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And…the news just keeps coming, as multi pronged telecom IDT has acquired a controlling interest in comics publisher IDW. Some hint of this development was dropped recently when IDT VP Clifford Meth switched over to become a VP at IDW.

IDT Internet Mobile Group (IMG), a division of IDT Corporation, has formed Zedge Studios to develop and license digital content for distribution through web and mobile platforms. Additionally, IMG has acquired a controlling interest in IDW Publishing (www.idwpublishing.com), a leading independent comics publisher pre-eminent in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, boasting such high-profile titles as The Transformers, 30 Days of Night, CSI, Star Trek, 24, and Scarface.

Moshe Berger, formerly CEO of IDT Entertainment, which was sold to Liberty Media in 2006, is now working towards making IDT’s Internet Mobile Group an industry leader. “We have seen the explosion of digital content, especially user-generated content, over a variety of platforms,” said Mr. Berger, IMG CEO and head of Zedge Studios. “This is what the new generation of consumers craves. Our intention is for Zedge Studios to become the worldwide destination for content on the web and on mobile devices. IDW Publishing’s stellar reputation in the comics and graphic novel arenas and its emphasis on original intellectual properties in the action and horror genres are a perfect fit for Zedge Studios. Working closely with IDW’s brilliant management and creative team will bring us one step closer to achieving our global goal.”

An established leader in the comic book and graphic novel marketplace, IDW Publishing has been named “Publisher of the Year” by Diamond Comic Distributors for the previous three years. In keeping with that honor, IDW maintains a commitment to nurturing original content from its dynamic creative roster. For instance, Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and his Ghost House Pictures optioned the rights to 30 Days of Night from IDW Publishing and are producing the live-action feature film adaptation of the original horror work, published by IDW and created by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. Columbia Pictures is scheduled to release the film, which stars Josh Hartnett, in October.

“I’m proud of the growth we’ve achieved at IDW over the last eight years and very excited to be working with IDT and IMG’s Zedge Studios to catapult our company into new territories,” said IDW co-founder and CEO Ted Adams. “We look forward to the expanded opportunities that this new business relationship will produce for our existing and future properties.”

In December of 2006, IMG announced its acquisition of Zedge (www.zedge.net), a popular social networking community for mobile users and provider of free mobile content which recently topped the five million member mark. Zedge Studios will capitalize and build upon that loyal user base by developing, acquiring and financing intellectual property (IP) for distribution over multiple channels, including Zedge.net. The site hosts a wealth of complimentary content and tools for mobile phones, with over 250 million pieces of content already downloaded. Zedgers generate, upload, download, or view and share wallpaper, themes, videos, ringtones, games and other free mobile content. Zedge also hosts a robust social community and its blog, zedgeheadz (http://blog.zedge.net), focuses on the world of mobile content.

About IDW:
IDW Publishing is an established leader in the comic book and graphic novel marketplace, particularly in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres. IDW lists some of the most successful and print titles in the industry among its portfolio, including: television’s #1 prime time series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Sony’s Underworld; Paramount’s Star Trek; Fox’s 24; Hasbro’s The Transformers; Universal’s Scarface, Land of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead; and Konami’s Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Metal Gear Solid. The company also works with foreign licensing agents to sell their comics around the world, with titles being published in multiple languages and crossing dozens of regions.

About IDT Internet Mobile Group/Zedge Studios:
IDT Internet Mobile Group’s (IMG) Zedge Studios develops and licenses original content for distribution through online and mobile platforms. Zedge Studios encompasses Zedge.net, the Norway-based user-generated mobile content and social networking community acquired in December, 2006. IDT Internet Mobile Group is part of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), a multinational company with operations in telecommunications and other industries.

About IDT Corporation
IDT Corporation is an innovative and opportunity seeking multinational company with operations that span various industries. Through its Telecom subsidiary, IDT provides telecommunications services worldwide to the retail and wholesale markets. IDT’s Capital division incubates newer businesses, and the company’s Spectrum subsidiary holds its spectrum license assets. IDT Telecom provides retail and wholesale telecommunications services and products, including pre-paid and rechargeable calling cards, consumer local, long distance, and wireless phone services, and wholesale carrier services. Under the Net2Phone brand name, the company also provides a range of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) communications services. IDT Capital’s operations include an Energy Services Company (ESCO) in New York State, receivables portfolio management and collection, ethnic food distribution, brochure distribution and other initiatives. IDT Corporation’s Class B Common Stock and Common Stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT and IDT.C, respectively.

More info here.

Thursday, July 26

3:00pm-4:00pm: Zombies vs Robots (including the debut of the Zombies
vs Robots HC)
• Chris Ryall
• Ashley Wood

Friday, July 27

3:00pm-4:00pm: Star Trek and Angel (including the debut of Star Trek:
Year Four #1 and Focus On… Star Trek)
• Brian Lynch (Spike: Asylum, Spike: Shadow Puppets)
• Joe Corroney (Star Trek: Year Four, Star Trek Klingons: Blood Will
Tell)
• Casey Maloney (Star Trek TNG: The Space Between)
• Dan Taylor (Star Trek editor)
• David Tipton (Star Trek Klingons: Blood Will Tell)
• Scott Tipton (Star Trek Klingons: Blood Will Tell, Angel: Auld
Lang Syne)
• David Tischman (Star Trek: Year Four, Star Trek TNG: The Space
Between)

4:00pm-5:00pm: Fallen Angel (including the debut of the Fallen Angel
Premiere Edition HC)
• Peter David
• J.K. Woodward

Saturday, July 28

10:00am: 30 Days of Night (including the con-exclusive 30 Days of
Night: Red Snow/Beyond Barrow promo comic, and Beyond Barrow and 30
Days of Night movie posters)
• Steve Niles
• Ben Templesmith
• David Slade (Director, 30 Days of Night)
• Bill Sienkiewicz (30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow)

11am–1pm: Simmons Comics Group (including the con-exclusive Nick
Simmons’ Skullduggery comic)
• Gene Simmons
• Nick Simmons

3:00pm-4:00pm: The Transformers
• Don Figueroa (Transformers Movie Prequel, Beast Wars)
• Simon Furman (Transformers: Escalation, Transformers Movie
Prequel, Beast Wars)
• Eric Holmes (Megatron Origin)
• Alex Milne (Transformers Movie Adaptation, Megatron Origin)
• E.J Su (Transformers: Infiltration, Escalation)

4:00pm-5:00pm: Zombies vs Robots (including the debut of the Zombies
vs Robots HC)
• Chris Ryall
• Ashley Wood

It seems Clifford Meth’s new position at IDW is already yielding fruit: a new prose collection of Harlan Ellison’s writing entitled Yr. Pal, Harlan is due for spring of 2008 from IDW.

IDW Publishing is proud to announce its intention to publish Harlan Ellison’s Yr. Pal, Harlan, which is scheduled for release in May, 2008. Yr. Pal, Harlan collects more than a decade of the Grand Master’s selected digital letters and postings from Ellison Webderland (www.harlanellison.com), Ellison’s official home on the Internet.

“Harlan Ellison is one of the greatest writers of the last half century,” said Clifford Meth, IDW’s EVP of Editorial. “While he is recognized internationally as a master storyteller spanning multiple genres, his essays have also received the highest accolades and awards. We felt it was high time that someone collected Harlan’s digital letters, which reveal another 313 equally entertaining and controversial sides of this important world author.”

Yr. Pal, Harlan will contain more than 80,000 words of original, never-before-published Ellison material: Ellison on courtesy; Ellison on Star Trek; Ellison on the Horrors of the Internet; Ellison on the First Amendment; Ellison on Television and Film; Ellison on Everything. He just won’t shut up, and apparently cannot be contained.

“For five decades, legions of readers have been enlightened, inspired and outraged by the unique voice that is Harlan Ellison,” said Meth. “As one of those readers, I guarantee this collection will more than entertain those legions… it will be a new favorite.”

Ellison’s response to this hyperbole: “It’s an okay book, I suppose. Better than a poke in the eye with a flaming ingot.”

It will be a very busy con for the #5 comics publisher, with 30 Days of Night and much more on the horizon:

Comic-Con attendees will be the first to see artist Ben Templesmith’s first go-it-alone “30 Days of Night” project with the release of “30 Days of Night: Red Snow”—just before the original “30 Days of Night” story hits movie theaters in October.

· “30 Days of Night” co-creator Steve Niles will be previewing his new 30 Days of Night title, “Beyond Barrow,” with art by industry legend Bill Sienkiewicz. Niles will also be appearing alongside Templesmith on the “30 Days of Night” movie panel and signing autographs at the IDW booth.

· Rock-legend Gene Simmons’ son Nick Simmons, who is the breakout star of “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” on the A&E Network, will debut “Nick Simmons’ Skullduggery,” written and illustrated exclusively by Nick.

· Copies of an exclusive “Beowulf” promo comic book will preview the coming weekly miniseries, which is inspired by the Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Shangri-La Entertainment movie that hits theaters this November.

Exclusive “30 Days of Night: Red Snow” Debuts at Comic-Con
Artist Ben Templesmith, one of comics’ fastest-rising stars, makes his debut as both artist and writer in the nightmarish world of vampires at Comic-Con 2007—premiering “30 Days of Night: Red Snow #1.” Co-creator of “30 Days of Night” and “Fell,” Templesmith goes it alone on this gritty, three-part tale.

“30 Days of Night: Red Snow” is set half a century before “30 Days of Night,” the horrifying vampire tale from IDW Publishing that shocked the comic book world in 2002 and quickly became a bona-fide smash hit. Created by writer Steve Niles and artist Templesmith, “30 Days of Night” was the terrifying story of a small Alaskan town overrun by vampires during thirty sunless days of the harsh northern winter. This October, “30 Days of Night” will frighten movie-going audiences with the much-anticipated motion picture adaptation from Sony Pictures, directed by David Slade, best known for directing “Hard Candy,” and starring Josh Hartnett, who also acted in “Sin City,” based on the graphic novel of the same name.

“30 Days of Night: Red Snow,” the first prequel miniseries in the “30 Days of Night” comic book series, is set during World War II. The story follows a British military attaché who is assigned to get aid through Stalin’s frontline troops, all while the Russian winter grows more threatening. However, he finds survival even more difficult than anticipated when an unexpected element—which is much more adept at killing humans than humans are—adds itself to the mix.

In addition to the 28-page story, the exclusive Comic-Con edition of “30 Days of Night: Red Snow #1” includes an exclusive foil-stamped cover by Templesmith; behind-the-scenes artwork; and a 5-page preview of “30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow,” written by Steve Niles and illustrated by industry legend Bill Sienkiewicz.

Templesmith, a Featured Guest at this year’s Comicon whose stylish art has set a new standard in comics horror, will be available for interviews throughout Comic-Con. A Spotlight on Ben Templesmith panel will take place Friday, July 27th at 6 PM.

“30 Days of Night” Co-Creator Steve Niles Debuts New Project at Comic-Con
Writer Steve Niles, one of the most acclaimed comic book writers responsible for the resurgence in the popularity of horror comics, will be appearing at Comic-Con and showing a preview of his latest title, “30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow.” Niles will be working with award-winning artist Bill Sienkiewicz on this title. “Beyond Barrow” revisits the scene of the original “30 Days of Night,” and introduces an entirely new threat to that town’s denizens.

Niles will also be attending Sony’s “30 Days of Night” movie panel, and signing comics and movie posters in the IDW booth.

Gene and Nick Simmons Release New Work at Comic-Con
Earlier this year, IDW Publishing partnered with rock-legend Gene Simmons, of KISS fame, to create the Simmons Comics Group, an imprint within IDW’s stable of comics. Now, at Comic-Con 2007, “Nick Simmons’ Skullduggery” will be debuted. This comic, which will debut in its entirety later this year, is written and illustrated by Nick Simmons, Gene Simmons’17-year-old son and star in his own right—thanks to the smash-hit “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” on the A&E Network. The exclusive comic will also preview pages from the line of Simmons Comics Group titles, too. Gene and Nick Simmons are both available for interviews on Friday during Comic-Con.

“Beowulf” Preview Released at Comic-Con
“Beowulf,” the ancient epic poem, will receive its most spectacular adaptation of all this November, in the form of a major motion picture from Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Shangri-La Entertainment, with an all-star cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover, and Angelina Jolie. In turn, the spectacular new motion picture has inspired a comic book adaptation from IDW Publishing.

In four weekly installments in October, writer Chris Ryall, who is also IDW Publishing’s publisher and editor-in-chief; artist Gabriel Rodriguez; and colorist Jay Fotos—the creative team also behind “Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show”—will release an adaptation of the movie, working directly from the screenplay written by Neil Gaiman & Roger Avary.

And, as a special bonus, Paramount Pictures will hand out more than 200,000 copies of an exclusive 8-page “Beowulf” promo-comic book at Comic-Con, which will preview the miniseries to come.