beActive announces partnership with Lightning Strike Comics to promote Irish talent

September 17th 2013

beActive Books, the publishing arm of the Transmedia production company beActive, announces today a partnership with local Dublin based comic book creators and publishers Lightning Strike. Lightning Strike is the brainchild of entrepreneur Eoin McAuley who founded the publishing house in 2011 with the debut anthology ‘Lightning Strike Presents’.

The deal will see beActive Books handling the digital distribution of upcoming issues of the ‘Lightning Strike Presents‘ as well as previous issues of the anthology on platforms such as Comixology, Comics Plus, Amazon and Apple iBookStore. beActive also confirmed it will produce motion comics short films based on the stories and characters published on the magazine.

This is another move from beActive into the comic book world having previously published the graphic novel "Collider" (the subject of a recent name dispute with DC Comics). beActive Books are being sold in the UK, Ireland and Portugal at  specialized Comic Book stores and on-line at Amazon and other on-line retailers.

In addition, both beActive Books and Lightning Strike plan to work together to develop and promote new Irish talent in both writing and illustration, through the release of new stories, first in the ‘Lighnting Strike Presents‘ comic book anthology and also in potential spin off and standalone comic book and graphic Novel projects.

Triona Campbell from beActive Dublin said “this deal comes from the companies DNA to find, partner and work with the very best local talent and entrepreneurs and bring that work to an international stage using all the resources we can offer – we believe there is an audience both in Ireland and internationally for great comics with great stories at their core and we are using what we know about new technology and digital distribution platforms to bring those stories to new markets. Eoin and the team at Lightning strike are simply really talented partners and this is going to be exciting."

Eoin McAuley, founder of Lightning Strike said “everyone at Lightning Strike is really excited and enthusiastic about this new partnership. Our main goal has always been to highlight the phenomenal level of comic book talent here in Ireland. Often the trend has been that if you wanted to make it in the comic book industry that you had to take your work over to the UK or America. Now, thanks to the combined efforts of beActive and Lightning Strike, we are reversing this trend by supporting the talent here in Ireland and showcasing it to the world. A grand adventure lies ahead of us and we can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

About Lightning Strike
Lightning Strike Comics is an independent comic book label, which showcases creator-owned works by independent artists and writers. The label’s premier anthology Lightning Strike Presents has enjoyed sell-out success across both Ireland and the UK. Although based in Dublin with a core Irish team, Lightning Strike has featured work by contributors from Scotland, England, America and Canada. The organization is under the editorship of artist Robert Carey, who worked on the graphic novel ‘The Indifference Engine’, for Markosia.  The Trinity Entrepreneurship Award was awarded to Publisher Eoin McAuley in February 2013. The group also designed two comic book adoptions for Irish language video game Company CRG set to be released later this year.

For more information please contact:

Vera Carrondo - Marketing & Media Relations
vmc@beactivemedia.com
Phone: +351 93 9011779