Image Comics’ 2021 Series Produced By Arancia Studio Takes Home Prestigious Prize
NEW YORK, NY– Arancia Studio is pleased to announce that acclaimed creator Mirka Andolfo (Mercy, Unnatural) has taken home the award for her 2021 series Sweet Paprika, published here in the states by Image Comics, and in Italy by Edizioni Star Comics (Italy’s premier manga publisher) and in France by Éditions Glénat. This is her first-ever award outside of Europe. The sexy, intriguing, new book is produced by Arancia Studio—the Italian media company which continues to develop Mirka Andolfo’s work.
“I cannot say enough how proud I am about this award. Sweet Paprika is a series I enjoyed working on, and it seemed a risk, considering how ‘strange’ it was (the theme, the graphic design…). I feel very grateful to my publishers (Star Comics in Italy, Image Comics in the US, and all the other publishers internationally), and Arancia Studio that produces my work, and my team; in particular Simon Tessuto, Fabio Amelia, Fabrizio Verrocchi, Cristian Posocco, and Steve Orlando. Without them, it wouldn’t be possible! I’m amazed about the reception in America, and winning the Harvey Awards is…well, is a dream. I’d love to go back to child-Mirka to tell her that in the future she’ll come to New York City to get such an important award: she probably would be as happy as I am.”
The series, which outsold Andolfo’s previous Image bestseller, is a sexy rom-com (with reversed roles), Sweet Paprika is Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Sex And The City, with a twist of The Devil Wears Prada: a fun and captivating contemporary fairy tale—halfway between western comic and manga style—and set in a universe populated by angels and devils. The sensual component that constantly recurs in Andolfo’s works gives life to sexy and hilarious scenes, without neglecting the themes dear to the author, such as the harsh reality that career women are forced to live and the difficulty in balancing private life and work.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Mirka. She’s an incredible, talented creator, and we are both happy and honored to produce her books, which have all been huge international successes” says CEO of Arancia Studio, Davide G.G. Caci. “The Harvey Award for Best International book is a recognition of Mirka’s work, and also the work of the whole team, that has allowed our comics to be published in more than 28 countries.”‘
The second volume of Mirka Andolfo’s Harvey Award-winning Sweet Paprika was released this week through Image Comics, and is available at your favorite comic shop or bookstore now.
News of her follow up to Sweet Paprika will be announced at a later date, with all issues and collected volumes of the Harvey Award-winning series also available for purchase across digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.
About the creator:
Mirka Andolfo is an Italian artist and writer, and Art Director at Arancia Studio. Her creator owned series like Mercy, Unnatural, Un/Sacred, and the recent Sweet Paprika are some of the most successful Italian series of the last few years. Published in the USA by Image Comics, her books have been best sellers, with multiple reprints across her work. Her creator-owned works are translated in more than 25 countries throughout the world, and have sold more than 850,000 copies worldwide combined. She has been collaborating with DC Comics since 2015, having lent her pencils to Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Superman vs. Lobo, Catwoman, Bombshells, Teen Titans, Green Arrow, R.W.B.Y., and the recent hit Punchline. In 2020 she became the first Italian creator to work on both story and artwork at DC Comics (Harley Quinn: Black+White+Red). In 2021 she wrote (together with David Goy) the sci-fi limited series Deep Beyond, published in the United States by Image Comics (and currently published in Italy and Germany). She also writes stories for BOOM! Studios (Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, The Amazing World of Gumball), Dynamite (Red Sonja, Red Sitha, together with Luca Blengino), The Walt Disney Company (Daisy and the Mysteries of Paris, together with Luca Blengino) and Marvel Comics (Women of Marvel), for which she also illustrated two issues of the award-winning Ms. Marvel series. She graphically created for the series the character of Red Dagger, who appears in the Marvel Studios’ television series Ms. Marvel, played by Aramis Knight. Together with the writer Sylvain Runberg, she is the creator of The Under York Chronicles (Éditions Glénat), published in France, Italy, and Germany, with additional territories to be announced. As an artist and a cover artist, she’s drawn for publishing houses in the United States, Europe, and Asia, with cover work for DC, Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Ablaze, and others. As a colorist, she worked on covers and comic books of important franchises such as Geronimo Stilton, Adventure Time, Ice Age, Peanuts, and others published around the world. When she is not working, she loves good food, reading comics and… sharing photos of cats, dogs, and wolves on social media!
About Arancia Studio:
Founded in 2010, Arancia Studio is a media company, creative atelier and agency focused on creating and developing IPs and contents for publishing, strongly oriented to crossmedia and transmedia. In about ten years, it achieved to work on the largest international markets, with publishing top players like The Walt Disney Company, DC Comics, Hachette, Image Comics, Ablaze Publishing, BOOM! Studios, AfterShock Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Legendary Comics, Dark Horse, Éditions Glénat, Editions Soleil, Star Comics, Les Humanoïdes Associés, Éditions Petit à Petit, Panini Comics, and companies like Ubisoft and Ferrero Group. The original IPs generated with its business unit Orangery—published in more than 28 countries worldwide—include Sweet Paprika, Commanders in Crisis, Loaded Bible: Blood of my Blood, Mercy, Deep Beyond, Unnatural, and Traveling to Mars. Actually, Arancia works with more than 150 talents all over the world.
