FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 June 2011
Australian comic book writer, Julie Ditrich, will be attending the inaugural World Mermaid Awards (WMA) in Las Vegas in August to launch the PREVIEW of an upcoming mermaid-inspired comic book series Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed.
Ditrich and her business partner – artist and ex-Disney animator Jozef Szekeres – bonded artistically over their mutual love of mermaids during the 90s and shortly after began working as a comics creative team known as Black Mermaid Productions (BMP). The team works predominantly in the fantasy genre and on mermaid stories. BMP has currently sold over 270,000 copies of two comic book series around the world.
Ditrich, who has a BA Degree in Professional Writing from the University of Canberra and who has worked extensively in publishing throughout her career “happily stumbled upon comics by accident” and found that the medium completely suited her story-telling style. “Of all the series we have worked on, Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed is the most personal and the most significant. It’s an underwater love story between two beloved characters. What makes this property different is that our characters are a fusion of elves and mermaids, and the story is set completely underwater unlike many other mermaid stories where the characters usually venture onto land.”
The WMA where the SPECIAL PREVIEW will be launched, will attract people from all over the globe who identify with the “mer” subculture and community (ie. professional mermaids – aquatic performers, amateur mermaids who don and swim in tails), as well as artists, writers and other people fascinated in mermaid mythology or who just want to have some fun at this exciting event.
“We’ve established a great relationship with the WMA because Jozef designed the logo,“ says Ditrich, “We hope that the WMA attendees will love the PREVIEW of our comic which introduces the world of Elf~Threaal and some of its inhabitants and which features 24 pages of hand-painted art and story. It‘s essentially the first Act and the first half of the first issue within the first Elf~Fin series.”
The Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed World Mermaid Awards Limited Edition will ONLY be sold at MerCon during the WMA event. However, the team released an original limited edition of 250 copies in May which come with a Certificate of Authenticity and which has nearly sold out. Sales have come predominantly from the USA, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. To order a copy go to http://elf-fin.com
To join the Elf~Fin-Official Site FaceBook page go to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ElfFin-Official-Site/92830851199
To join the conversation on Twitter: @BlackMermaid
CLICK HERE to check out the World Mermaid Awards.
