(March 14, 2022) Hush-hush and on the QT, we present to you, dear reader, the Golden Age of Hollywood. Los Angeles is ripe with beautiful beaches and gorgeous movie stars, and there’s opportunity as far as the eye can wander. There is also, unfortunately, a supervillain problem, with rogues running rampant everywhere. During the day, the city is attacked by atomic robots, robbers that run football formations, and circus acts with a death wish! And by night? There’s an onslaught of gangsters with magic wands, feral beasts out for blood, and seedy criminal organizations conducting cosmic-powered turf wars. Welcome to the world of ALTER EGO, an action-packed, 100-page all-new, original graphic novel by Eisner-nominated writer Nate Cosby (Cow Boy), artist Jacob Edgar (James Bond), colorist Kike J. Diaz (Red Sonja), and letterer Rus Wooton (The Walking Dead). A Kickstarter for ALTER EGO is now live from Linney Incorporated, featuring variant covers by superstar artists Wilfredo Torres, Phil Hester, Declan Shalvey, Chris Eliopoulos, and SOZOMAIKA, and a main cover from artist and co-creator Jacob Edgar.
In ALTER EGO, LA’s scandalous crime wave inspires two strikingly different heroes to spring into action. By day, the streets are protected by Whiz-Bang, a grinning, gregarious defender of goodness. By night, the City of Angels is defended by an entirely different kind of hero: The Black Dog appears in a cloud of smoke, a mysterious vigilante determined to strike fear in cowardly criminals. And unbeknownst to the mayor, the police force, the entire city…these radically different heroes share an incredible secret: They are the same man.
Ace Adams is a cocky stuntman who can throw himself off 20-story buildings, or scrap with a legion of thugs. Ace is the kind of guy that has a motor that won’t quit. He thinks he’s got the world on a string; all he has to do is keep pulling. This superhero thing is a gas, and it allows him to perform, in ways that he’s not able to in movies, now that his acting career is stalled. Who knows…if he saves enough people, maybe they’ll make a movie about him, and maybe he’ll star in it.
“When our story begins, Ace Adams has been successfully fighting crime by day as Whiz-Bang for a year,” says Nate Cosby. “Whiz-Bang and his can-do attitude are beloved by everybody. He’s on posters and lunch boxes. He stars in comic books, and even has his own breakfast cereal! But when Ace chooses to also defend the night as The Black Dog, the balance begins to shift and what was once a blast for Ace becomes a deadly tightrope act. He’ll be faced with impossible choices, forced to compromise his moral code, and begin to question the entire purpose of his quest to always be there and save everyone.”
“In a lot of ways, ALTER EGO is exactly the kind of project I got into comics for,” says Jacob Edgar. “I’m an unabashed superhero fan, particularly superheroes flavored with the kind of swashbuckling adventure tone that we’re going for. I love bringing this elevated, fantasy version 40s/50s Hollywood to life and I think readers will be really excited by the characters and world Nate and I are creating. We’re jumping from bombastic superheroics, to noir, to Old West movie sets and so much more.  I think there’s an energy we’re putting into the book that I hope will leap off the page when people get ahold of it.”
“ALTER EGO is all about what it means to be a hero,” says Cosby. “Can you do more good if you’re a role model to kids and the community? Or is justice best dished out by a mysterious vigilante operating in the shadows? And when one man tries to be three people…who is he, really?”
ALTER EGO features a standard cover by Jacob Edgar (Batman, Army Of Darkness), and variant covers by dynamo Wilfredo Torres (BANG!; Superman ’78), industry legend Phil Hester (Green Arrow, Justice League), superstar Declan Shalvey (All-Star Batman, Moon Knight), bestselling illustrator Chris Eliopoulos (Ordinary People Change The World), and the incredible Sozomakia (Catwoman).
“ALTER EGO is about what happens when you realize you can’t do everything,” says Cosby. “You can’t save everyone. But you can try. It’s the kind of story I’m passionate about and why I started Linney Incorporated.” The Kickstarter for ALTER EGO is live now and will end on April 14.
About The Creators
Nate Cosby is a writer, editor, packager & producer, who founded LINNEY INCORPORATED on the principle that the best ideas win. Great comics come from the collaboration of great creators, and Nate’s proven that through his work with the teams on Thor The Mighty Avenger, Cow Boy, Flash Gordon, James Bond, Agents Of Atlas, Red Sonja, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, Buddy Cops, World War Hulk, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and lots, lots more.
Jacob Edgar is a comic book artist and writer published by DC Comics, Metal Hurlant, Dynamite, and IDW. His most recent credits include art for the Batman Audio Adventures special and writing for Red Sonja: Black, White, Red. His art can be seen next in an upcoming unnamed project co-created with Brian Michael Bendis at Dark Horse.
Kike J. Diaz is a colorist and illustrator based in Spain. He began his career as a solo colorist with works such as Death to the Army of Darkness!, Sonjaversal, James Bond, and Die!namite for Dynamite. He has colored Magic Soda Pop with inks by Raúl Treviño for Webtoon, Scoop 2 for Insight Comics and he is also colorist of the series BlackHand & IronHead by David López for Panel Syndicate.
Rus Wooton is an Eisner-nominated comic book letterer best known for lettering books like The Walking Dead, Invincible, Monstress, Deadly Class, East of West, Thor The Mighty Avenger, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and many more. He is an artist, writer, designer, and filmmaker whose been drawing for as long as he can remember and reading comics since before he could read.
