Urban Style Invades The Digital Domain

Posted on October 12th, 2009 in Featured by Urban Style Comics Admin

Urban Style Comics is one of Detroit’s premiere comic book companies. Since its creation in 1994,the company has been thrilling readers with the exploits of their characters like “Jihad A.D.,” and their flagship character “Dreadlocks.” Now Urban Style is expanding their repertoire and moving into an area that’s been touted as the future of the comic book industry. Andre L. Batts, the creator and founder of Urban Style explains how the idea came to him.

“The Watchmen movie had an impact in my mind about motion comics. Not only was it a Hollywood blockbuster it also seemed to be a success on “You tube” with its motion comic book movie I saw it as a way of making my character Dreadlocks come more to life on screen, especially for those that do not read books. This avenue will put the imagery of my comics on their television screens where they may become more involved in the story by reading or even listening to the voice over dialogue.”

Examiner.com asked Andre if all comics books should be done this way? “I think it’s a good idea, but I do not think that it should be the only way to produce your comic book story. There are still hardcore readers that are still interested in the book format only.”

A key component in both animation and digital comics is the vocal performance of the cast. Examiner.com asked Andre about the voices used in his production. “If the budget was there, I would love to hire actors and actresses, but right now our staff does the voice overs so that our ideas are still conveyed to our readership.”

Continuity is also a major factor in the comic book industry. Story arcs have to be maintained religiously or readers will lose interest. Examiner.com asked Andre how great an impact it’ll have on the production of the digital series. “Some stories will have continuity and others will not.”

Andre had this to say about the ultimate goal of Urban Style’s digital division.
“Our goal is to continue to get more people into reading by exciting them with what’s going on the T.V. screen. This is why the words pop up as the person watches the motion comic.”

Like most comic book entrepreneurs Andre has major targets that he’d like to see his characters achieve via this foray in digital comics, like a full fledged animated series perhaps? “It sure can! This is the first step in that direction.”

July 3, 9:49 AM Detroit Comic Books Examiner Oz Wilson Jr.