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Jorge Vega from Brockton, Mass., Wins Platinum Studios’ Comic Book Challenge Presented by AT&T


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Millions of Votes Were Received Online at AT&T’s blue room to Select Gunplay; Win Opens Door to Comic Book Industry and Secures a Publishing and Multimedia Development Deal

San Antonio, Texas, Los Angeles, California-Platinum Studios Inc. and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today the winner of Platinum Studios’ 2007 Comic Book Challenge presented by AT&T and distributed on AT&T’s three screens, with support from the AT&T Universal Card. Jorge Vega from Brockton, Mass., will receive a publishing deal and a multimedia development deal for his creative concept, Gunplay, and the final product will be unveiled at one of Wizard World’s comic book, entertainment and pop-culture conventions in 2008.

Gunplay is the haunting, bullet-riddled tale of a Buffalo Soldier condemned to roam the Big Empty with a hellish curse slung at his waist: a demonic shooting iron that forces Abner to kill once a day or suffer soul-searing pain. His only salvation lies in earning the trust of a boy he’s never met, a boy with an agonizing secret of his own — and Abner has just gunned down that boy’s father.

“This is a dream come true for me!,” Vega said. “You only see these things happen to people on TV, and I still can’t believe that Gunplay was selected. Platinum Studios and AT&T have created a tremendous contest that allows aspiring comic creators such as me the opportunity to enter this field, and I’m honored and humbled that hundreds of thousands of people globally in the comic community selected my concept from all of the amazing entries.”

“Jorge Vega impressed us with Gunplay and clearly won over the worldwide comic book community as well,” said Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, chairman of Platinum Studios. “As you can still see on AT&T’s blue room, the judges — Donald Faison (”Scrubs“), John Williams (producer of ”Shrek“) and I — were very intrigued with many of the concepts and the creators themselves. Narrowing it down to the top 10 was agonizing. Thank goodness the fans made the final decision. We look forward to working with Jorge to further develop his story for print and to see what other opportunities can be developed for the property. The Comic Book Challenge was designed to discover new comic book creators with a fresh approach, and we have definitely done that with Jorge.”

Jorge Vega took on other aspiring comic book creators in a head-to-head challenge that unfolded on the AT&T blue room (www.attblueroom.com), where fans were invited to vote for their favorite concept/creator by casting online ballots during two separate rounds of voting. The second round of voting concluded Aug. 25 with several million votes cast.

Although the winner has been selected, comic book fans can still visit the blue room to see how the contest unfolded. In addition to the material submitted by the talented contestants, the exclusive content, which was written, directed and produced by AT&T’s expanding in-house creative group, features video back-stories, footage of the live pitches and “confessionals” featuring the top 10 semifinalists. Through support from the AT&T Universal Card, this exclusive content is being distributed to the PC, TV and wireless devices — on AT&T U-verseSM TV, AT&T HomezoneSM and MobiTV on wireless and broadband services.

“Beyond being able to make Jorge’s passion a reality, Platinum Studios’ Comic Book Challenge gave AT&T the opportunity to flex our three-screen muscle by creating unique content and then delivering that content across multiple platforms,” said Michael Goldfine, head of development and production of AT&T Entertainment Services. “It showcases the tools that we’re developing at AT&T that allow us to reach and engage consumers with meaningful, inventive programming.”



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