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Catalyst Prime's Final Two Launch Titles – And An Uncovered History Of The New Imprint

Like many comics news sites, Bleeding Cool has been running announcements about the launch titles for Catalyst Prime, the new superhero line from Lion Forge with an all-star creative team lineup and an emphasis on diversity, both character and creator.

But unlike other sites, Bleeding Cool has noticed that for many of the announced titles, there were previous versions, previously announced by Lion Forge with different creative teams, and plenty of art created from three or four years ago, a few of which were published.

To that point, Lion Forge's Joe Illidge, who will now be the keynote speaker at this Friday's inaugural Comic Creator's Conference (C3) ahead of Long Beach Comic Expo, has provided Bleeding Cool with the following statement.

"Like all things in superhero comics, there are secret origins.

The Catalyst Prime superhero universe, is no exception.

When President Geoff Gerber brought me on board to be the Senior Editor for Lion Forge, one of my first jobs was to get Catalyst Prime back on track. Several books had been released, but they hadn't been on a regular schedule and they reflected the inconsistent efforts of a novice publisher. So, I reached out to various creators who had worked on the previous books to see if they wanted to remain involved.

A handful of creators respectfully declined to return, based on their workloads and creative endeavors. We accepted.

Others, like Joe Casey, were available to continue. We decided that, the best approach to creating a great and lasting superhero universe, offering something different to everyone, would be to start from the ground up, with a strong foundation that would not require readers to know anything about the previous books and that would not require our new creators to tie themselves to concepts, storylines, and artistic decisions that did not originate with them. I was thankful to receive the support from upper management on this.

So this Catalyst Prime is new, with a brain trust of writers, a group of creators, and an inclusive company dedicated to making the best superhero comic books, and creating a world that will stand the test of time in popular fiction."

Hopefully that will include Jason Johnson, previously of the first version of Noble, who is waiting for a call.

Two other books were announced, Astonisher by Alex De Campi and Pop Mhan…

Astonisher follows Magnus Atitarn, a highly successful man of industry until he fails to stop an asteroid headed for Earth. His near-fatal attempt leaves him in ruins but with the power to read minds, and he uses this power and the prototype Astonisher technology to become a superhero.

And Summit by Amanda Chu and Jan Duursema.

Dr. Valentina Resnick-Baker is one of the most brilliant minds of the Catalyst Prime Universe. The doctor has a Masters in Materials Science, and a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics, for starters. She had a good life teaching plasma fusion at the MIT Aero Astro, a girlfriend who loved her, and the respect and admiration of her employer Lorena Payan, CEO of the Foresight Corporation.

One year after The Event that introduces the means for super powers to the world, Val is the only known survivor of the mission that she took on with four other astronauts and Mission Control to stop an asteroid from destroying the Earth.

How Val survived, and her personal struggle to deal with the aftermath of the mission is at the core of Summit.

Other announced titles are Noble, Accel, Superb, Kino and Incidentals…

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