CrossGen Entertainment announced today that it has signed a deal with Mania Entertainment, the publisher of Cinescape Magazine. Under terms of the agreement CrossGen will supply a 32-page comic supplement that will be stitched into the center of each issue of Cinescape Magazine starting with the May 2003 cover date issue, which will feature a special edition of CrossGen's Way of the Rat #1. The Cinescape supplement comics will appear in the Traveler trim size rather than in the larger standard comic book format. In addition to at least 22 pages of story, the Cinescape Way of the Rat #1 will also include some never before seen artwork and some film development sketches commissioned for the movie version of Way of the Rat (see 'CrossGen Announces Movie/TV Deals'), which is being directed by Chuck Russell (The Mask, Eraser, The Scorpion King).
In addition to CrossGen's comics that are currently in development as motion pictures or TV series, the agreement also allows Mania Entertainment to co-create with CrossGen original comics for Cinescape's exclusive use in its pages, and a partnership to deliver those original comics to the marketplace in the form of graphic novels.