SDCC 2015: Dark Horse Announces Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare By Tobin And Chabot

06/30/2015 10:46am
Bleeding Cool Exclusive: SDCC '15: Dark Horse Announces Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare By Tobin And Chabot

By Hannah Means Shannon
The Plants vs. Zombies line of comics at Dark Horse has been going strong, with Bully For You having only recently arrived in June. Paul Tobin has really made his mark on the feel of the series with his madcap frenetic movement of plots drawing in a wide cast. Today, as one of their SDCC announcements, Dark Horse is happy to reveal that Paul Tobin will be joined by artist Jacob Chabot for Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, set as a prequel to the game Garden Warfare 2, arriving on October 28th 2015 for its first issue. We’ve also heard that the series is going to make a splash at San Diego Comic-Con through being featured on display art at the Dark Horse booth.
We’ve got an exclusive reveal on some of the covers of the series for you to accompany this interview with both Tobin and Chabot on their new project.

The Plants vs. Zombies line of comics at Dark Horse has been going strong, with Bully For You having only recently arrived in June. Paul Tobin has really made his mark on the feel of the series with his madcap frenetic movement of plots drawing in a wide cast. Today, as one of their SDCC announcements, Dark Horse is happy to reveal that Paul Tobin will be joined by artist Jacob Chabot for Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, set as a prequel to the game Garden Warfare 2, arriving on October 28th 2015 for its first issue. We’ve also heard that the series is going to make a splash at San Diego Comic-Con through being featured on display art at the Dark Horse booth.

We’ve got an exclusive reveal on some of the covers of the series for you to accompany this interview with both Tobin and Chabot on their new project.


Hannah Means-Shannon: Hi Paul! What was the very first Plants vs. Zombies story you ever wrote and what were some of the challenges thereof?

Paul Tobin: It was the first installment of what became the Lawnmageddon collection, and the main challenge was to take what was essentially a tower defense game, and make an ongoing story out of it. When I took the job, only the very first Plants vs. Zombies game had been released, so the reference material for the story was literally nothing more than “various plants shoot at various zombies who march towards them in straight lines across a specific backyard.” So… not a lot to go on.

Fortunately, that meant I could create the entire world. First, I needed a grander setting, so the city of Neighborville was born. Then, I started mulling around with Crazy Dave as a main character, and immediately ran into a problem. He’s crazy! And his speech is gobbledygook! So, I invented Patrice Blazing, his niece, as someone who could actually understand him. And then Patrice need a zombie-fighting friend, so I went with the slightly-muddled Nate Timely, and everything just sort of blossomed from this groundwork.

HMS: What are some strategies you’d suggest for making characters both sinister and humorous at the same time? Where do you draw that line? Is there one?

PT: What I try to do is establish the villains (Zomboss, in this case) as trying to achieve some pretty horrific goals but only by humorous means. I mean, in the end, these guys are literally trying to eat brains! But, they’re bumbling, and ego-centric, and easily distracted, and not at all sane, so there’s plenty of ways to make it all in good fun. As far as boundaries in PvZ, I stay away from anyone getting actually hurt. Well, the zombies get whoomped a lot, but they’re zombies and can just put their heads back on.

Read the full interview at Bleeding Cool!

Official Dark Horse Press Release:

GET THE EXCLUSIVE STORY BEHIND DR. ZOMBOSS’S CAPTURE OF SUBURBIA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MILWAUKIE, OR—Blooming out of the worldwide success—over one million copies sold!—of Plants vs. Zombies™: Lawnmageddon, Plants vs. Zombies: Timepocalypse, and the newPlants vs. Zombies ongoing series comes a new comic masterpiece, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare!

In the first Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare video game from Electronic Arts, Dr. Zomboss and his legions of zombie minions attacked the lush plant utopia of Suburbia. In the recently announced Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2, zombies have taken over, and now, for the first time in franchise history, the plants are on the attack. Delivering a story taking place between Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare and Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2, the Garden Warfare comic has the exclusive reveal of how Dr. Zomboss conquered Suburbia. The evil-genius leader is up to a whole new set of tricks—and this time, he’s succeeding, thanks to his mighty Imp and Z-Mech! But hope remains, as our zombie-battling champs Nate and Patrice discover horticultural help from the future and the past, and Crazy Dave misses out on an ice-cream cruise!

“We’re excited to partner with Dark Horse Comics to tell the origin story of how Dr. Zomboss came to power in Suburbia,” said Jeremy Vanhoozer, senior creative director at PopCap Games. “This pivotal moment in Plants vs. Zombies history is entertaining and hilarious, and will draw readers into this crazy world with these over-the-top characters like never before. I can’t wait for fans to get their hands on this new series.”

Written by Eisner-winning comic genius Paul Tobin (author of previous PVZ comics and about a billion more titles) with art by artistic wunderkind Jacob Chabot (The Mighty Skullboy Army and many others), this series that takes PVZ and you on a highway to the danger zone of awesome fun hits the stands on October 28, 2015!

The print editions of Plants vs. Zombies: Timepocalypse, Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon, and The Art of Plants vs. Zombies are available now in finer comic shops and bookstores! Plus, all three books are available for download today from Digital.DarkHorse.com!

Praise for Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon and Timepocalypse:

“Laugh-out-loud funny.”—IGN

“Charming, enjoyable, and wholly worthy of the Plants vs. Zombies name.”—GamesRadar

“This series would appeal to anyone who enjoyed the game and I would say this is suitable for young readers as well as old.”—How to Love Comics

Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare #1
Paul Tobin (W), Jacob Chabot (A)
$2.99
On sale Oct. 28, FOC Oct. 5.

Read the exclusive interview with Paul Tobin and Jacob Chabot on BleedingCool.com

Tags

dark horse comics sdcc paul press release Tobin vs. bleeding cool plants zombies pvz garden warfare 2015 SDCC2015, Jacob Chabot,
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