Comic News: IDW Enters the Nanosphere

New graphic novel based on Smith & Tinker's online digital monster game, Nanovor, includes code for free in-game items

Inspired by Smith & Tinker’s new digital battling game, IDW Publishing will release the graphic novel Nanovor: Game Day in February 2010. In Nanovor, ancient silicon monsters have resurfaced in our computers to battle it out online and in handheld gaming devices called Nanoscopes. The game’s back-story sets the stage for a unique graphic novel that follows teenager Lucas Nelson and his friends through a fantastic battle all their own. Plus, hidden inside each issue of Nanovor: Game Day is a code that unlocks in-game content, including a new Nanovor.

Lucas Nelson, a Hanover High student, accidentally discovers the Nanovor living inside his computer while looking for dust mites. Together with his best friends, whom he calls the Lab Rats, and his science professor Mr. Sapphire, Lucas quickly learns all about the oldest living creatures on Earth. These silicon-based life forms require immense amounts of adrenaline to survive in our oxygen-based atmosphere, and must battle each other constantly. In order to help the creatures stay alive, Lucas and Mr. Sapphire invent a device, the Nanoscope, that allows humans to observe and interact with the Nanovor.

In Nanovor: Game Day, IDW and Smith & Tinker offer gaming fans another exciting way to enjoy this great new property. In the graphic novel, Lucas and the Lab Rats are gearing up for a weekend of Nanovor battles until another crew, the notorious Snake Pit, tries to take over. Nanovor: Game Day also features a hidden code that can be redeemed online for free in-game items, including a Nanovor.

“Nanovor: Game Day has easily been one of my favorite books to edit since I’ve been at IDW,” said IDW editor Tom Waltz. “The creators, across the board, have taken a fun new property, ripe with imaginative possibilities, and hit a grand slam. Tons of action, real drama, and plenty of laugh-inducing humor from start to finish. I really believe readers are going to be as pleasantly surprised as I’ve been by this great comic book story.”

Writer Erik Burnham (Nick Landime) and artist Felipe Torrent, along with colorist Jon Alderink, team up to bring Nanovor: Game Day to life, expertly shaping the story of these amazing creatures and the precocious humans they interact with. Cover art comes courtesy of Anton Bogaty, with an art gallery from German Torres and Torrent.

Nanovor: Game Day ($11.99, 104 pages) will be available in February 2010. ISBN: 978-1-60010-602-6; Diamond order code DEC09 0941.