'The Tick' for the First Time in Comic Books on CD-ROM!

Inverse Ink, a Division of TAO Research Corporation, announced that it has begun shipping four titles in its new line of CD-ROM comic books starring characters from Fox Kids Network television shows.

Aimed at the younger set, mostly kids ages 6-12, the "Eek!Stravaganza," "Life With Louie" and "Bobby's World" CD-ROM comic books will bring these favorite TV cartoon characters to the computer for the first time.

The forth title, "The Tick"," is also based on a television cartoon show that is wildly popular with kids. However, this giant blue super hero, who was created by Ben Edlund for comic books, has millions of adult fans as well. His comic escapades and the sophisticated humor in this story will appeal to "Tick" fans of all ages.

Every panel of Inverse Ink's CD-ROM comics delivers multimedia action. Some of the panels reveal full-motion cartoon animation while the remaining panels contain one or more hotspots that, when clicked, reveal exciting hidden graphics and animation. Each unique interface is designed for ease of use and is specialized according to the title's theme. It allows the user to control the narration, music and page turning, both forward and back.

In manual mode users are allowed to take their time, through each page, watching animations more than once, if they wish, and discovering hotspots at an individual pace. An improved autoplay mode allows users to watch the story play completely through automatically, including all the hotspots and action graphics. Autoplay can be stopped at any time by clicking on a panel.

All new musical scores along with folders that provide plot clues, humor or children's games and puzzles, accentuate the already strong appeal of these popular characters to both comic and computer fans alike.

The new multimedia comic books have an expected retail price of $9.99 and are shipped in environmentally friendly packaging that looks like a comic book instead of a large game box. Inside, a hybrid CD-ROM supports Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Macintosh System 7 formats. This allows any particular disc to be played on most personal computer systems with a CD-ROM drive.

These titles follow Inverse Ink's new strategy of using popular licensed characters and shipping titles four at a time as the company continues to create and grow a truly multimedia comic book market niche. In September Inverse Ink launched its first four titles in this category with DC Comics Superman, Batman, Superboy and Aquaman. Previously, Inverse Ink had created two award-winning original titles, Reflux .01, "The Becoming," and Reflux .02 "The Threshold" for an older audience, teen to adult.

"The Fox Kids Network titles give us products that both kids and parents will be happy with," said Dr. Lingtao Wang, president of Inverse Ink. "As a parent of young children, I am really pleased to be able to offer low cost, computer storybooks for kids which feature good stories, are low in violence and high in values, and just pure entertainment for them," added Dr. Wang.

Inverse Ink's Executive Producer Greg Armanini said, "Fun is how I would describe the atmosphere around us working on these titles. The source material had everything -- strong characters, a well written, complete story, great art, good video quality and a heavy dash of humor. I can't wait to make another Tick comic book."