Detroit will be delivering a new taste in soda beverages for America soon and it will be promoted in a zombie theme. Caprice Brands is announcing its company launch of branded beverages and leading the way is a line of premium zombie soda based on the iconic zombie comic book, Deadworld.
Deadworld has been published for over 25 years including stints at the nation's third and fourth largest comic publishers (Image and IDW, respectively) and has been nominated (and winning some) for numerous industry awards. The storyline is based on a zombie apocalypse but in addition to the shuffling undead, Deadworld features intelligent zombies and they have a plan for taking over the world.
Caprice Brands, like Deadworld, is from a Detroit area based company. Caprice was formed earlier this year from three local entrepreneurs who decided to combine their expertise and launch the new company.
Tim Dabish is the CEO of Intrastate Distributors Inc. a family owned beverage distribution company in Detroit. Dabish has expanded the company during his tenure especially with the company’s own brand of Towne Club and Frostie. Dabish noted that in his experience, “themed beverages do quite well in the beverage industry and popular culture characters such as zombies have a great and wide appeal.”
Paul Burke was a partner with Stan Lee on the Comic Book Greats video series before teaming up with Todd McFarlane in launching McFarlane Toys which in just three years’ time became a 100 million dollar company.
Gary Reed, the creator and writer of Deadworld, is also the publisher of Caliber Comics, one of the leading independent publishers in the comic book market and a company that launched the careers of many of today’s top comic writers and artists. Caliber is the largest comic publishing house ever based in Michigan.
The soda line will feature characters from the Deadworld series and most of the artwork is newly created by primarily local artists. “The Detroit area has always been a hot bed for talent in the comic book industry,” said Reed, “so it wasn’t too hard to find so many talented artists to contribute artwork to for the labels and containers. The need for artists was considerable as Caprice is releasing twelve different flavors, with names such as Morbid Mix and Grisly Swill, and each flavor will have four different versions. Burke noted that having variant versions of the bottles, “adds to the collectible market as well as those who just want a cool product and great all natural taste.”
The Deadworld premium soda line is scheduled to be released in late November and is expected to be carried at major retailers and chains as well as specialty shop. Intrastate Distribution will handle and process orders and fulfillment.
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