Xevicom.com (http://www.xevicom.com) has today announced that they will be launching the much delayed cult graphic novel, Xevicom Forever, on PlayStation Portable, iPhone and iPod Touch this November. Originally released in 2005, Xevicom Forever is the debut graphic novel from reclusive writer Ray Reid who has only recently re-entered the writing world. With new artwork and a revised script, Xevicom Forever is a rejuvenated project from a rejuvenated writer, appearing as it never has before on iPhone, iPod Touch and PlayStation Portable. Further digital editions are planned in the future and whilst a PC edition is already available exclusively from Xevicom.com.
Writing in his new blog, Ray Reid summed up the lengthy and “torrid” development of Xevicom Forever succinctly when he compared it to two albums that were almost never released: “There are days when I think that the best alternative titles for Xevicom Forever are either Chinese Democracy [by Guns N’ Roses]or SMiLE [by the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson]”, Reid lamented. Work for Xevicom Forever began in 2004 with a release of the initial material the following year. That same year Wizard Magazine, the comic industry standard text lauded the material when they wrote that “[Ray] Reid Reid's writing has an intense simplicity to it that gives a fresh take on a familiar dynamic." Since that time, however, the ever more reclusive writer largely buried the graphic novel, only occasionally making it available online in various limited run editions designed to run on Wii, PS3, PSP and even the DS. In the past year, however, Reid has returned to the world of comic book writing and, in so doing, significantly revised the script of Xevicom Forever, along with much of the artwork.
“The novel never felt complete, never quite right,” Reid explains, “so I would always back away from giving it a full release. I appreciated all of the readers who used their consoles to access it and send me emails with their thoughts but I never felt right giving the title a full release. Indeed, after a short while I didn’t even want it available online so I removed it, meditating on the sentiments and the ideas I really wanted to communicate, before revising the entire work.” Described by the author as “an abstract, esoteric work of cliché and communication”, Xevicom Forever is now finally complete.
Xevicom Forever is out now as a digital ebook for $6.95 with the PlayStation Portable and iPhone/iPod Touch Edition due for release in November 2009. Both the iPhone and the PlayStation Portable versions will each contain exclusive concept art, early artwork, and pencil work. A collector’s edition CD-ROM containing the PC digital edition along with the Xevicom Scrapbook (exclusive, contains concept art, previous editions of the work and the original, first draft script for Xevicom Forever) and one of Reid’s cult books, The Half Broken Crown is out later this week. For more information please visit http://www.xevicom.com
