Scout Comics will launch RantCPU, a new comic series introducing the No One Is Safe transmedia universe, which will also include a video game, board game, trading cards, and other products, in late November. The IP is being launched by Liithos in partnership with comedian Joe Machi, who will serve as voice talent on the video game.
Michael Mumbauer, Founder and CEO of Liithos, which will release the video game, explained the concept.
“The lens of everything we’re doing is to picture everything LIITHOS is making as basically coming from the mind of this AI, RantCPU,” he said. “The entire brand of No One Is Safe is Rant’s simulation of what he observes humanity doing and what’s important to them. The comic is what’ll make this all clear, it’s the story of the birth of this mischievous bot. So all the things that LIITHOS spawns are the simulations run by Rant, or they’re about Rant and his journey amongst humans.”
The comic will be written by Ken Kristensen (screenwriter on Echo, writer of Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth) with art by his longtime collaborator M.K. Perker (Air; Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth). It’s currently planned for six issues, with plans to extend depending on sales. The Scout release follows a limited direct-to-consumer release of an earlier edition of the comics.
The comic story follows RantCPU, an AI robot created by a hormonal and hyperactive 13-year old, powered by an alien energy source, with a dysfunctional family dealing with typical challenges while facing off against secret agents, Columbian drug cartel refugees, middle grade bullies, self-help gurus, and tobacco executives.
The turn-based strategy party game to follow will have players in a celebrity-driven quest for world domination, where famed personalities are reimagined as factional AI leaders, caricatures amplified by RantCPU’s misunderstandings and misinterpretations, who use outlandish weapons and strategies. Caricatures will include famous figures in politics (Dumpster Donny), history (Siggy Fraud), and pop culture (Ariel Venti), all portrayed with heavy satire and MAD-style parody.
Trading cards are also part of the initial products, with boxes currently available from Leaf. “We worked with Sideshow to produce die-cut, wax pack trading cards, fully emulating the packs of the 80s and 90s,” Liithos Vice President IP and World-Building Nate Murray (a name you may recognize from a side gig, see “Nee, IDW Vets Form Company“) told ICv2. “Sideshow is a U.S. company and hand-built and collated these packs. It’s been a pleasure to work with them.”
That first trading card release has not gone into distribution, but Liithos Vice President Licensing & Brand Marketing Zvee Geffen (formerly of MLBPA and The Topps Company) told ICv2 that the company is finalizing plans with GTS Distribution for the next RantCPU and No One Is Safe card sets.
The company is also developing a board game, Murray explained. “This hasn’t been officially announced, but we’re working with Nate Weisman on a board game now,” he said. “It’s an intriguing gateway game that plays in under an hour; it’s in the same space as Concordia or Catan. There’s a lot of great systems in the game that come together in an interesting way. I’m working on the prototype now and will open up play testing and planning production shortly.”
Other products, and media exploitation, are also planned. Geffen has “…gotten us into a number of announced deals like the weekly drops with Leaf, and we’re in negotiations with some other major partners we hope to announce soon,” Mumbauer told us.
Geffen mentioned a couple of those potential partners. “We’re deep in conversation on a Network television deal that we hope to be able to share soon,” he said. “I also like the work we’ve been doing with Quidd, who’ve been an amazing digital collectibles partner.”
Click Gallery below for comic covers and promotional art!
Source: ICv2
