Mike Kunkel's Astonish Comics (Herobear) has joined forces with Blue Dream Studios, a 3-D animation studio owned by Scott Christian Sava.  The new company, named The Astonish Factory, will be made up of four divisions: Astonish Comics, Astonish Books, Astonish Toys, and Astonish Studios.

The publishing divisions -- Astonish Comics and Astonish Books -- will publish over 20 new comics and books in 2004.  Titles for 2004 include a new Herobear and the Kid story arc; a children's book by Kunkel and Randy Heuser called The Land of Sokmunster; a comic series compiling Ted Dawson's syndicated cartoon strip Spooners; and the start of an epic 24-issue fantasy series from Sava called Dreamland Chronicles, which will be rendered in full 3-D graphic splendor.

Astonish Studios will be dedicated to developing the Astonish Factory's intellectual properties into animation for TV, feature films, and video games, while Astonish Toys will focus on developing plush, action figures, and statues based on its properties.

The first Astonish Factory releases are slated for December 2003 and will include The Land of Sokmunster children's book, a 7-inch plush toy figure of Spike the Sokmunster, and The Dreamland Chronicles from Sava, who was the artist on Spider-Man: Quality Of Life.