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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Rob Hanes Adventures Hits Landmark 10th Issue

Longrunning indie series celebrates milestone with sports story

June 6, 2007

For immediate release

The long-running independent comic-book series Rob Hanes Adventures hits its landmark 10th issue in July. To celebrate, the action-adventure series will cross genres in the issue with a full-fledged sports story. The issue is now available to retailers and also will be available from WCG Comics at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, July 26-29, 2007.

Though primarily a modern-day soldier-of-fortune series, Rob Hanes Adventures creator Randy Reynaldo frequently explores other genres. In issue 10, the series enters the world of minor league baseball in a humorous sports adventure entitled “The Pride of the Chickenhawks.” Past stories have featured a drawing room mystery and outright comedies.

“Although Rob Hanes Adventures is primarily a globetrotting action-adventure series, I've always intended to keep myself challenged by mixing things up and throwing the character into different, offbeat situations,” says Reynaldo. “I had a lot of fun doing a baseball story and may tackle other sports in the future (no pun intended!).”

In the issue—just in time for baseball season—globetrotting adventurer and Justice International private eye Rob Hanes is hired by a minor league baseball team called the Brisbane Chickenhawks to investigate allegations of steroid use. In the course of the story, however, Rob becomes more interested in getting a hit than with cracking the case—leaving it up to his partner, Abner McKenna, to solve the mystery! Rob's obsession with getting on base and the resolution of the case come to a thrilling climax in a baseball game with playoff consequences. All the elements of a classic sports story are blended with a classic mystery-adventure.

In addition to classic adventure strips like Terry and the Pirates, Scorchy Smith, and Buz Sawyer, Reynaldo also is a longtime fan of Will Eisner's Spirit, and has always appreciated the wide variety of stories presented in the groundbreaking series. Stories often ranged from straight adventure to lowbrow comedy, and everything in between—including numerous sports sequences.

And while even Reynaldo is too young to have enjoyed first hand classic sports comics like Joe Palooka and Cotton Woods, he knows they once enjoyed an enormous following in comics. Sports comics also are a popular genre in Japanese manga.

Upcoming stories in the series will feature the character battling modern-day pirates in Asia and being stranded on a desert island with a convict Rob has been hired to extradite from overseas.

Rob Hanes Adventures is a comic-book series about an international troubleshooter and modern-day soldier of fortune who works for Justice International, a worldwide private investigations and security agency. Reynaldo is a Xeric Foundation grant recipient and a past nominee for the Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer, which is awarded annually with the Will Eisner Awards. In 2006, WCG Comics celebrated 15 years of publishing.

More information about the series may be found at the WCG Comics website at wcgcomics.com.






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