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Radical Publishing’s star-studded grand opening gala

Written on February 27th, 2009 at 12:39 am by Vernon T Waldrip aka Shawn (editor)



Hollywood heavy-hitters and top comics creators took to the red carpet at Radical Publishing’s star-studded grand opening gala for its new Los Angeles offices, a castle-shaped complex now home to both its comics publishing and film development divisions.

Guests included actor Wesley Snipes, who brought the character Blade to life in the blockbuster film trilogy, multiple SAG and MTV award-winner Ryan Phillippe, KISS rock god Gene Simmons, pro wrestling legend and actor Diamond Dallas Page (The Devil’s Rejects), as well as an array of directors, producers and executives: Len Wiseman (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard), Gary Smith (How to Lose Friends & Alienate People), Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs, Detroit Rock City), Hollywood manager David Schiff, Hollywood manager and representative for 3 Arts Entertainment Molly Madden, from the Fisher House, trustee Tammy Fisher, and screenwriter Sam Sarkar, head of development at Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, and author of the sellout Radical flagship series Caliber.

From the comics side, guests included Nick Simmons, of the hit A&E series Gene Simmons Family Jewels and creator of the upcoming Radical series Incarnate, fan-favorite scribe Steve Niles (Radical’s City of Dust: A Philip Khrome Story and the groundbreaking comic and movie 30 Days of Night), and award-winning superstar creator and painter Arthur Suydam (Radical’s upcoming Cholly & Flytrap: Center City deluxe collection and the breakout Marvel Zombies titles). Also in attendance were two of Radical’s new rising stars, exclusive artist Patrick Reilly (Radical’s highly anticipated Aladdin: Legacy of the Lost, written by Ian Edginton) and Doug Sirois, painter on the sequel to Radical’s debut Hercules series, The Knives of Kush, developed by veteran writer Steve Moore and comics icon Jim Steranko.

“Today marks a celebration of many things for the company, not just an expansion to new offices,” said Radical Publishing’s President Barry Levine, who began his career as one of rock’s top photographers before becoming a music supervisor, film producer and comic book publisher; “not only having our books receive uniformly rave reviews across the industry and in the mainstream press, but we recently took Diamond Distribution’s Gem Award for Best New Publisher of the Year after only eight months on the stands. Things have been going great at Radical Publishing, and 2009 will see things only get better.”

Additional upcoming Radical titles feature some of the top names in the comics industry, including Rick Remender’s The Last Days of American Crime, David Hine’s FVZA: Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency and Nick Percival’s Legends. Current Radical titles on the stands include Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead from Steve Pugh and Warren Ellis, Mateki: The Magic Flute from celebrated Japanese painter Yoshitaka Amano (Vampire Hunter D, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: The Dream Hunters), and the opening salvo of the epic Shrapnel trilogy, Aristeia Rising, from video game developer Zombie Studios and Nick Sagan. The year 2010 will also see Oblivion, Radical’s first illustrated novel from Joseph Kosinski (director of the buzz sequel TR2N at Disney), being written by Ian Edginton.

During the event, Radical Publishing’s Executive Vice President Jesse Berger delivered a toast to the guests, explaining his first time meeting Levine, mentioning the sacrifices that everyone in the company made to launch Radical, and thanking the more than 400 attendees for coming to celebrate this very special event.