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Dateline: January 4, 2008 ... San Jose, CA
Contact: Dan Vado
Phone: (408) 971-8929
E-Mail: dvado@slgpubs.com
Web Address: www.slgcomic.com
SAN JOSE, CA - January 4, 2008 - Contraband, a new graphic novel by
writer Thomas Behe and illustrator Phil Elliott, is a near-future tale
revealing an all- too-possibly-real world of underground video,
violence and crime on cell phone networks. Contraband follows a young
man's journey into a new "voyeur underground", where profit-hungry
youths prowl streets, secretly filming radical events with mobile
devices to satisfy society's demand for sensational on-the-go content.
Co-creator Phil Elliott was approached on the street by a teenage girl
asking for money. It's a sad but common enough occurrence in cities,
but when Elliott refused, the situation became something much
different from anything he'd experienced. "A younger kid -- he must
have only been about ten -- started swearing at me, 'Give us some
******* money!'" he recalled. "I was then aware that there was
another girl filming all this on her mobile phone. What was going on
here? Were they trying to provoke me? What happened to the video?"
The incident took on a greater significance for Elliott when writer
Thomas Behe contacted him to see if he were interested in drawing a
comic he'd written, which explores a voyeuristic underground where
profit-hungry youths prowl the streets secretly filming violence and
catastrophes with mobile devices. That comic became Contraband. Behe
was inspired to write the story after he noticed that people's
concerns about cell phones had shifted from the physical dangers, such
as radiation or tumors, to more cultural concerns. "The new concerns
were more social-related," he said. "Kids receiving intimidating
texts from class bullies. A mate of mine was even propositioned to
subscribe to some sort of spy-cam exhibitionist mobi-blog. I had no
idea why these folks were secretly filming everyone, but there was
tons of stuff on there."
In the near-future society of Contraband, bands of content-hungry
amateurs armed with camera phones record violent scenes, some of which
they instigate, to satisfy society's demand for ever more shocking on-
the-go entertainment. Toby, a self-styled "citizen journalist," is
documenting this underground when he is discovered by agents for a
cell-phone channel called Contraband. Forced to work for them, Toby
is assigned the task of finding a female activist set on sabotaging
Contraband and must navigate a difficult path where he must choose
between his own safety and the greater good.
Contraband is a 144 page black and white graphic novel written by
Thomas Behe and Illustrated by Phil Elliott. Published by SLG
Publishing and due for release in February 2008, Contraband, isbn #
978-1593621018 is .95 and is available for pre-order from
Amazon.com and will also be available in a limited number of comic
book stores as well as the publishers own website at: www.slgcomic.com
For more information about Contraband or to receive a review copy
please contact Dan Vado at: dvado@slgpubs.com or by phone at:
408-971-8929
SLG Publishing
577 S. Market Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408-971-8929
Dan Vado
dvado@slgpubs.com
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