PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Actor Thomas Jane is an unabashed lover of comic books.
So much so that not only did he play Marvel Entertainment's Punisher in a film and voice DC's Jonah Hex in an animated short, but he also wrote the six-issue miniseries "Bad Planet" with Steve Niles.
He also formed Raw Studios with artist Tim Bradstreet to develop more comic book tales, too.
The studio — which has published titles under its own imprint and for Image Comics — is making the leap to digital on Wednesday, with the "Dark Country" graphic novel.
Jane, who stars in HBO's "Hung," has a soft spot for the work given that he turned the Tab Murphy-written short story into a 2009 film. It was his directorial debut and he starred in it, too.
So when it came to putting Raw Studios titles out digitally, "Dark Country" was the first choice for himself and Bradstreet to premiere exclusively on Comixology, the company founded in 2007 that has gone on to power many comic publishers' digital offerings while working with physical retailers, too.
"Dark Country has long been a passion project of mine. In 2009, I was able to make the film a reality. And today, with Thomas Ott's amazing (art) work, we're now able to release the Dark Country graphic novel exclusively with Comixology," Jane said.
Bradstreet said the digital graphic novel is different from the film, which is the aim of releasing it through Comixology.
"Looking at that package and seeing it come out, I think that's an Eisner-worthy book," he said, referring to the comic industry awards. "I think it's the best thing we've ever done."
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