Broken Frontier

After many successful years in the world of animation, Will Vinton dives into the two dimensional comic world with Jack Hightower, a thrilling new action-adventure-comedy about a very unique secret agent, spanning 150 pages.

To mark his graphic novel debut, Will Vinton will be making appearances in key cities across the country in the coming year.

Tall, daring, and handsome, secret agent Jack Hightower had it all—a stellar career, beautiful women, and more power and influence than he could shake a supermodel at.  Only one thing eluded him–the capture of his long-time arch nemesis, Dr. Flagitious Savant.  Then one fateful night, the mad Doctor lured Jack into the beam of a shrink ray!  Now Jack’s trying to put his miniaturized life back together, hunt down the deadly Dr. Savant and reverse the process that made him into the world’s first living action figure!

Vinton, the creator of “claymation,” is well known for having brought to life some of the world’s best known animated characters, including The California Raisins, the computer  animated M&Ms "Red" and "Yellow", and Thurgood Stubs for the Eddie Murphy inspired television series "THE PJs."

"I’ve always liked graphic novels, so when Mike Richardson  suggested writing a graphic novel story about Jack, Andrew Wiese, my writing partner and I jumped at it" said Vinton. "In some ways creating this character was very similar to creating a character for animation–it's like storyboarding a film.  But with a graphic novel you have whittle it down to the essence of character and story–you have to be more spare and make everything count¬then make that really vivid."

Coincidentally, Vinton’s first appearance will be in the very city the story takes place in, Miami.  On Wednesday January 17, at 11:00 AM he will speak to students and faculty at the Miami International University of Art & Design about the new book and his career as a pioneer of the art of animation.  He will also be appearing at Books & Books' Coral Gables location for a book signing that evening at 6:00 PM.

Following that, Vinton plans to appear at Things From Another World at Universal Studios Citywalk in Universal City, CA. He will also be making appearances at various animation festivals, comic conventions, and bookstores across the country throughout the year.  

Jack Hightower is created and written by Will Vinton and Andrew Wiese, with art by Fabio Laguna. The book arrives on sale on January 17 carrying a $14.95 price tag.