“Everyone says to live your dream. But when your dream is to be an awesome ninja assassin, you can get in a lot of trouble.” The Unprofessionals is a crazy, sick, sociopathic bromance, from the creative minds of Alexis Cruz and Colin Rankine.
(c) 2012 Alexis Cruz, Colin Rankine and Red Stylo Media
Alexis Cruz, who fans will recognize as Skaara from the classic movie phenomenon Stargate that in turn spawned the television scifi series Stargate SG-1, teamed up with lifetime friend and writer, Colin Rankine, to create a graphic novel of massive scope and ambition. They hit the road sprinting with a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign. Six months later they were finally ready to bring the first issue to glorious life, and they turned the book over to Red Stylo Media for editing and printed book design.
Written by Colin Rankine, with Art by Chris Moreno, Kate Glasheen and Troy Peteri, cover art by Erik Reeves. The book will ultimately be released in six parts, so the challenge to the designers was to create a finished package that would sustain and last across all the planned volumes. Working with Alexis to preserve his creative vision for the book, managing editor Enrica Jang and layout editor/designer Erica Schultz, put together a professional package that included cover, interior covers, end page design, preview pages from upcoming Issues #2-4 (from artists Kate Glasheen, Michael Montenat, and Christian DiBari), and formatting of all content for digital print. Promotion will also continue via Facebook, Twitter, and The Unprofessionals official website, SociopathicBromance.com.
Only 500 copies of the first chapter will be printed, all signed and numbered by Alexis Cruz. A limited run of these special edition trade paperbacks will be available at San Diego Comic Con 2012, booth #5619. Remaining copies will be made available via special order at SociopathicBromance.com and in Red Stylo Media’s Online Store.
The artwork is beautiful, the watercolor-like illustrations are an interesting contrast to the concept of the ‘sociopathic bromance’. The story is compelling and with Moreno & Glasheen’s art, the copy seems lyrical.