MUMBAI: Aniboom, the world’s first virtual animation studio, has collaborated with Marvel Entertainment. Through the partnership, animators registered with the Aniboom community, which currently consists of nearly 8,000 professional-level animators, will have the opportunity to create unique motion comics based on comic book stories starring such renowned Super Heroes as the Hulk, Wolverine and Nova.
The winning Aniboom animator — as determined by a blue ribbon panel of Marvel Comics creative talent — will have their work showcased across Marvel’s digital network, including Marvel.com, as well as receive a $10,000 grand prize.
The competition will launch on 18 August at aniboom.com. In addition to showcasing the Hulk, Wolverine and Nova characters, this motion comics creation project with Aniboom also provides Marvel with high profile promotion for its newest digital endeavor. One of the hottest new entertainment categories for Marvel, motion comics refashion some of the world’s most popular comic book content into brand-new entertainment that remains true to the heritage of panel-by-panel graphic storytelling. With groundbreaking graphics, sensational soundscapes and the explosiveness of the Marvel Universe, Marvel motion comics bring to life favorite comics, authors and artists in a never-before-seen way.
Aniboom’s community of animators will have the opportunity to create motion comics for classic Marvel Universe storylines, including Hulk vs. Wolverine and Nova.
Marvel will provide the original art, voiceovers, soundtracks and storylines, giving the animators the opportunity to put these stories in motion and compete for best creativity in execution. Five finalists chosen by a panel of Marvel judges will each receive $2,000 to expand their motion comic into a full-length story. These five, plus one additional "wildcard" finalist, will compete for the grand prize of $10,000. The Top 50 motion comic submissions — as voted on by the Aniboom community — will each receive a free one-year subscription to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, which features online versions of your favorite Marvel Comics that are created from the original artwork used to print them. This easily accessible online library has over 6,000 comics, and new comics are being added each month.
"Creating motion comics is an amazing new challenge to our community of animators to explore — it’s quite different from the programming development we’re doing with Fox and History Channel. The Marvel Universe is one of the most vibrant story and character libraries, beloved by Aniboom’s animators worldwide. Our partnership with Marvel provides a very efficient model for creating quality, versatile content," said Aniboom founder and CEO Uri Shinar.
Marvel Entertainment vice president sales and marketing John Dokes added, "We are excited to work with Aniboom’s virtual studio for this innovative new motion comic project, combining the work of Marvel’s esteemed comic book artists and writers with some of the best animation talent from the Aniboom community to create unique new content presentation variations for Marvel fans. These new motion comics will be the latest in an ongoing array of exciting new things to come to the Marvel Universe."
