s first year of existence only, AC since 1984) was one of the initial quartet of independent color comics companies who pioneered the direct sales phenomenon in the early ’80’s. Within the framework of the four hundred-plus books AC has released, multitalented publishing maverick Bill Black has introduced a plethora of his own fascinating characters. From his new-wave super-hero universe of the companies’ early years (when costumed defenders like Captain Paragon, Commando D, The Scarlet Scorpion and Bolt gave readers an alternative to Marvel and DC fare) grew AC’s best known feature — The Femforce, Comicdom’s first and only successful all-female super-team book. In 1997, Femforce became the 229th comic book ever to pass the one hundred issue mark, and spawned an ever-increasing circle of spin-offs, support books and licensed merchandise.

A unique, eclectic and personal blend of tastes and influences have led publisher Bill Black to construct an engrossing matrix of fun and interesting comics and related publications. And now that creativity takes on new life in hands of today’s best Genre Fiction authors in new prose tales from Pro Se Productions!

"I'm truly excited,” says Bill Black, “about a new line of novels to be written about my comic book characters. This will open new vistas for Paragon, Nightveil, Femforce, and so many others. Comics and even the movies cannot come close to the in-depth characterization that novelization will bring. Prose adventures is something I've always wanted to do but never had the time. Pro Se, with talented writers like Barry Reese, will do it far better, so this promises to be an amazing joint venture. I can't wait to read the first book!"

Even though the slate of AC characters is wide and varied and will be explored over time in various Pro Se volumes, the initial collections and books will focus on Paragon, Nightveil, DarkShade, and FemForce. Other characters that may show up in the first year of this arrangement include the Latigo Kid, The Black Shroud, The Haunter, and Alizarin Crimson. Hancock states that the first call for submissions would likely go out in late August/Early September 2015 with the focus for publication to begin in 2016.

For interviews with either Hancock or Black or to learn more about this project, contact Hancock at editorinchief@prose-press.com.

For more information on Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions. Discover all you need to know about AC Comics at www.acccomics.com.               .