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Cover of Jay & Silent Bob # 1

Following its successful Clerks: The Comic Book, Oni Press plans to publish Jay & Silent Bob, a monthly four-issue comic book series begining in June, written by creator/director Kevin Smith, and illustrated by Duncan Fegredo (Enigma).

Smith, writer/director/actor on his counter-culture films, Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy, has written the all-new tale following his infamous characters, Jay & Silent Bob, from the point where they last appeared in Chasing Amy to the point in the upcoming film Dogma, Smith's next feature film release, currently in pre-production.

"I'm ecstatic about how well our comics are doing, especially in the current, jaded marketplace," Smith said. "It's nice, and even a little disconcerting, to realize that you're having the time of your life doing something you've always wanted to do, and then people actually thank you for it. All I can do is thank them back, for their support and kind words, and I still feel a little guilty, afterward. Life should always be this tough."

The first issue of Jay & Silent Bob will feature two different covers. One cover is illustrated by penciler Joe Quesada, and inker Jimmy Palmiotti, the other will be a photo-cover of the title characters themselves, as portrayed by Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. Each cover will be shipped in equal quantities.

Future covers will be illustrated by Mike Allred, Jamie Hernandez, and Duncan Fegredo. Each 32-page issue will be presented in black-and-white and shipping monthly as of June, 1998. Each issue will have a retail cover price of $2.95 U.S. $4.15 Can.

Dark horse meets Hellbunny?

Playboy Enterprises, Inc., and Dark Horse Comics have joined forces to bring popular Dark Horse comic book characters to Playboy's website.

Many popular Dark Horse titles are coming to life with serialized selections from various comics and additional animated segments on Playboy's www.playboy.com site. Playboy.com was launched in August 1994 and is the most visited global entertainment site for men. The 1200-page site currently receives 1.3 million page views per day and more than 44 million page views each month.

Dark Horse is a multi-million dollar comic book publisher that sells more than one million books each month through comic book and mainstream retail outlets, and the Hollywood-based Dark Horse Entertainment has produced the films Dr. Giggles, The Mask, Timecop, and Barb Wire. Dark Horse, is extremely popular among the trend-setting, cutting-edge, 18-34 year-old audience, which is also largely representative of the Playboy consumer.

"This deal is the first of several planned to combine Playboy magazine content with other terrific, original material of interest to young men," Hefner said. Playboy.com has debuted Bettie Page: Spicy Adventure by classic pin-up artist Jim Silke, to be followed by other well-known Dark Horse series including Hellboy, Accident Man, Barb Wire, and Ghost. Each week the site will be updated adding new panels to the story, until the book is completed. A new book will then be started. The site will also offer interactive chat sessions with Dark Horse artists and creators as well as a Dark Horse merchandise store.

"Playboy has a long tradition of delivering great humor, cartoons, comics and jokes, and we are excited about this co-brand collaboration," Rodger Brown, editor, Playboy Online, said. "This deal makes a hot segment of the comic book world accessible to the public in an entirely new and cutting-edge format."