History Channel Sheds Light on Comic Books

While Hollywood continues to churn out movies based on classic comic book characters, The History Channel has been pouring through DC and Marvel comic books from the 1930s to chronicle the industry's birth, demise and rebirth. The channel airs the documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked on June 23, which is supported by a national promotion at Blimpie Subs & Salad restaurants.

To further tout Unmasked, the New York City-based channel created its own eight-page comic book starring the hero History Man. "We had a limited budget to promote the special, so we came up with this concept, which is a bit unusual for our channel," Judy Klein Frimer, director of brand enhancement at the network, said. "We wanted to make the program come to life for those busy reading comic books out there."

Some 500,000 copies of the books are being distributed with meals at Blimpie stores throughout the month. P-O-P materials at Atlanta-based Blimpie International's 1,700 locations include 2 million bag stuffers, tune-in cards and posters. The GEM Group, New York City, brokered the deal between Blimpie and The History Channel.

Starting in mid-June, the chain will introduce a Super Sub combo meal that includes a 44-ounce Mountain Dew cup plugging the show. Tracy Locke Partnership, Wilton, CT, handles creative for the cups and neckhangers. The program runs in stores through mid-July and is accompanied by a sweepstakes at www.blimpie.com offering DVDs of the History Channel special, Microsoft X-box consoles, cases of Mountain Dew and other prizes.

An additional 700,000 History Man comic books will be given out in 700 movie theaters during The Hulk premiere weekend. The Universal Pictures film opens June 20. Plus, 500,000 comic books will be distributed in 1,100 comic book stores via an agreement with Diamond Comic Distributors.

Shane West, star of the 20th Century Fox's League of Extraordinary Men, which premieres tomorrow, hosts the documentary for The History Channel. The two-hour show features interviews with comic book writers and artists including Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Michael Chabon and Kevin Smith. A sweeps at www.historychannel.com through June offers more copies of the program DVD, T-shirts and other prizes.