A Team of Gaming and Entertainment Industry Veterans Behind Titles Including Grand Theft Auto, Donkey Kong Country and Crackdown, Unite For All-New Comics, Prose, and More
UNIOVERSE: REYU Debuts May 9th, 2023
Hex Publishers and Random Games are partnering to create original comics based on the Unioverse videogame and platform for user-generated creativity. A six-part series of interconnected one-shots will introduce the first five playable Unioverse heroes from the Unioverse videogame. The comics are co-written by Colorado Book Award winner Joshua Viola and Angie Hodapp, with interior art by Ben Matsuya (Cryowulf, Jupiter Jet), and cover art by AJ Nazzaro (Hearthstone, Overwatch). The series launches on May 9th, 2023 with Unioverse: Reyu.
Set in the near future, the Unioverse story centers around a technology discovered on Mars that allows anyone to instantly transport their consciousness across galaxies. A playable alpha sequence from the first Unioverse game, The Proving Grounds, was launched this year by a team of gaming and entertainment industry veterans behind titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Donkey Kong Country and Crackdown. The narrative direction of the Unioverse is led by Brent Friedman, a master storyteller whose previous credits include writing on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Walking Dead, Call of Duty, and Star Trek: Enterprise.
“The Unioverse was designed to be a transportive transmedia experience for fans,” said Brent Friedman. “From day one, the narrative team approached worldbuilding with the expressed intent to create a solid canonical foundation on which countless stories could be told in games, comics, anthologies, movies, and more. Unioverse: Reyu represents the first expression of our vision for storytelling beyond the Unioverse website. I feel like a proud parent!”
The Unioverse comic book series will comprise of six issues:
- Issue 1: Reyu (Release date: 5/9): Reyu, respected warrior, the last of his kind, must bring a notorious assassin to justice. But Reyu knows something about the assassin that just might change the course of his own fate.
- Issue 2: Krishah (Release date: 6/6): Krishah never misses her mark…until she does. Now, the religious cult that controls her offers her one shot at redemption: Kill Reyu.
- Issue 3: Tor Gret (Release date: 7/11): Merge Keeper Tor Gret is forced to take on the merciless Vipers and their sadistic leader alone, since the mercenary he hired to fight alongside him got a better offer. Tor will deal with him later…
- Issue 4: Annill (Release date: 8/8): A bombing at a political soirée forces bodyguard Annill to risk her life saving many important guests. While waiting for the all-clear, she recalls the tragic history of her planet and her people.
- Issue 5: Vella Janx (Release date: 9/5): Vella Janx and his loyal companion, 9Bot, agree to help Tor Gret complete a dangerous exfiltration mission. But when a better offer from an enigmatic stranger comes along, Janx is all in. Business is business…
- Issue 6: Silas Kyruk (Release date: 10/10): Silas Kyruk lost everything the instant Malcolm Orion reawakened the Mass-O. But this mastermind has a plan to get it back. All he needs are the finest, most capable fighters in the Unioverse—Reyu, Krishah, Tor Gret, Annill, and Vella.
“As a writer, it was exciting to build upon the established lore of the videogames and give players and readers alike an opportunity to really familiarize themselves with our heroes and the sci-fi sandbox they’re playing inside,” said co-writer and Hex Publishers Founder Joshua Viola. “In issue one, readers are introduced to our hero, Reyu—the legendary Ja’din hunter of the fabled Origin 5 Species. Reyu, the last of his kind, is on a mission to bring a notorious assassin to justice, but he knows something about the assassin that might change the course of his own fate.”
The Unioverse comic book series marks the first exploration of the Unioverse beyond the games, ahead of the release of the prose anthology Stories of the Reconvergence, edited by Angie Hodapp and Joshua Viola, which will showcase some of today’s most popular genre-fiction writers, including Stephen Graham Jones, Linda D. Addison, Kevin J. Anderson, Mario Acevedo, Andy Baker, Carina Bissett, Kenneth W. Cain, Kevin Dilmore, Sean Eads, Brent Friedman, Maxwell I. Gold, Warren Hammond, Angie Hodapp, Jamal Hodge, Akua Lezli Hope, Gabino Iglesias, Matthew Kressel, Lee Murray, Wyeth Ridgway, Jeanne C. Stein, Joshua Viola, Tim Waggoner, Dayton Ward, Carter Wilson, Jezzy Wolfe, Jane Yolen, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro.
“The narrative team conceived of such a rich, multifaceted world, and getting to be one of the first writers to tell stories in that world has been a privilege,” said co-writer Angie Hodapp. “We hope these comics and the anthology will feel like an invitation to other storytellers whose imaginations are sparked by the Unioverse.”
To find out more about the Unioverse and stay up-to-date on the anthology and comic books, visit UNIOVERSE.com, follow the Unioverse on Twitter, join the Unioverse Discord server, and follow Hex Publishers on Twitter, visit the Hex Unioverse page, and visit the Hex shop.
About Random Games
Founded by gaming industry veterans Tony Harman and Wyeth Ridgway, Random Games (https://random.games/) is a development studio spearheading an entirely new concept in videogames and franchise entertainment through a combination of community empowerment and blockchain technology. The company’s first franchise, The Unioverse, is a sci-fi epic that will span across videogames, comic books, novels and more. At the same time, the Unioverse community will be encouraged and equipped to create their own stories, games and more with official high-quality artwork and other assets available as royalty-free downloads. To join the robust Unioverse community, visit UNIOVERSE.com, follow the Unioverse on Twitter, and join the Unioverse Discord server.
About Hex Publishers
Hex Publishers (https://hexpublishers.com/) is an independent publishing house owned and operated by Joshua Viola, proudly specializing in genre fiction: horror, science fiction, crime, dark fantasy, comics, and any other form that awakens the imagination. Hex features numerous national and international bestselling authors, as well as Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Award winners. The press values both the author and the reader, with an emphasis on quality, diversity, and underrepresented voices.
About Joshua Viola
Joshua Viola is a 2021 Splatterpunk Award nominee, Colorado Book Award winner, and editor of the StokerCon™ 2021 Souvenir Anthology. He is the co-author of the Denver Moon series with Warren Hammond. Their graphic novel, Denver Moon: Metamorphosis, was included on the 2018 Bram Stoker Award™ Preliminary Ballot. Viola edited the Denver Post #1 bestselling horror anthology Nightmares Unhinged, and co-edited Cyber World—named one of the best science fiction anthologies of 2016 by Barnes & Noble. His first novel, The Bane of Yoto, won the USA Best Book Awards, National Indie Excellence Awards, International Book Awards, and Independent Publishers Book Awards. His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, including DOA III: Extreme Horror Anthology, Doorbells at Dusk and Classic Monsters Unleashed. In 2022, he became the creative director of comics and novelizations for Random Games’ videogame franchise, Unioverse. When he isn’t writing and editing, Viola dabbles in art. In 2020, he collaborated with his husband, Aaron Lovett, on AfterShock Comics’ Miskatonic #1 Cover Alpha Comics variant. As a videogame artist, he worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: Call of the Kraken, Smurfs’ Grabber and TARGET: Terror. Viola is the owner and chief editor of Hex Publishers in Denver, Colorado.
About Angie Hodapp
Angie Hodapp is the Director of Literary Development at Nelson Literary Agency. She holds a BA in English and secondary education and an MA in English and communication development, and she is a graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute at the University of Denver. She has worked in publishing and professional writing for the better part of the last two decades. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Cyber World, Shadow Atlas, Psi-Wars, and many more. In addition to writing, she loves helping authors hone their craft and learn about the ever-changing business of publishing.
About Brent Friedman
As a Creator, Writer and Producer, Brent has more than 30 years of experience in entertainment across all platforms. In the early 2000’s, Brent was a transmedia pioneer and has since become an expert in world-building for multiple franchises including League of Legends, Walking Dead, and Batman.
In traditional media, Brent has worked with nearly all the major U.S. studios and networks with a passionate focus on science fiction and fantasy, including projects such as “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Star Wars Rebels,” the Emmy-winning series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” and the cult NBC series, “Dark Skies,” which he co-created. Brent is currently developing the hit XBOX game, “Grounded,” into an animated series for Microsoft/Obsidian.
In games, Brent has worked across console, PC, social & mobile as a Narrative Designer and Writer for some of the top companies in the business such as Electronic Arts, Zynga, Telltale, 343 Industries, Capcom and Activision. He has compiled credits on such games as “Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars,” “Empires & Allies,” ”Halo 4,” “Tales from the Borderlands,” “The Walking Dead: Michonne,” “Resident Evil 2 Remake,” “League of Legends,” “Batman: Bat-Tech AR,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender — Generations,” ”Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War,” “Call of Duty Vanguard,” and the unannounced Call of Duty game for 2023. Recently, Brent co-developed with the Russo Bros’ company, Superconductor, the original universe for “Cloudbreakers,” a Holoride VR game. And currently, Brent is serving as Narrative Director on “Unioverse,” a new game experience for Random Games.
As an entrepreneur, Brent founded Electric Farm Entertainment where he created and produced four award-winning multi-platform web series including the award-winning “Valemont” for MTV. Brent is also a co-founded of Artifact Technologies, a Seattle-based mobile development lab responsible for the award-winning location-based mobile game, “BattleKasters.”