Eric P. Sherman and his team at Bang Zoom! Studios announce the release of the first of nine episodes in a series of audiocomics called “The Strange Thing About…” The initial installment, “The Strange Thing About Billy,” is a horror themed tale and will be released at midnight on Halloween eve.
Sherman created it because as a filmmaker he loves telling stories both visually and auditorily. He said, “One day I realized: we’ve got all the audio tools at our fingertips and amazing voice talent here in LA so why not tell some stories using only sound, like an old time radio play!” According to Sherman it is a whole lot less expensive and time consuming than shooting a film. He continued, “I’ve listened to tons of radio dramas from the ‘40’s and ‘50’s like ‘Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,’ ‘The Shadow,’ ‘Lights Out’ and of course the Mercury Theater stuff, and have I always loved the way you can see everything happening, much like watching a movie or TV show in your mind’s eye — which you can “watch” even while driving or working out.”
The idea for the audiocomic came from his love of surprising people and, admittedly, sometimes scaring them through his work. “I just love getting reactions,” said Sherman. But this particular idea came straight out of real life. He stated, “I have a little boy and all he wants to do is play video games… 24/7 if he could. And he’s actually said some pretty disturbing stuff when he’s playing. This is an actual conversation we’ve had:
Me: Come on, kiddo, time to get going now.
My son: Hang on Dad! Just gotta kill one more guy. “
Sherman continues, “And I stopped and thought. Wow. He really just said he has to “KILL” one more person. Out of context that is just so morbid, of course. But even in the proper context, its pretty damn disturbing, you know? Its like, what is happening to our society where a kid can just say that nonchalantly and without a second thought.”
He added, “Another line of dialogue that was straight out of my life another time when my son did not want to be interrupted while playing a video game: “You. Are. So. Annoying!”
The audiocomics are his own personal fulfillment. “I like touching people through creativity – to make them laugh, cry, jump, get creeped out, and to think. If I can do that in some way as much as possible throughout my life, I will die happily, he said. Future episodes will keep going in this vein and they are already working on them at the studio.
Please listen to it… if you dare! As your happy haunting host, I do want to urge you not to listen to this all alone in the DEAD of night. Some have not heeded my words of advice, and were never heard from again. Of course, Billy might have had something to do with that. You see, he’s desperately looking for someone to play with. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Something Strange About…
About BANG ZOOM! AUDIOCOMICS
Creating pictures with sound has been one of our greatest passions for over 20 years. We’ve finally combined our love of telling stories through audio with our love for comic books in this new series of #audiocomics. We hope you enjoy this first one as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it. From script to casting to recording to sound design and scoring to final mix… freshly “printed’ from our studios straight to your ears. (Hope you washed ‘em!) And if we manage to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up as you begin to realize what is about to unfold… well, we’ve done our job.
Stay tuned for more of our THE STRANGE THING ABOUT… series of audiocomics coming to this exact spot by the end of the year.
About BANG ZOOM! STUDIOS
Bang Zoom! is an Emmy® Award winning post production studio in Burbank, California. They specialize in handcrafted anime dubs and audio for video games, animation of all sorts and top rated network TV shows and film festival films. Some of their recent credits include Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s Spider-man, Amazon’s Lost in Oz, NCIS, Supergirl, The Flash, Mattel’s Barbie, LEGO Friends, Shopkins, Resident Evil: Vendetta, One Punch Man, Sword Art Online, Hunter X Hunter, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Mob Psycho 100, Friday the 13th: The Game, Ace Combat 7 and King’s Quest…
