BUBBLE Comics is the largest Russian comic book publisher which was founded in 2011. It is the only publishing house in Russia which monthly produces original non-franchised comic books. Its original slate consisted of four titles: Demonslayer, Major Grom, Friar and Red Fury, they were later joined by Exlibrium and Meteora. The original four titles concluded their run in December 2016 at 50 issues each. In January 2017 four brand new ongoing series were launched in their place: Allies, Demonslayer vol. 2, Igor Grom and Realmwalkers.
History
BUBBLE Comics was formed in 2011 by journalist Artem Gabrelyanov. For 5 years, the publisher had released more than 200 comic book issues for 10 different titles, including Demonslayer, Major Grom, Red Fury, Friar, Meteora and Exlibrium. In October 2012 the publisher started releasing 4 ongoing monthly series: Major Grom, Demonslayer, Friar, Red Fury. In October 2014, at the very first Comic Con Russia in Moscow, BUBBLE Comics announced two new series – Exlibrium and Meteora. First issues of each came out the same month. Since October 2015, English language versions of BUBBLE’s comics started appearing on comiXology platform. In May 2016 BUBBLE launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish the English-language hardcover edition of Exlibrium. The project was successfully funded, raising $24,554 in total — almost two and a half times more than a goal of $10,000.
In October 2015 BUBBLE Comics announced the establishment of a Film Production Department, BUBBLE Studios, that will be responsible for adapting their comics to movies. Vladimir Besedin was named the head of that department. Shortly after that BUBBLE Studios started production on its first project, short film Major Grom. The trailer for the movie was released in October 2016. The film, directed by Vladimir Besedin, premiered on February 21, 2017 on BUBBLE YouTube channel. Soon after that BUBBLE Studios began the development of a feature-length filmMajor Grom: Plague Doctor, with the premiere set for 2018.
