Well, it makes sense. Titmouse Games -- a games studio, you may remember, that makes games -- is partnering with Kevin Eastman, publisher and co-creator of Heavy Metal Magazine, to create a line of games based on Heavy Metal properties. Familiarity with the magazine’s style isn’t an issue -- Titmouse is famous for its work with Adult Swim cartoon, Metalocalypse and the adorable grit of Afro Samurai.

According to the press release, the first project is a “sci-fi action title” called Fistful of Blood. The story, originally published in Heavy Metal, has about everything you can ask for: alien bounty huntresses, vampires, zombies, and revenge.

No release date or console was mentioned, but don’t be surprised if this pops up on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network or Steam when finished. Titmouse Games “strives to ‘keep-it-real’ through the digital distribution of original content ... and pulling at heart strings with the prolific usage zombies and pirates.”

I added that part after the ellipses, but it’s oh-so-satisfyingly true.

Need More Metal?
Titmouse Games Partners with Heavy Metal Magazine’s Top Talent!
In-Your-Face Content, Reflecting the Pages of this Iconic Graphic Magazine, Now in Development

March 24, 2009 (Hollywood, CA) – Titmouse Games announced today, its partnership with Kevin Eastman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator and Editor/Publisher of Heavy Metal Magazine, to create a variety of hard-hitting games based on the publication’s most popular properties. Heavy Metal is the longest running illustrated fantasy magazine of all time and is best known for debuting some of today’s most edgy graphic artists.

The first project is a sci-fi action title, “Fistful of Blood,” an over-the-top action game about an Alien Bounty Huntress who comes to earth in search of the creature that killed her father, only to find herself caught in a blood feud between rival gangs of Vampires and Zombies. Created by Eastman and longtime collaborator and world-renowned illustrator Simon Bisley (Judge Dredd, Batman, Lobo), FOB was originally serialized in Heavy Metal magazine before the hardcover collection broke HM sales records in the state and sold additional versions in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Poland.

“As demented as it is, I owe a lot of who I am to the wide body of work that both Kevin Eastman and Heavy Metal Magazine have exposed me to,” says Aaron Habibipour, Creative Director for Titmouse Games. “Kevin and I have worked together in the past, and it was a blast. We want to start Titmouse Games off right, and I can’t think of a better way than to pack enough aliens, zombies, vampires, guns, blood, gore, vengeance, and sexy chicks in a game to take down a stampeding elephant.”

“Having been a lifelong fan of Heavy Metal Magazine I always thought the coolest part was the wide variety of stories that were published in every issue,” adds Kevin, “And the chance to work with Titmouse gives Simon and I the chance to bring our Heavy Metal inspired visions to a much wider group of rabid fans!”

ABOUT TITMOUSE GAMES
Titmouse Games in an independent video game developer that provides fierce, indie content for consoles, mobile, and more.  Making hard-hitting games from their own original IPs, and hand-picked licenses, the Company strives to “keep-it-real” through the digital distribution of original content that feeds the needs of today’s hardcore gamers.

Titmouse Games was introduced to the industry at the Game Developers Conference this year, with its first console Action RPG game, Seven Haunted Seas. For more information please visit www.titmousegames.com.


ABOUT KEVIN EASTMAN
Kevin kicked off his career as co-creator/self publisher of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984 with a 40 page black and white comic book. Shortly thereafter parlaying the success of the comic into a #1 animated Saturday morning TV series, three live action films, and the best selling boys action figure franchise of all time.

Eastman bought Heavy Metal in 1990, tripled the annual output of magazines, graphic novels, and art books over the next few years, as well as expanding into a massive web presence. Additionally, he worked hand in hand with Columbia Tri Star to re-release the original Ivan Reitman produced “Heavy Metal: The Movie” which sold 2 million copies on VHS in 1996, went on to produce the top selling “Heavy Metal: 2000” and is currently producing a $50 million dollar 3D Heavy Metal film with Executive producer/director David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Benjamin Button), and the Academy Award Nominated Blur Animation for a 2011 release.
Other credits include producing the animated “Highlander: Search for Vengeance”, executive producing the upcoming “War of the Worlds: Goliath” animated feature, and adapting his best selling graphic novel “Underwhere” into a CG kid friendly feature fare.

ABOUT HEAVY METAL
"In the mid-1970's, while in Paris to set up a French edition of "National Lampoon", publisher Len Mogel discovered a new adult science fiction/fantasy comic magazine, "Metal Hurlant" (Screaming Metal). Impressed with the concept, a natural for Lampoons cutting edge style, Mogel licensed an American version, and named it HEAVY METAL.

The first issue hit newsstands in April 1977, and introduced American audiences to the work of Europe's greatest graphic artists. A smash hit from its launch, it sold out all across the country, striking a cord with hundreds of thousands of older fans who had outgrown the adolescent output of mainstream comic publishers, but still loved the medium of "sequential storytelling.”

Heavy Metal magazine became a magnet for world class comic talent, and in addition to the top self European artists and writers such as; Mobius, Liberatore, Serpieri, Gimenez, and Royo, all of the best American creators like: Bode, Corben, Wrightson, Frazetta, and Olivia, found a new outlet for their fantasies.
Heavy Metal is the oldest illustrated fantasy magazine in U.S. history, celebrating thirty years of bringing the best graphic storytelling to the world.