Warframe and Top Cow Partner on Original Comic Series

WARFRAME CREATOR DIGITAL EXTREMES PARTNERS WITH TOP COW ON ORIGINAL COMIC SERIES

Get the First Exclusive Edition at TennoCon 2017 This July 

LONDON, ON – May 30, 2017 – Leading up to its second annual Warframe^® fan convention, TennoCon 2017, independent game developer and publisher Digital Extremes announced today it has partnered with famed indie label Top Cow Comics to create an original Warframe comic series. Based on source material from the cooperative online action game and in collaboration with the Warframe development team, the series is written by Top Cow President/COO and Writer Matt Hawkins (Think Tank, The Tithe, Aphrodite IX) and Top Cow Editor Ryan Cady. An exclusive Con edition of Issue #1 will be distributed for the first time to all TennoCon attendees for free on Saturday, July 8.

This five-issue series expands the Warframe universe with intriguing new characters and original locations, and offers an imaginative character-driven tone to Warframe players and comic book fans alike. The narrative hinges on the lone Warframe, Excalibur, who is determined to protect a blinded young girl, the last survivor of a recently destroyed village on Earth. Seasoned Tenno may even find hints to future game updates in the series not yet revealed in the Warframe universe.

"I was immediately attracted to Warframe because of its storyline," said Top Cow President/COO and Writer Matt Hawkins. "For a writer, it's a very fertile place to create something fresh, from the mysterious Tenno origins to the faction battles to the Grineer Queens and more. It's a fantastic universe where I have lost many late night hours playing the game."

When Digital Extremes sought an experienced, gamer-savvy comic book publisher that could handle the complex, evolving Warframe universe and transpose it into the comic book medium, its first stop was with Top Cow. A leading independent comic book publisher with hits ranging from original titles such as Witchblade and The Darkness, Top Cow's keen understanding of the comic book scene and its ability to consistently recruit top level artist and writers has enabled the company to thrive and succeed for more than 25 years. Digital Extremes has worked with Top Cow on more than one occasion, creating an original comic book for the company's original game property, Dark Sector, along with collaboration in developing the video game based on the licensed comic book hit, The Darkness II.

"Matt and his team at Top Cow understand how to handle original story material with a sense of purpose, subtlety and urgency," said Sheldon Carter, studio head, Digital Extremes. "Their full embrace and understanding of the Warframe universe won us over and we couldn't be prouder of this first issue."

TennoCon attendees will have the opportunity to hear Hawkins speak in person at the TennoCon Panel, "Making of the first Warframe Comic." While TennoCon attendees will be the first to receive the exclusive Con issue, San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic-Con attendees also have a chance to grab the Con exclusive free copy from the Top Cow booth. The Warframe comic will release to retail in October 2017.

For more information about Warframe and to download it for free on PC, Xbox One or PS4, visit the official website at warframe.com.

ABOUT TOP COW COMICS
Top Cow Productions, Inc. (http://www.topcow.com/), a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, who also co-founded Image Comics earlier that same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The 2008 film WANTED, starring Angelina Jolie, the TNT TV series Witchblade, the Japanese anime Witchblade and the two The Darkness video games for XBOX 360 and PS3 are all based on Top Cow properties.  The company has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die-cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games, and roleplaying games.

ABOUT DIGITAL EXTREMES
Founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, Digital Extremes ranks as one of the world's top independent video game development studios. Originating with the co-creation of Epic Games' multi-million unit selling Unreal® franchise including Unreal, Unreal Tournament – and all its iterations – Digital Extremes went on to develop Dark Sector®, BioShock® for the PlayStation®3, the BioShock 2 multi-player campaign, and The Darkness® II. The studio reached its greatest critical and commercial success with the free-to-play action game, Warframe®, boasting a global community of more than 26 million registered players on PC, PS4™ and Xbox One. For more information about Digital Extremes, visit www.digitalextremes.com. To sign up for Warframe, visit www.warframe.com.