More Of The World’s A Stage As “cheapjack Shakespeare” Breaks Wider!

March 25, 2010 - PRLog -- “Cheapjack Shakespeare”, the graphic novel serial launched last month by entertainment execs Gabriel Benson and Shaun McLaughlin is ready to invite more people into its world.

Encouraged by the platform-specific sales of the first two chapters of “Cheapjack Shakespeare” for Amazon’s Kindle App, Cheapjack Partners, LLC have signed with Drive Thru Comics, (comics.drivethrustuff.com) to make the chapters available to anyone with a computer.

“This series was created on a computer and, unlike a lot of comics, it’s specifically formatted for easy viewing on a computer. The pages fit easily on the screen and you don’t have to drag it around to read it.”

“Drive-Thru really has put together a great home for digital comics,” Benson said. “The interface is so easy to use we just felt that this was an obvious next step.  And while we like the book in B&W, we were excited to be able to present it in full color on Drive Thru.”

“Cheapjack Shakespeare” is a comedy in the “Animal House” mode and follows the adventures of a college Shakespeare Company as it falls apart over a summer. Members get involved in infidelity, get struck by lightning and get in fights with unappreciative members of the audience who heckle them.

Running through it all is the theme of ambition and the need to either leave home, or embrace it and make your life there. Even if home is the apartment with cinder block bookcases you’ve been living in for 20 years.

McLaughlin, a former producer at Warner Bros. Animation (Batman Beyond, Justice League, Pinky and the Brain) and Benson, a development executive (Terminator 3) and a respected graphic novel author (Fade From Grace, The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty) teamed up earlier this year to pursue the Cheapjack project as an integrated media project. The serialized graphic novel is the first step.

“We’re working on the next piece of the puzzle now,” McLaughlin said. “And I think we’re going to have a surprise in the next week of so. Like a good running back, when everyone expects us to go right, we’re going to break left.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Gabriel Benson (214) 738-8217 info@cheapjackshakespeare.com
Shaun McLaughlin (818) 216-2895  shaun@cheapjackshakespeare.com


Shaun McLaughlin began his career writing “Aquaman” (the non-maimed version) for DC Comics. He went on to write for DC, Malibu, Disney and Dark Horse. In 1994 he moved to Warner Bros. Animation where he produced over 400 episodes of television (5 Emmy Award Winners) including “Batman Beyond”, “Static Shock”, and the various incarnations of “Justice League”. Besides “Cheapjack Shakespeare”, McLaughlin is writing an animated feature for Omens Studios and preparing a live-action feature with Benson.

Gabriel Benson worked on numerous feature films that people might have seen during his years in Hollywood, including a lengthy stint developing Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines.  Benson is also the writer of the graphic novels “The Ballad Of Sleeping Beauty,” “Fade From Grace” and the animated feature “Gene-Fusion” which will be released in 2010.  And finally, Gabriel is still working on the screenplay adaptation of “Fade From Grace” which he and McLaughlin are going to turn into a live-action Oscar winner soon.

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Cheapjack Partners, LLC was created by Gabriel Benson and Shaun McLaughlin to create properties that can exist in several media simultaneously.