636 W. Diversey Parkway #198 * Chicago, Il 60614
www.blacktide.com
 

A Team of Demon Hunters Premieres On-line 
in an Internet Exclusive Graphic Novel

CHICAGO, IL -  March 2000 - Black Tide Graphic Design sponsors
a new graphic novel premiering exclusively on the 
Internet in March 2000 titled Demon Inc.: Zombie Maker.  The 4 part novel was created by two Chicago natives; author Graham Thomaz and illustrator Desmond DeBardlabon.  The site is located at WWW.DEMON - INC.COM.

Zombie hoards appear on the streets of New Orleans in
increasing numbers.  Stronger and more adaptable 
than usual, they hunt the living who serve as their prey.
Law officers are ineffective, the more they oppose the zombie
infestation, the more the zombies multiply.
Who can stop them? Demon Inc. a unique tactical team that
fights against supernatural monsters.

An immense project for only two people to handle, the pair kept on schedule to deliver almost 70 pages of an action story with elements of voodoo and the supernatural.
In total Demon Inc. took a total of 20 months to complete.

In normal assembly line graphic novel production, separate 
people handle penciling, inking, coloring and lettering. 
This artist did it all.  Each page was actually colored with a combination of acrylic paints and colored pencils, giving it a unusual look.  Later in the final phase of the work, the pages were digitally painted.  Color schemes were chosen to shape the appearance of the environments.  For instance, most of the surroundings in Demon Inc.'s version of hell are gray and brown earth tones.  The world where the heroes exist has a fuller range of colors.

A good deal of research went into the project.  Personally 
DeBardlabon read books on African mythology, Voodoo, 
and Haitian culture.  Reading that information placed him in a certain state of mind when he was drawing the book. 
He also scoured through information on weapons, and parapsychology; the study of psychic phenomena.

Graham Thomaz, the writer and primary engineer of the saga read similar information and was glad for the real life aspect his partner brought to the team.  Thomaz writes in sections, treating his story as modular pieces in a larger object.  He had an idea of the general story but wrote scenes that he wanted to appear in the novel.  Writing into each scene crucial story points and then later stringing
the modules together into an interesting story.

Both Thomaz and DeBardlabon hope that they have created an engaging story that the public will enjoy, and holds up to the great graphics novels that have gone before.  They invite readers to the web site at WWW.DEMON-INC.COM

Black Tide expanded its services from solely web design to a full graphic design company and is located on the north side of Chicago.  It was established in January 1999 and continues to gain a presence in the Chicagoland market.  Black Tide specializes in developing graphic communication for its clients, as well as computer consulting and product licensing.  It is the official designer and web host of Demon Inc.: Zombie Maker.

Media Contact:
Desmond DeBardlabon
Artist, Demon-Inc:Zombie Maker
Storm@blacktide.com