Okay. I received a press release yesterday informing me that Liam Sharp (of Frank Frazzeta's Death Dealer fame), Dave Gibbons (of Watchmen acclaim) and a new entity to comic books Ben Wolstenholme, CEO of Moving Brands, are launching "a revolutionary publishing tool for the moving world". It is called Madefire and suggests that they are to be a new and innovative force in comics. I have looked around the ol' web for more info than I had been provided but I still have a question: What the hell is Madefire? It seems that whilst there has been publicity the Madefire crew are keeping their lips tightly shut about what it is that they are going to be bringing to us, the worldwide Geek crew. I know this much for sure. Each of the team have developed a creator-owned character and comic title that will be a part of the launch. Three new comic franchises to be discovered. Cool. They have my attention. My searches around the web bring up lots of bloggers spouting the same reconstituted information that is supplied on Liam Sharp's personal site. Sharp and Wolstenholme grew up together. They are both creatives and kept running into each other across the years. The standard paths of publishing are financially prohibitive for anyone wanting to publish their own small-run comics. All interesting info. But nowhere can I find out if this hype-bubble is anything more than that. An empty bubble. Merely attempting to build up an Image Comics for the digital era. Comic artists and writers veering away from the Big Two (Marvel & DC) to have freedom and control over their own creator-owned titles. Been there. Done that. I am all for fighting the powers-that-be and backing individuals who want to get their independent art out to the masses. This post is being written by a self-funded feature filmmaker. This is what gets me out of bed each morning. But when someone states "They (Sharp & Wolstenholme) have spent the past two years developing a digital publishing tool for sequential storytelling, set to revolutionize the comic industry through the use of iPads and tablets"I expect an actual revolution. What is this all about? What is the big secret that Madefire are concealing? How are they going to take on the big boys? Is there even a secret? Now, I have been offered the chance for an interview, but I have a more creative idea. As I am unable to attend the heaven that is Comic-Con 2011 I am putting out a call to all of my fellow comic Geeks! Let me, let the world know what Madefire is all about. What do you see? What is the revolution? What do you think about all of this? Are you going to become a Madefire groupie? Go to stand #4902 and be my eyes (Gibbons will be there for signing at 4pm on Saturday 24th July if you want an extra incentive). I am looking forward to reading all of your spectacular and informed comments. (I really am hoping that this Madefire thing is going to turn out to be the industry powder keg that it purports to be. I want to be slapped by something new. Either way, I am looking forward to discovering some original characters and seeing if my collection can expand yet again). You can also check out the highly uninformative: http://www.madefire.com